Zhao Zhi Tian
BORN: 1940
HOMETOWN: JINHOU CITY, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA
Professor Zhao Zhi Tian, of Han nationality, was born in Jinhou City, Hebei Province. In 1957 he entered the high school attached to the Central Art College, and in 1960 he started to study in the traditional Chinese painting department of the same college. He was taught under the tutelage of masters Ye Qianyu, Jiang Zhaohe, Li Kuchan, and Liu Lingchang.
After graduating from college in 1965, he was drawn into the Beijing Art Academy as a staff painter, which he continues to do till this day. He is a part-time professor at the Beijing Educational College, a stage grade A artist, a specially invited artist by the Xinhua Academy of Painting and Calligraphy, and a member of the Chinese Artists’ Association.
Unlike many traditional Chinese painters whose main subject of focus tends towards landscapes, birds and fauna, Zhao’s work gravitates toward expressive character portraits, often portraying scenes from Chinese mythology and lore. His paintings have a theatrical element to them, that shows his characters in clear posing and historically accurate costumes. His works such as “Playing Polo”, depict a whimsical play of the game by two fair maidens, most likely members of royalty or of an upper class stature. It is done in a way that makes the whole scene look like it could have taken place in the heavens.
Zhao’s first solo exhibition was at the National Art Museum of China - NAMOC in Beijing in 2007, and most recently the 9th International Symposiom of Contemporary Art at Muzuel de Art Satu Mare in Satu Mare in 2007. Zhao Zhi Tian has been most frequently exhibited in Romania and China. A notable hallmark of exhibitions was another solo exhibition at The National Art Museum of China in Beijing, 2007. Zhao Zhi Tian has been exhibited alongside successful artists like Clay Ward and Yan Chung Hsien.