Biography of Muling Sun

MULING SUN IS A PROMINENT ARTIST IN CHINA. She is a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Art, the leading fine art institute in China, where she studied under Xu Beihong, one of China’s most important 20th century artists. Xu was the first artist to study classical Western painting in Paris in the hopes of revitalizing a stagnant Chinese painting tradition. By pursuing a revitalization of traditional Chinese painting, Sun has become famous for her new style and her techniques in landscape and figure paintings.
Her paintings were exhibited in a number of international art shows and numerous national fine art exhibitions in China and have received favorable responses from overseas and Chinese fine art circles. She seeks perfection and the integration of the western classic painting techniques and the Chinese traditional painting styles. Her paintings focus on the innate feelings that nature, the object, or the environment stimulates in the human heart, not the details of a tree or a grass. She pursues an expression of the theme and the characteristics of different objects, not the mirror image of them. In her oil painting, she applies traditional Chinese painting brush stroke techniques such as line drawing, stylized expressions of shade and texture as well as the dotting methods used mainly to differentiate trees and plants and also for simple embellishment, to the canvas masterfully. She thus formed a unique style to represent color and light in a harmonious mutual reflection. In her Chinese traditional paintings, she applies modern western painting theories in color and light to the use of the Chinese traditional rich brushwork and ink colors, which makes her paintings go far beyond the old ideas and techniques of Chinese painting, truly representing her new style.
Since her start in painting as a teenager, Sun has created outstanding art works that have been exhibited in many national and international exhibitions. Her art works have been published and reported extensively by the public media in China.
Her painting titled “New Figures” was selected and published by the China Art News in 1952. China Art News was the leading nationally circulated newspaper for art in China. The newspaper also published a special article on Sun’s painting.
In 1953, her graduation painting was selected and published by the China Youth Daily, the national newspaper reporting major events among Chinese youth.. In 1955, her landscape titled “A Trail in the Forest” was selected and exhibited in the National Fine Art Exhibition. Liaoning Fine Art, a major newspaper in China, published her painting. Muling Sun, a prominent fine artist in China, has devoted decades to painting. Her paintings were exhibited in a number of international art shows and numerous national fine art exhibitions in China and have received favorable responses from overseas and Chinese fine art circles. She seeks perfection and the integration of the western classic painting techniques and the Chinese traditional painting styles. Her paintings focus on the innate feelings that nature, the object, or the environment stimulates in the human heart, not the details of a tree or a grass. She pursues an expression of the theme and the characteristics of different objects, not the mirror image of them. In her oil painting, she applies traditional Chinese painting brush stroke techniques such as line drawing, stylized expressions of shade and texture as well as the dotting methods used mainly to differentiate trees and plants and also for simple embellishment, to the canvas masterfully. She thus formed a unique style to represent color and light in a harmonious mutual reflection. In her Chinese traditional paintings, she applies modern western painting theories in color and light to the use of the Chinese traditional rich brushwork and ink colors, which makes her paintings go far beyond the old ideas and techniques of Chinese painting, truly representing her new style.
In 1959, her painting titled “The Young Hero” was published by the People’s Daily, the most important nation-wide newspaper in China. From 1959 to the late 1970s, many political events occurred in China, which made true fine art creation very difficult. Sun kept her high spirit and love for fine art and painting during this difficult time. She managed to paint many newspaper plates and illustration paintings for the Chinese newspapers and magazines, including the “Chinese Women” magazine, the China Youth Daily, and other publications. After the end of the cultural revolution in China, Sun’s life in art blossomed again. In 1985, her painting titled the “Scene of Xi Shua Ban Na” (the border area of China and Burma) was selected and exhibited in an elite national fine art exhibition in memory of Mr. Xu Beihong held in the National Fine Art Museum. Her painting was also published by the China Youth Daily. In 1988, her landscape painting titled “Dawn of a Storm” was collected by the China Economic Daily and published in its “Fine Art Painting Collections.” In 1991, her landscape painting titled “Mountains after Rain” was selected and exhibited in the “National Paintings and Calligraphy Exhibition” held in Yinchuan City in China. In 1993, her landscape painting was published by the China Fine Art magazine, (Vol. 11). Her landscape titled “Xiang Xi Scene” was selected and exhibited in the “National Extraordinary Poets, Calligraphers and Fine Artists Exhibition.”
The international fine art community started to recognize Sun’s paintings in the mid 1990's. In 1994, Sun was invited by the Asian Art Coordinating Council to participate in a special fine art exhibition: “Holding Up Half of the Sky: Contemporary Women’s Art From the People’s Republic of China,” held from September 14 through October 22, 1994 in Denver, Colorado. Twenty landscape color paintings by Sun were exhibited. Commentators stated, “Throughout the years, Sun’s personal art style has continued to evolve... (T)he early influences of Xu Beihong affect Sun’s work and she combines Western painting theories with traditional Chinese landscape painting techniques. She strives for a feeling of time and space in her watercolor works on paper.” Sun was subsequently invited to hold individual fine art exhibitions in Spokane in Washington State and in Los Angeles, California. In 1995, Sun’s landscape color paintings “Early Autumn”, “The Gorgeous Yangtze River”, and “Homebound Boats”were selected and published in the “Special Fine Art Collections for the World Women’s Conference” in China. Her landscape color painting titled “A Pavilion Facing the Yangtze River” was collected by the Malaysian Embassy in China in 1997. In 2001, Sun and her painting “This Land So Rich in Beauty” won the Gold Award in the Sixth International Fine Art Exhibition.
Sun’s fine art works are extensively collected in national fine art albums. In 1998, her landscape color painting titled “Scene of Jiang Xi” that was exhibited in the National Fine Art Museum was collected in the fine art album titled Records of Success in Thousand Years. In 1999, her landscape color painting “The New Look of a Ancient Town” was selected to participate in the fine art show organized by the Ministry of Culture and Art of the People’s Republic of China and the China Association for Eminent Persons, and was collected in the fine art albums of the art show. In 2000, her landscape color painting titled “Miles of Sweet Scent” was collected in the “China Most Famous Fine Artists Collection,” a fine art album. In 2001, her landscape color painting titled “the Scene of Yue Yang Pavilion” was collected in the “Fine Art Classics in One Hundred Years in China” art album. In 2001, her landscape color painting titled “The River Bank” was selected and exhibited in the “China Modern Art Exhibition” organized by the China Association of Literature and Art, and was collected in the art album for the exhibition. Her paintings have been collected by art collectors in Europe, the United States, Japan, and other countries.
Her biography and achievements in fine art were published by Who’s Who-China Fine Artists and Calligraphers, Dictionary of Fine Artists and Calligraphers in the Contemporary World, The Encyclopedia of Prominent Chinese Fine Artists, Calligraphers and Their Works, Dictionary of the Chinese Famous Women, Data-base for the Talents in the 21st Century, and other publications.
In recognition of her outstanding contributions to fine art in China, the China National Fine Art Museum retained Sun to be the Deputy Director of Art and Exhibitions from 1976 to 1984. In the fifty years since she first started painting, she has visited almost all areas of China to paint beautiful landscapes. After her retirement, Sun continues to create new works and to try new styles of painting that will better depict this promising new Millennium.