Qian Shaowu

CHINA, Jiangsu, Wuxi

Qian Shaowu is a sculptor, painter, and calligrapher who studied traditional Chinese painting at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1947. He then went on to study sculpture at the Repin Art Institute (Russian Academy of Arts) in 1953. After returning to China and until his retirement in 1989, he taught at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Dedicated to art education and art theory, Qian served positions such as member of the Arts Education Committee, specialty adviser to the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, committee member of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, and chairman of the Sculpture Committee of China National Arts and Crafts Society. He was also a guest lecturer in the United States in 1988. In 2011, Qian donated nearly 1,000 works of art to Tsinghua University, where the Qian Shaowu Art Gallery was established for storage and exhibition.
Several of Qian’s works have won awards in various national art exhibitions, some of which are kept at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. The Memorial Stele of Li Dazhao is installed in Dazhao Park in Tangshan, Hebei. Other works of sculptural art by Qian include portraits of Emperor Yan, Li Qingzhao, Huang Zhou, Yan Jici, and Heros of Shijiazhuang. His calligraphy include Quotes of Master Ouyi and Dharma Words of Chan Master Jingshan, the latter of which was engraved into the Stele Wall at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Written publications by Qian include Sketch and Random Thoughts, Essay on Appreciation with Heart, and the Beauty of Sculpture, and Exploring Henry Moore’s Way, among several others.