Ge Xiaoguang
{{Short description|Chinese artist (born 1953)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{family name hatnote|Ge|lang=Chinese}}
Ge Xiaoguang ({{zh|c=葛小光}}; born 1953 in Beijing), is a Chinese artist best known for painting the massive 6 x 4.6-meter portrait of Mao Zedong that hangs at Tiananmen Gate in Tiananmen Square.{{cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/2009-09/17/content_8702365.htm|author=Qian Yanfeng|title=Painter for the People|work=China Daily|date=17 September 2009|accessdate=12 December 2009}}
Education and training
Ge Xiaoguang graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Capital Normal University, and in 1971, was employed by Beijing Fine Arts Company (renamed Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group in 1997){{cite web|url=http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/20090409/17276084203.shtml|title=歌华：争做世界一流文化供应商|work=Sina.com|date=9 April 2009|accessdate=12 December 2009}} where he began to study large-scale portrait painting from Wang Guodong.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-14-fg-mao14-story.html|author=Ching-Ching Ni|title=Mao is Their Canvas|work=Los Angeles Times|date=14 September 2006|access-date=12 December 2009}} In 1971, Ge also became responsible for painting gigantic portraits of Sun Yat-sen, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin for display in the Tiananmen Square.{{cite web|url=http://www.chinesebusinessworld.com/btm/issue71/64-65.html |author=Kong Hui |title=Painting by Ladder and Crane |work=Chinese Business World |accessdate=12 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708145207/http://www.chinesebusinessworld.com/btm/issue71/64-65.html |archivedate=8 July 2011 }}
Mao Portrait
In 1976, the year of Mao Zedong's death, Wang Guodong retired and Ge Xiaoguang took his place in 1977 as the author of Mao's portrait at Tiananmen Gate, which must be re-painted and re-hung yearly due to the effects of weather and air pollution.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-sep-14-fg-mao14-story.html|author=Ching-Ching Ni|title=Mao is Their Canvas|work=Los Angeles Times|date=14 September 2006|access-date=12 December 2009}} It is a job that Ge Xiaoguang continues to this day in a studio located near Tiananmen Square. He is also an artist of landscape paintings.
See also
{{Portal|Biography}}
References
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External links
- [http://news.artron.net/show_news.php?newid=88412 Four Painters Tell Their Stories of Painting Leaders' Portraits]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080512094136/http://news.xinhuanet.com/collection/2007-06/25/content_6286733.htm Deciphering The Ever Changing Portrait of Chairman Mao at Tiananmen]
- [http://english1.cri.cn/2008/2004-9-28/96@155519.htm Photographs of the yearly rehanging of Mao Zedong's portrait] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707023609/http://english1.cri.cn/2008/2004-9-28/96@155519.htm |date=7 July 2011 }}
- [http://www.hjcun.com/html/200909/28/092818394.htm Ge Xiaoguang]
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Category:Chinese portrait painters
Category:Painters from Beijing
Category:Capital Normal University alumni