Speaker: Xu Huiquan, Vice President of the Gongbi Painting Society of China; Deputy Director of the Comic and Illustration Art Committee of the China Artists Association; Executive Director of the China Painting Society; Honorary Director of the Jiangsu Art Museum; Vice Chairman of the Nanjing Federation of Literary and Art Circles; Chairman of the Nanjing Artists Association; juror of the 13th and 14th National Art Exhibitions and the National Arts Fund; recipient of the Jiangsu May 1st Labor Medal and a State Council Special Allowance expert. His works are collected by institutions including the National Museum of China, the National Art Museum of China, and the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution.

On Tuesday, April 14, 2026, renowned Chinese painter Xu Huiquan delivered a special academic lecture at the School of Fine Arts, Nanjing Normal University. Centered on the theme of “Ink, Color Ink, and Ink-Color,” the lecture traced the traditional foundations and modern transformation of Chinese figure painting, analyzed major contemporary stylistic approaches, and, through the lens of Xu’s own artistic practice, presented a pathway for both inheritance and innovation in Chinese painting.
During the lecture, Xu revisited the historical position of figure painting within Chinese art. He noted that Chinese art history has long been dominated by landscape and bird-and-flower painting. Although figure painting had already reached maturity before the Tang dynasty, it remained on the margins of the orthodox canon. Traditional figure painting emphasizes expressive imagery over structural modeling, forming a clear contrast with Western realist systems.
Focusing on the modernization of Chinese figure painting in the twentieth century, Xu outlined two major systems. The Xu–Jiang system, grounded in Western sketching and anatomical study, emphasizes realistic modeling and expressive vitality, becoming the dominant mode in thematic figure painting. In contrast, the Zhejiang school, represented by Fang Zengxian, removes strong light-and-shadow modeling and integrates the expressive brushwork of freehand bird-and-flower painting, aligning more closely with Eastern aesthetic sensibilities.
Drawing on his own artistic development, Xu described three major stylistic transformations: from ink painting to color ink, and then to ink-color. His early ink phase followed the Zhejiang tradition, establishing a solid foundation in classical brushwork. In the color ink phase, he experimented with mixed media such as acrylic and spray techniques, enhancing chromatic expression and forming a distinctive personal style. In the ink-color phase, he returned to an Eastern-oriented approach, taking ink as the structural basis and color as a supplementary element, shifting from additive to reductive methods and pursuing the principle that “what is appropriate is best.”
Xu emphasized integration rather than rupture, advocating a synthesis in which Chinese brush-and-ink serves as the foundation while Western color enriches expression. Through this approach, he seeks innovation across historical and cultural boundaries. Art theorist Shao Dazhen has described his work as “an outstanding creation grounded in a broad absorption of artistic traditions from China and beyond, past and present.” Xu further stressed that the core of the modern transformation of Chinese painting lies in establishing cultural subjectivity—maintaining a perspective rooted in one’s own cultural position, in Chinese tradition, and in contemporary reality.
Combining theoretical depth with practical insight, the lecture offered a clear framework and meaningful inspiration for the contemporary development of Chinese figure painting.