Fan Yang is a famous Chinese painter who has devoted himself to his art for decades, producing works on both traditional and contemporary themes. With his brush and ink reflecting the spirit of the times, Fan Yang has chronicled the flourishing prosperity of his motherland. His works, while demonstrating his profound love for fine arts, are also charting China's development path as the country moves from strength to strength.

Fan Yang was born in Hong Kong in 1955. He was brought up by his grandparents in Nantong, a historical town known for its enterprising vigor in Jiangsu. His grandparents taught him the rudiments of Chinese literature and calligraphy. Under the guidance and influence of his uncle Fan Zeng, Fan Yang learned about traditional Chinese painting and fell in love with the art when he was a teenager.

After high school, Fan Yang applied to work at the Nantong Arts and Crafts Research Institute where he had more access to fine art, finally landing a job as a draftsman. He was tasked with copying the figures and scenes of ancient paintings onto silk fabrics for the embroiderers there. However, his heart was set on moving to a greater stage. He once spent a week copying a famous scroll called the "Eighty-Seven Immortals" to hone his craft. His tireless efforts laid the foundation for him to develop as a master of traditional Chinese painting.

Fan Yang's hard work during his student years was well rewarded. In the college entrance exams of 1977, the skills he had acquired over the years won him admission to the Nanjing Normal University. Despite excelling at both traditional Chinese painting and Western oil painting, he chose the former to specialize in without any hesitation. However, the use of light and color in the Western approaches infused and added to his unique artistic style.

In 1982, Fan Yang became a teacher of the landscape and portrait genres of Chinese painting at Nanjing Normal University. As the 6th National Art Exhibition opened two years later, he was eager to try his hand and created a work especially for the exhibition. Titled "Support for the Front," it recreated a scene from the Huaihai Campaign of 1948 – a decisive victory for the Communist Party of China during the nation's civil war. The work depicts people's longing for peace, security and happiness, as well as their enthusiastic support for the People's Liberation Army. The work was a major breakthrough in terms of its artistic approach and choice of subject matter. As a result, the exhibition's panel of judges awarded it a bronze medal, and it later entered China's National Art Museum's permanent collection.

After winning the award, Fan Yang gradually shifted his creative focus. He traveled widely to sketch and record the daily lives of common folks. When he was commissioned to design a set of stamps for the Taihu Lake in 1995, he traveled there and immersed himself in sketching. Within two months, he came up with five stamp designs. After completing the project, the artist created another series for Mount Putuo. Both sets proved highly popular.

Fan Yang has constantly sought to innovate while holding tradition in high regard. To hone his artistic techniques, he pored over the human figures in ancient paintings. He also painted traditional subjects, including the Buddhist arhats – or enlightened followers – clad in red. When depicting scenes of nature, Fan Yang paid great attention to reflecting on people's inner thoughts and emotions, achieving an unpretentious truthfulness imbued with a strong sense of vitality. His "Land of Southern Anhui" series was a sensation in the fine arts world.

Fan Yang was given a bigger role in 2005 when he came to Beijing to serve as director of landscape painting at the Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Painting. The new job provided him with even more opportunities. Working both as a teacher and a painter, he was intent on adhering to his former style. But the change of scene presented new challenges to the veteran artist, so he took every chance to sketch in nature in order to get a better feel of his new environment.

Fan Yang has painted in Shanxi, Guizhou and Hunan, and sketched in almost every province of China. He has produced over 2,000 landscape sketches. According to Fan Di'an, Chairman of China Artists Association, when it comes to landscape painting, Fan Yang has developed a substantial brush-and-ink aesthetic and a grand artistic outlook befitting the contemporary era. Thanks to his prolificacy and originality, Fan Yang stands out as a major innovator of Chinese painting.

Fan Yang has also paid close attention to contemporary history, especially the Olympic movement. By depicting Chinese and foreign sports figures in his works, he has formed a distinctive style embodying the spirit of modern sports through Chinese traditional painting.

While visiting a sports-themed exhibition on the works of Fan Yang in 2016, IOC President Thomas Bach was deeply touched. He invited the artist to mount a solo show at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. In May 2017, the show dubbed "Strength and Beauty, Works of Fan Yang" opened there. This was the first time the venue had hosted a show by a Chinese painter. Afterwards, Fan Yang devoted more energy to creating works related to sports and promoting the Olympic Movement. In 2019, in recognition of his outstanding contributions, he was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Medal by Bach.

Today, as a member of the China National Academy of Painting and a supervisor of its doctoral candidates, Fan Yang is still painting every day and tirelessly exploring the realm of Chinese painting. For him, this time-honored tradition has become inseparable from his identity. He said he looks forward to making greater breakthroughs and accomplishments as his career continues.

He has made it a daily habit to keep track of the news and record major current affairs through traditional Chinese painting. In a period of six years ending in 2019, he created more than 2,000 such works, which he called "Current World" and published in six albums titled "As I Observe." Leafing through these albums, one can relive the news events and see some of the highlights of the current era.