Lu Fengzi

CHINA, Jiangsu, Zhenjiang

Lu Fengzi was a well-known painter, calligrapher, and art educator from Danyang, Zhenjiang. Throughout his career, he taught at a variety of art institutions and universities and instructed numerous talented students. He worked as a professor and Dean of Studies of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1912 he donated his personal properties and founded the Zhengze Girls Vocational School in Danyang. The school tremendously contributed to the development of Chinese embroidery art with department studies on silkworm, embroidery, painting, and research.
Lu studied calligraphy and painting under Li Ruiqing. He was proficient in watercolor, ink, and oil painting, and depicted subjects such as landscapes, flowers, birds, figures, and Buddhist images. His landscape paintings are considered unconventional and in his later years his style changed as he began using more rough lines, concise strokes, and unusual shapes. His calligraphy displayed his unique approach to art by integrating all major scripts into one. As a result of his expertise, he authored several books on art.
His painting Clouds Over Lushan Mountain won first prize in the Chinese painting category at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1931. Arhats, which is dated from 1953 and also won first prize in the Third Chinese Art Exhibition in Chongqing, is now kept at the Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum in Nanjing. Other paintings by Lu include Sixteen Arhats and Dual Practice of Samatha and Vipassana.