Pan Jiezi

CHINA, Zhejiang, Jinhua

Pan Jiezi was a painter from Wuyi county in Jinhua who had an original name of Pan Changbang. In 1932, he matriculated into the National School of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he majored in figure painting using the technique of “gongbi,” or fine lines. His paintings were wide in variety and often featured historical stories, integrating both traditional and mural painting techniques.
In 1945, Pan created copies of Dunhuang cave murals and visited the ethnic minority groups in northeastern China, where he painted a series of still life scenes. Between 1951 and 1956, he organized a Dunhuang Cultural Exhibition in Beijing, and later worked at the National Museum of China. Pan was then chosen in 1965 by the Beijing Fine Arts Academy to lead the restoration of the relocated murals in Yongle Palace in Shanxi. He was the editor of several artistic journals, and also published several books on Chinese painting and art history.
Pan’s painting, Inspection of Mogao Cave 156, is now kept at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. The image is based on Journey of Zhang Yichao, a mural in Mogao Cave 156. Pan’s creative interpretation earned him first prize at the France Spring Salon Art Exhibition in 1982.