Prof. Jin Shang Yi has been regarded as one of the most important founders of the Chinese style of oil painting in the 20^th century. He’s made outstanding contributions by employing oil painting, which is an imported art form, to depict Chinese lives and portrait Chinese people; his art works have become the representatives of contemporary Chinese oil painting. As an artist who insists on taking initiatives to explore new techniques in figure painting, especially, portrait painting, Prof. JIN has made unique reflections on some important themes in contemporary art, for example, people and time, western oil painting and Chinese spirit, amongst many others. His masterpieces at different times, including the Tajik bride, the Young Female Singer, the Senior Huang Bin Hong, and the Monk Painter Kun Can, brought freshness and profoundness to the 1980s painting, which enabled him to become the leading figure of the classic realistic school of Chinese painting; the artistic ideas he advocated and his art practices have influenced a generation of young Chinese painters, nurturing their artistic explorations and growths.

Prof. Jin Shang Yi was born in Jiaozuo, Henan Province, and graduated from the Department of Painting, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, in 1953. In 1955, he went to the previous Soviet Union and studied oil painting under the Soviet master Konstantin Maksimov. He was President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Chairman of the China Artists Association, member of the Art Group of the Degree Committee of the State Council, Director of the Art Education Committee of the Ministry of Education, doctoral supervisor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and standing member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Currently, he serves as Honorary Chairman of the China Artists Association, and honorary member of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. For his outstanding contributions in art creation and teaching, Prof. Jin Shang Yi was awarded the title of “State-class Expert” by the State Council, and was entitled a special allowance by the Central Government.

The art works of Prof. Jin Shang Yi bear both signatures of his personal artistic growth and marks of time and societal evolutions. On the one hand, he persevered to study the artistic language and expressiveness of western oil painting; on the other, he actively explores the Chinese characteristics of oil painting; as a result, he is able to achieve a perfect fusion of the essences of western techniques and forms in oil painting and the Chinese cultures and spirit. Under his painting brushes, the yellow-skinned faces of the Chinese people and laborers demonstrate unique beauty and vitality in the art form of western paintings. His art works have won many awards nationally and internationally, and been taken into collections by organizations such as the National Art Museum of China, and by individuals. While serving as president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, he completed the discipline structure of the fine art program and the art history programand, in light of the new century developments, he led the Academy to open the programs of design and architecture, making the Central Academy of Fine Arts the leading institution in China’s art education. As an art educator, Prof. Jin has made outstanding contributions in the establishing of China’s art education system. In 2016, as a highly respected figure in the Chinese art world, highly influential artist, and deeply committed educator and philanthropist, Prof. Jin established the Jin Shang Yi Art Foundation to support art education, art exhibition and exchanges, assistance of art talents, and publication of art documentations and booklets.