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Chinese Blacksmith

Artist Muli Tang (Chinese, born 1947)

Date1976

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsFrame: 27 1/2 × 23 inches (69.9 × 58.4 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Andrew Byong-Soo Kim, MBA 1963, and Wan Kyun Rha Kim

Terms

Paintings
Oil
Working class
Men
Canvas
Chinese

Object number2004.038.006

Label CopyDuring the Cultural Revolution, many young artists were encouraged to paint portraits of the workers they encoun-tered while living in the rural areas. Such images portray the dignity and admiration afforded to manual laborers by Communist ideology. Tang Muli taught himself during this period by studying art books, and later received formal training at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. After completing his master’s degree in 1980, Tang taught briefly at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, then won a scholarship to study abroad. He attended the Royal Academy of Art in London, and traveled extensively to study masterpiece paintings firsthand. From 1985–89, he was an artist-in-residence at Cornell. Tang Muli now resides in Montreal.

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