Zhang Guangyu

CHINA, Jiangsu, Wuxi

Zhang Guangyu was a craft artist, comic artist, and decorative painter. In his early life, he studied under Zhang Yuguang in Shanghai and painted stage sets at Xin Wutai (New Stage). He later worked as an illustrator and in 1949, he was hired to teach at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University. In addition, Zhang was a member of the China Artists Association and served on the editorial team of the monthly magazine Comics. Alongside Hu Xuguang and Zhang Zhengyu, he founded the Comic Club of Shanghai, the first of its kind in China. He also founded the Three-Day Pictorial Newspaper and co-founded a publishing company. His famous works include Comic of Journey to the West and Collection of Illustrations by Zhang Guangyu.
Basing his own comic style on traditional Chinese drawings, as well as European pop culture style, Zhang’s works were infused with elements from Chinese folk art block painting, glass painting, and folk toys and masks. They were imaginative and unique. Comic of Journey to the West contains 60 illustrations with an original story that poked fun at the current affairs of the time. The comic was later turned into an animated film called Havoc in Heaven. Zhang is considered to be the patriarch of comic-style painting in China. Zhang also painted Back Bay of Lake Taihu in Wuxi, which is presently collected at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.