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Professor Shang Tao

The contemporary charm of expressive flower and bird paintings—a gentle call to awaken inner tranquility. Experience the richness, cuteness, and delightful essence of all things in this new era.

Shang Tao:“Bird-and-flower painting depicts flowers, birds, insects, and fish to please viewers, grant them the enjoyment of beauty, inconspicuously raise their level of aesthetic awareness and taste, and influence and refine their character and spirit.

Professor‭, ‬doctoral student adviser‭, ‬and Curator of the Art Museum at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Wang Huangsheng : Li Kuchen once said Shang Tao is “raw,” but he added, “Rawness is hard to find. Huang Tingjian pursued it his entire life without achieving it.” Shang Tao also calls himself “simple,” it can be said to be a “rawness” of “great learning,” a classical, scholarly rawness.The huge fish and large birds, giant leaves and big flowers, pandas and toads, even birds of prey, that flow from his brush all seem, in a way, approachable and adorable. Shang Tao's belief in art is: Art should be adorable. The word “adorable” itself evokes the innocence of childhood and doting benevolence; it also connotes perseverance in living.

​尚濤教授

新時代的大寫意花鳥畫,喚醒内心寧靜,感受萬物的豐盈、可愛、有趣。

Shang Tao‭, ‬renowned ink wash painter and calligrapher‭, ‬was born in Beijing in 1938‭. ‬He graduated from the High School of Fine Arts in 1957‭, ‬and in 1964‭, ‬he graduated from the School of Chinese Painting‭, ‬Central Academy of Fine Arts‭. ‬He is a student of contemporary masters such as Le Keran, Jiang Zhaohe, Li Kuchen, and Yeh Qian. Shang Tao is a founding board member of the Chinese Painting Association, and has been a Professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and a graduate adviser to calligraphy and engraving students. He is currently a National A-level Artist.

His works The South Sea, Midsummer, Magnanimity, Gold Bowl, and Heavenly Aroma have been exhibited at the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th National Fine Art Exhibition, respectively. In particular, Magnanimity won the Exhibition Award, the highest award at the Distinguished Works Exhibition of the 8th National Fine Art Exhibition; and Gold Bowl won the Bronze Prize at the Distinguished Works Exhibition of the 9th National Fine Art Exhibition. His Comfort and Ease was selected for the National Art Academies Biennial and won the highest Academic Award. Beautiful Enough to Overthrow a Kingdom, Blue Bird, and Mount Jiugao were selected for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd National Chinese Painting Exhibition, respectively; in particular, Magnificent Beauty won the Bronze Prize at the 1st National Chinese Painting Exhibition. His work Midsummer participated in the 1987 Algiers-Assembling World Culture exhibition, winning the Gold Prize. Magnificent Beauty wins the Gold Prize at the 1995 Sino-Japanese Modern Ink Wash Painting Exchange Exhibition. Blooming was selected for the 2001 Exhibition on China in a Century. Magnanimity was praised as one of the “Fifty Classic Works in Fifty Years of the Guangdong Artists Association” and is in the collection of the Guangdong Museum of Art.

Shang Tao has held solo exhibitions in Toronto, New York, Beijing, and Guangzhou, and his works have been collected by the State Council, the National Art Museum of China, the Guangdong Museum of Art, the National Library of China, the Guangzhou Art Museum, and the Australian Museum.

105 天離地何等的高  How far the sky is from the ground 1992
109 和風甘雨 朗月清空 Gentle breeze and sweet  rain-shining moon and cloudless sky
108 惠風和暢 麗 日 Singing in the gentle breeze beautiful sun  1998
103 朝辭白帝彩雲間 At daybreak I leave Baidi amidst clouds aglow 1990
118 心有三愛奇書駿馬佳山 My three loves- rare books, high spirited  horses, beautiful mountains 1998
113. 有鳳來儀 龍吟 Arrival of the phoenix 1998
112. 取諸懷抱 坦然 Taken from embrace- candid 1998
104 朝辭白帝彩雲間 At daybreak I leave Baidi amidst clouds aglow 1990
117 四顧山光接水光 Looking around the flashy  scenes of hills linked to water 1998
116 參差碧釉聳蓮花 Lotus rises among green peaks  1998
115 一江秋水浸寒冬 Autumn river through cold winter 1998
114 風蒲獵獵弄輕柔 Gentle cattail in the wind  1998
111 生當作人杰 Alive, I should be a hero 1989
110 天門中斷楚江開 Through Tianmen's twin-peak portal,  the mighty River churn 1989
121 藥徑深紅蘚Dark red moss on the herb trail  1999
120 黑雲翻墨未遮山 Black clouds like freshly spread ink have not yet covered the mountains 1999
107 迴臨飛鳥上 Above the birds 1997
106 大氣昇旋天壤寂 The great rising leaves emptiness 1997
119 有月即登臨 Climb high when the moon appears 1999
122. 觀自在 Serenely reflecting upon oneself  2001
123. 延年Extending the years 2004
124. 寧靜致遠 Only with peace of mind can one achieve something 2003
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