Page 150 - 2020 November 30 Bonhams Rev. Richard Fabian Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy Hong Kong

YE QIANYU (1907-1995)
Original name Lunqi, studio names Chumeng, Xingtian, a native of
Tonglu, Zhejiang Province. From a young age, Ye Qianyu developed
a passion for painting, calligraphy, folk and theater arts. He worked in
advertising, textbook illustration, fashion and stage design early in his
career. In 1928 he began creating comics while working as the editor
for the Shanghai Comic Society, later producing two publications of his
comics. In the 1930s, Ye began to make sketches of theater figures.
In the early 1940s, Ye visited the Miao Minority People in Guizhou as
well as India, where he made sketches of local dancers and actors.
They became his main painting subjects for the next three decades;
his figures were carefree, charming, bold, and unrestrained. At the
invitation of Xu Beihong, he taught painting at the Peking Art Academy
in 1947, and later taught Chinese painting at the Central Academy
of Art. During the Cultural Revolution, Ye was persecuted and jailed
for ten years. When he picked up the paintbrush again in the 1970s,
he turned to landscape painting and pioneered an approach fusing
traditional and comic painting styles. After viewing Ye’s exhibition of
Indian dancers, Xu Beihong praised the lightness of his brushwork and
his expression of essential movement.
葉淺予 （1907-1995）
原名綸綺，筆名初萌、性天等，浙江桐廬人。漫畫家，美術教育家。
自幼喜愛書畫、民間和戲劇藝術。早年從事廣告、教科書插圖，時裝
及舞台美術布景設計。一九二八年任上海漫畫社編輯，創作出「王先
生」、「小陳」兩個漫畫人物，將社會世相、人生百態以諷刺漫畫的
形式呈現，語言詼諧、幽默，線條精煉傳神。作品以尖銳的批判意識
和生動的造型，風靡全國，後結集出版為《王先生別傳》和《小陳留
京外史》。一九三九年，與張光宇、丁聰等人在香港成立「香港漫畫
協會」，舉辦以抗日為主題的漫畫展，影響很大。一九四二年，赴貴
州苗族地區寫生，翌年訪問印度，並轉向以舞蹈、 劇人物為主之國
畫創作，畫上人物灑 、嫵媚、奔放。一九四四年，葉淺予在重慶「中
印學會」舉辦畫展，展出其印度所作數十幅，其中以敦煌手法所繪天
竺舞蹈，令人耳目一新。徐悲鴻觀展後曾說「中國此時倘有十個葉淺
予，便是文藝復興時代之來臨了。」一九四七年，應徐悲鴻邀請，葉
淺予北上執教於北平藝術專科學校。一九五四年，出任中央美術學院
中國畫系主任、教授。文革時期葉淺予慘遭批鬥迫害，入冤獄達七年
之久。七十年代後期重拾畫筆，嘗試以國畫與漫畫融合，令其人物畫
以及山水畫創作，都呈現了與以往不同的面貌。

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