He Youzhi (1922~2016), born in Shanghai, Zhenhai, Ningbo, Zhejiang, is a famous comic book master and line drawing master in my country. He began to paint comics in 1949 and worked at Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House. He has been engaged in the creation of comics for more than 50 years, and has created more than 100 comic books, making a significant contribution to the creation of comics and line drawing art in my country.
Former editor of Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, he was seconded to the Central Academy of Fine Arts as a professor in 1980, and later became the fourth executive director of the China Artists Association, the director of the Comic Art Committee of the China Artists Association, and the vice committee of the Comic Art Research Association of the China Publishers Association. Chief, the fourth vice chairman of the Shanghai Artists Association, the second vice chairman of the Chinese Comic Strip Research Association, the deputy director of the Shanghai Artists Association, a member of the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (graduate tutor), Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House Editors and other positions, enjoy the special allowance of the State Council.
His full-length comic book “The Great Changes in the Mountain and Countryside” created in the 1960s is a masterpiece of milestone significance. In that era, it was composed of He Youzhi’s comic strips, Qi Baishi’s reform Danqing, Lin Fengmian’s Chinese and Western Miaohe, Pan Tianshou’s literati painting variants, Ye Qianyu’s dance sketches, Huang Yongyu’s “Ashima” prints, and Li Keran’s sketches of the Yangtze River. The art wave of China shocked, awakened and influenced a generation of Chinese artists.
He Youzhi’s works have been collected by the National Art Museum of China, Shanghai Art Museum, and Guangzhou Art Museum. They were awarded by the Shanghai Municipal Government and won the first “Chinese Art Award·Lifetime Achievement Award”. He has also taught at the Nanyang Academy of Arts in Singapore and the Advanced Image Academy of Angola, France; he was awarded the Certificate of Honorary Citizenship of Angola, France. His works have held “He Youzhi Art Exhibition” in France, Germany, Singapore, Britain, Norway, Switzerland, South Korea, Hong Kong, Shanghai Art Museum, Guangzhou Art Museum and other places.
Selected works
