Zhang Hongtu
Zhang Hongtu (Chinese, born 1943), Wang Jian-Cezanne, 2000, oil on canvas, 48 x 34 in. Schwartz Art Collection, Harvard Business School, 2001.10.
Zhang Hongtu was born into a Muslim family in Pingliang, Gansu Province, China in 1943, and came of age during the Cultural Revolution. He graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, Beijing, and immigrated to the United States in 1982, where he went on to study at the Art Students League in New York. He currently lives in New York, and works in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, and ceramics. His work explores themes such as cultural exchange, and also reflects on his experience as a Muslim living in China, as well as an immigrant living in New York. In this painting, Zhang paints a traditional Chinese landscape in the style of Post-Impressionist French artist Paul CĂ©zanne, visualizing the interchange between East and West.