Yang Ling-fu

Yang was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu, the daughter of Yang Zhongji,{{Cite news|date=1937-07-04|title=13 Water Colorists Hold Exhibition at Oakland Gallery|pages=36|work=Oakland Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89153763/13-water-colorists-hold-exhibition-at/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} a government official and diplomat. Her older brother, {{Interlanguage link|Yang Shounan|lt=Yang Shounan|zh|楊壽枏}}, was a poet, editor, government official, and industrialist.

Yang won a scholarship to study art in Philadelphia in 1924;{{Cite news|date=1945-02-03|title=Renowned Artist to Show Her Chinese Paintings at Junior College Art Gallery|pages=3|work=The Californian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89153303/renowned-artist-to-show-her-chinese/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} she returned to Philadelphia in 1926,{{Cite news|date=1926-10-27|title=Chinese Artist Here from East|pages=8|work=Times Colonist|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89156241/chinese-artist-here-from-east/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} in connection with the Philadelphia Exposition of 1926.{{Cite news|date=1937-06-30|title=Lecturer to Tell Story of China with Doll Exhibit|pages=7|work=Oakland Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89154283/lecturer-to-tell-story-of-china-with/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1926-10-30|title=Chinese Poet Visits City on Way to Sesqui|pages=26|work=Star Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89155101/chinese-poet-visits-city-on-way-to/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} She also studied and taught in Peking. As a young artist she won medals from presidents Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/5edwhoswhoinchina00shanuoft|title=Who's who in China; biographies of Chinese leaders|date=1936|publisher=Shanghai China Weekly Review|pages=272|via=Internet Archive}}

Yang was commissioned to make life-sized portraits of Manchu emperors and empresses for the Palace Museum of Mukden in the 1920s. She worked as a curator{{Cite news|last=Billheimer|first=Ruth|date=1937-03-21|title=Noted Chinese Artist Found in Kitchen Making Pancakes|pages=17|work=The Pasadena Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89154933/noted-chinese-artist-found-n-kitchen/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} and was president of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts. She also wrote novels, poetry, and a book on Chinese cookery.{{Cite book|last=Yang|first=Ling-Fu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RL1QAQAAIAAJ|title=Mei Shu Shih Pʻu|date=1939|publisher=Yang Ling-Fu|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Yang|first=Ling-Fu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cvfmHAAACAAJ&q=Yang+Ling-fu|title=Painting and poetry of Yang Ling Fo|date=1989|language=zh}}

Yang moved to the United States before World War II. In 1936,{{Cite news|date=1936-07-22|title=Carnival Chinese|pages=2|work=The Vancouver Sun|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89162672/carnival-chinese/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} she presented an exhibit of Chinese art at the Canadian Jubilee Exposition in Vancouver.{{Cite news|date=1939-04-23|title=Chinese Art Authority Coming Here|pages=49|work=Oakland Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89156448/chinese-art-authority-coming-here/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} She lectured and exhibited her watercolor paintings in California.{{Cite news|date=1945-02-09|title=Ling-fu Yang Ends Talk on China with Finger Painting of Local Plum Blossoms|pages=9|work=The Californian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89154777/ling-fu-yang-ends-talk-on-china-with/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1952-05-29|title=Gima Shows Work of Two Visitors|pages=17|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89155367/gima-shows-work-of-two-visitors/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} She taught language, art, and cooking classes in various settings, including at the University of California, Stanford University{{Cite news|date=1943-09-23|title=Stanford Teaches Art of Chinese Cooking|pages=21|work=The Sacramento Bee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89154669/stanford-teaches-art-of-chinese-cooking/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=October 12, 1943|title=Cooking Class to Continue|page=6|work=Stanford Daily|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-12-1943-2824900/|access-date=November 18, 2021|via=NewspaperArchive.com}} and the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio in Monterey.{{Cite web|title=Ling-Fu Yang - Biography|url=https://www.askart.com/artist/Ling_Fu_Yang/11008135/Ling_Fu_Yang.aspx|access-date=2021-11-18|website=askART}} She created a set of handmade dolls to illustrate her lectures on Chinese art, and sometimes demonstrated finger painting{{Cite news|date=1949-09-08|title=Chinese Artist Gives Demonstration of Finger Painting|pages=6|work=The Modesto Bee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89155855/chinese-artist-gives-demonstration-of/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1937-11-28|title=Chinese Art Lecture at City Club; Yang Ling-Fu will Show Paintings at Relief Program|pages=26|work=Oakland Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89156091/chinese-art-lecture-at-city-club-yang/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} played a flute,{{Cite news|date=1937-04-26|title=Chinese Princess Praises Children|pages=7|work=The Pasadena Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89162382/chinese-princess-praises-children/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} or wore Chinese gowns at her lecture appearances.{{Cite news|date=1944-03-22|title=Chinese Artist Speaks to Soroptimist Club|pages=9|work=The Modesto Bee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89155661/chinese-artist-speaks-to-soroptimist/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} She also made fundraising appeals for Chinese war relief and refugees.{{Cite news|date=1941-05-21|title=Demonstrations of Paintings Will Mark Art Display Here|pages=4|work=The Modesto Bee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89162791/demonstrations-of-paintings-will-mark/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1937-10-13|title=Chinese Art Exhibit to Benefit Refugees|pages=4|work=Oakland Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89162743/chinese-art-exhibit-to-benefit-refugees/|access-date=2021-11-18|via=Newspapers.com}} As a poet, she was associated with Poets of the Pacific, a multi-ethnic, multi-national group with an anti-modernist literary emphasis.{{Cite book|last=Filreis|first=Alan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QvWZ56DGddUC&dq=%22Lingfu+Yang%22&pg=PA202|title=Counter-revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-1960|date=2012-09-01|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-1-4696-0663-7|pages=202|language=en}}

Yang wrote a memoir, Sketch of Players, in the 1970s, including her oft-told anecdote about sending a pacifist poem to Adolf Hitler.{{Cite news|date=May 16, 1974|title=Carmel Closeup: Ling-fu Yang; An Inside Glimpse of Old China|page=17|work=Carmel Pine Cone|url=https://archive.org/details/ccarm_004100/page/n15/mode/2up?q=Yang+%22Ling-fu%22|access-date=November 18, 2021|via=Internet Archive}} She died in Carmel, California, in 1978.

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• [http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/_resources/images/ergen/ergen1062.pdf A letter from Ling-fu Yang to Eleanor Roosevelt], seeking help with immigration matters; in the FDR Library collection at Marist College.

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Category:1889 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:20th-century Chinese women artists

Category:Chinese women poets

Category:20th-century Chinese women educators

Category:20th-century Chinese educators

Category:People from Wuxi