Au Ho-nien

Au Ho-nien (Chinese: 歐豪年; 1935 – 25 April 2024) was a Chinese painter. He is part of the Lingnan School of painting. In 2019, a solo exhibition of his work was displayed at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. He was born in 1935. He was a student of painter Chao Shao-an. He is representative of ink painters of the Lingnan School, and had considerable influence on ink wash in Taiwan. The subject matter of his creations covers both landscapes and feathers, with rich and varied forms and strong and vivid colors.

Biography

Au Ho-nien was born in Guangdong in 1935. He studied under Zhao Shao'ang from 1952, at age 17, and belonged to the Lingnan School. In 1950, his family moved to Hong Kong. In 1968, he came to Taiwan to hold his first solo exhibition, at the National Museum of History. In the same year, President Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling selected eight of Au's pieces for collection in the Zhongshan Building in Taipei,where they are still on display today. In 1970, when he was 35 years old, Au went to Taiwan to teach at the Chinese Culture University, settling on the island and creating close ties between the Lingnan School of painting and the development history of art education in Taiwan. Beginning several years after settling in Taiwan, Au helped spread Chinese culture to all corners of the globe through his rich experience in international exhibitions.As Taiwan's political situation on the international stage became difficult, Au participated in international art exhibitions as a means of cultural diplomacy, and was a representative of Taiwanese artists during Taiwan's economic boom.

In 1983, he served as a jury member for the National Literature and Art Awards. In 1993, he was bestowed with a Special Award of the Grand Palais in Paris, France, becoming the first Chinese painter to win this honor. In 1994, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Wonkwang University in South Korea. In 1995, he was hired as a director of the Chu Hai College of Higher Education in Hong Kong. In 1999, he won the second Global Outstanding Persons Gold Dragon Award. In June 2016, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from National Dong Hwa University, and in November of the same year, he was also awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In 2000, he established the Au Ho-nien Cultural Foundation, organizing large-scale exhibitions and academic seminars on the Lingnan School.

In 2002, the Au Ho-nien Cultural Foundation donated more than 100 paintings to Academia Sinica to establish the Lingnan Fine Arts Museum. In 2004, the University of Indianapolis established the Au Ho-nien Museum, and in 2005, the Au Ho-nien Art Center (now the Au Ho-nien Art Museum) was established on Chinese Culture University's Yangmingshan Campus in Taipei.

In his later years, he devoted himself to poetry, publishing "A Poem of Yicui Mountain Hall" in 2006. Qin Xiaoyi praised him as a "great master" and all-rounder of poetry, calligraphy, and painting unique in the history of the Lingnan School.

Au's work is characterized by the Lingnan School's use of colors, white space, and skeletal structure, along with a combination of modern and Western elements. In his later years, he integrated poetry and calligraphy into his paintings, earning him a reputation as an artist embodying the humanistic spirit of Eastern cultural tradition. Painter Chu Ko described Au's paintings as having "achieved the realm of one whose ‘mastery has penetrated downward,' which is why he enjoys a great reputation".

Au died on 25 April 2024, at the age of 89.