Zhang Anzhi was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China in 1911, studying at the National Central University (now Nanjing University) under the Xu Beihong and Lü Fengzi. Under the auspices of Beihong, who was on the board of directors of the Sino-British Boxer Indemnity, Anzhi, along with Beihong's three other students, was sent to England for further fine arts education in 1946, during which time he deepened his knowledge of Western fine art and culture. He held a solo exhibition at the Graves Institute in Sheffield before returning to Peking (Beijing) the following year.
Painter Zhang Anzhi was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China in 1911, studying at the National Central University (now Nanjing University) under the Xu Beihong and Lü Fengzi. Upon graduation, he was appointed assistant professor at the National Central and subsequently associate researcher at the China Academy of Art in Chongqing. Alongside fellow artists Huang Yanghui, Zong Qixiang and Ai Zhongxin, in 1936 he followed Beihong to Guilin in the Guangxi province. Although a part of Nationalist China, Guangxi maintained independence from the central government in Nanjing and the government there executed less censorship over progressive intellectuals and artists than the Nationalists in Nanjing. This group of artists played a crucial role in developing Guilin into a new art centre through publishing journals, organising exhibitions, and elevating local art education (Gu 2020, p. 127). In 1942 Anzhi’s work was included in the MoMA (New York) exhibition Art From Fighting China and was subsequently included in the landmark Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Paintings at the Royal Water-Colour Society’s Galleries in London, which later toured extensively to English provincial cities, including Sheffield, Bath, Birmingham, Darlington, Derby, and Doncaster, among others. The exhibition featured selected works representing the existing schools of modern Chinese painting and was crucial in throwing light on current trends in art in Republican China (Ying-Ling Huang 2019, p. 389).
Under the auspices of Beihong, who was on the board of directors of the Sino-British Boxer Indemnity, Anzhi, along with Beihong's three other students, Chen Xiaonan, Zhang Qianying and Fei Chengwu, was recommended to the Nanking National Government to be sent to England for further fine arts education in 1946. The British Council representative Geoffrey Hedley (d. 1958), who worked in China from 1944 to 1950, was also instrumental in sending the four artists to study in London. The students were funded and looked after by the Universities' China Committee in London (UCCL), an educational charitable trust established in 1925. As a sign of gratitude for the hospitality received, these students presented the UCCL with a group of paintings (sold at auction by Bonhams Hong Kong in 2020). Anzhi studied at the University of London until 1950, during which time he deepened his knowledge of Western fine art and culture and investigated the national characteristics of Chinese culture in a cultural comparison context. In his work, he blended Western naturalism with a traditional Chinese aesthetic and painting techniques. He experimented in different media, including oil painting, ink and watercolour, while his subjects included landscapes, portraits and still lifes. In 1947 he held a solo exhibition at the Graves Institute in Sheffield.
The following year he returned to Peking, where he taught art at the Normal College; from 1956 he was head of art departments in a number of other colleges in Peking and from 1964, he held the position of professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Zhang Anzhi died in the Peoples Republic of China in 1991. In 2018 a large retrospective exhibition was held at the National Art Museum of China, which included 50 paintings donated by his family. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Zhang Anzhi]
Publications related to [Zhang Anzhi] in the Ben Uri Library