Liao Jingwen

Liao Jingwen (Chinese: 廖靜文; April 1923 – 16 June 2015) was assistant to and third wife of artist Xu Beihong. After his death in 1953, she served as head of the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum and the curator of his extensive art collection.[1]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Liao.
Liao Jingwen
廖静文
Liao Jingwen painted by Xu Beihong
BornApril 1923
Liuyang, Hunan, Republic of China
Died16 June 2015(2015-06-16) (aged 92)
Beijing, People's Republic of China
NationalityChinese
EducationJinling Women's College, Chengdu
OccupationMuseum curator and manager, writer, calligrapher
Known forCuration of Xu Beihong's art collection
Liao Jingwen
Traditional Chinese廖靜文
Simplified Chinese廖静文

Early life

Liao was born in 1923 to a family of intellectuals in Liuyang, though their ancestral home was Changsha, Hunan.[1] After leaving high school, she traveled to Guilin, where she saw an advertisement for an administrator at the China Academy of Art at its wartime base in Chongqing.[2] Liao took the position in 1943, whilst also enrolling in the arts and sciences institute of Jinling Women's College that had also set-up a campus in Chengdu.[1] During this time, she worked for several famous artists, including Xu Beihong.[2]

Career

Liao met Xu Beihong in 1945. The two married and Liao worked as Xu's assistant until his death in 1953.[1] After his death, Liao gifted over 1200 of Xu's artistic works to the Chinese state, as well as over 1000 pieces of historical art and thousands of books.[1] Between 1953 and 1956, Liao studied Chinese culture at Peking University.[1]

In 1957, Liao became the head curator and researcher at the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum (Chinese: 徐悲鸿纪念馆).[1] During the Cultural Revolution, Xu art was identified with capitalism and students repeatedly tried to destroy the collections at the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum. Liao herself was beaten severely several times defending the artworks. She eventually sent a letter via her son to Zhou Enlai, requesting protection for the collection and they were taken to the Forbidden City for safe-keeping.[2] The memorial museum was shut down in 1967 to make way for a subway, however, Liao wrote to Mao Zedong in 1972 to request that another venue be found for it.[2] Despite receiving words of encouragement from Zhou Enlai that the museum should be reopened, it took Liao over 10 years of negotiation with government officials and planning before a new memorial museum was opened in 1983 in Xinjiekou, Beijing.[2] In 1982, she had also completed her memoir of Xu's life. The book has been translated into English, published as Xu Beihong: Life of a Master Painter, as well as French and Japanese.[3]

Later life

Liao worked as head of Xu Beihong Institute of Painting (Chinese: 中国徐悲鸿画院) and participated in the committee of the All-China Women's Federation, representing them at the seventh and eighth sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.[1] She was also a trustee of the Xu Beihong International Foundation.[4]

Her calligraphy was exhibited around China in 2015 as part of an exhibition for the 120th anniversary of Xu Beihong's birth.[5]

Written works
  • Liao 廖, Jingwen 静文 (1987). Xu Beihong: Life of a Master Painter. Translated by Zhang Peiji. Beijing: Foreign Language Press. ISBN 0835115518.

Personal life

Liao had two children with Xu Beihong: a son called Qingping (Chinese: 庆平), born in 1947; and a daughter called Fangfang (Chinese: 芳芳), born in 1948.[2] After 1953, Liao also raised Xu's other two children from his marriage to Jiang Biwei.[2]

References

Notes
  1. Huai (2015), p. 11.
  2. Yang (2015), p. 102.
  3. Xu 許, Zhuo 啄 (17 July 2006). "徐悲鴻夫人廖靜文的書房" [The study of Xu Beihong's wife, Liao Jingwen]. People's Daily Overseas Version (in Chinese). Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  4. Wong, Gertrude Cheng (8 January 1997). "Xu Beihong International Foundation". Xu Beihong.org. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  5. Yang 杨, Fan 帆 (24 August 2015). "大师作品云集 "永远的徐悲鸿"巡展成都开幕" [Travelling exhibition "Eternal Xu Beihong" opens in Chengdu and brings works by great masters together]. Xu Beihong Arts and Culture Center (in Chinese).

Works cited
  • Huai 怀, Pu 蒲 (2014). "廖静文逝世" [Liao Jingwen has passed away]. Meishu 美术 (in Chinese) (8): 11. doi:10.13864/j.cnki-1311/j.001001.
  • Yang 杨, Xianrang 先让 (2014). "悼廖静文馆长" [In memory of the head of the museum, Liao Jingwen]. Meishu 美术 (in Chinese) (8): 102–103. doi:10.13864/j.cnki.cn11-1311/j.001127.
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