Liu Wenxi

b. 1933, Shengxian, Zhejiang

Artist, illustrator of bank-notes

In 1953, Liu Wenxu enrolled in the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, from which he graduated in 1958. After graduation, he moved to Xi’an to teach in the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts. In 1984, he became a professor. Among other positions, Liu holds the vice-chairmanship of the Shaanxi chapter of the Chinese Artists’ Association. He has also served as the deputy mayor of Yan’an, and as a delegate to the National People’s Congress.

The people and the scenery of northern Shaanxi have inspired many of Liu’s works. At the same time, Liu is considered to be one of the artists who most frequently have portrayed Mao Zedong.

The Great Leader features in no fewer than fifty-six of Liu’s oil paintings. In Liu’s treatment of Mao, two themes dominate. One is the events that took place during the period when the CCP was based in Yan’an. Another revolves around the close relations Mao had with the masses in that liberated area. In recognition of Liu’s eminence as a Mao portraitist, the People’s Bank of China commissioned him in the late 1990s to design a portrait of Mao Zedong for a new set of currency. The currency went into circulation in 1999 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the PRC. Mao’s head graces the 100-yuan note, the 50, the 20 and the 10 of this, the fifth, set of bank notes that have been released since 1949.

STEFAN LANDSBERGER