Nie Ou

Nie Ou (Chinese: 聶鷗; born 1948) is a Chinese artist known for her ink wash paintings that depict rural scenes.

Nie Ou
Born	1948 (age 72–73) Shenyang, Liaoning
Nationality	China
Education	China Central Academy of Fine Arts
Style	Ink wash

Biography

Nie Ou was born in 1948 in Shenyang, Liaoning province.[1] In 1954, her family moved to Beijing.[1]

Nie studied with Xu Beihong, Li Keran, Li Kuchan, and Ye Qianyu at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts.[2][3] She completed her postgraduate training there in 1981, and joined the Beijing Painting Academy as a professional painter that year.[1] She married fellow artist Sun Weimin (b. 1946) in 1982.[1][3]

Nie mainly paints in ink and at times in oil.[3] She is known for her works that depict rural life.[3] Observers have noted an evolution in Nie's style since 1985.[3][4] Lucy Lim, curator of the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco, wrote that Nie's art became "more Chinese, less Western" at that time, capturing a "distillation of reality" as is typical of traditional Chinese paintings.[4] Art historian Shao Yiyang described her style as "modern" and "typified by freer brushstrokes." She added that Nie's work demonstrates "a feminine sensitivity, meticulous detail, and ordered calm."[3]

Nie's works are held in the public collections of the British Museum,[5] Hong Kong Museum of Art,[6] Asian Art Museum,[7] CAFA Art Museum,[8] Art Gallery of New South Wales,[9] and Williams College Museum of Art.[10]

References

1. Sullivan, Michael (2006). Modern Chinese artists : a biographical dictionary. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 129. ISBN 0-520-24449-4. OCLC 65644580.
2. "Nie Ou". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. 2011-10-31. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00130621.
3. Shao Yiyang (1998). "Nie Ou". In Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Stefanowska, A. D. (eds.). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women. 2. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 406–407. ISBN 9780765607980.
4. Lim, Lucy; Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco (1991). Six Contemporary Chinese Women Artists. San Francisco: Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco. p. 16. ISBN 0-9609784-1-0. OCLC 25300663.
5. Nie Ou (1991). "Peach Blossom Spring (桃花源)". The British Museum. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
6. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy". Hong Kong Museum of Art. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
7. Nie Ou (1989). "Residents in a Mountain Village". Asian Art Museum. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
8. Nie Ou (1980). "Rain Moisten the Dong Family". CAFA Museum. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
9. Nie Ou (1986). "Zhuyue Mountain After Rain". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
10. Nie Ou (1997). "Mushroom". Williams College Museum of Art. Retrieved 2020-07-08.

Further reading

• Lee, Peter, ed. (1995). Memories: Nie Ou. Hong Kong: Plum Blossoms. ISBN 981-04-0158-2. OCLC 1052133294.
• Teo, Phyllis (2016). Rewriting Modernism: Three Women Artists in Twentieth-Century China: Pan Yuliang, Nie Ou and Yin Xiuzhen. Leiden: Leiden University Press. ISBN 978-90-8728-229-5. OCLC 922682175.