Tiefeng Jiang

(Chinese, b. 1938)

“My paintings are not only pictures: they are also music and poetry that is bewitching, sweet dreams that are being dreamed.”
— Tiefeng Jiang

Tiefeng Jiang’s images strike a universal chord in all of us. Jiang is the creator of the Yunnan School of Painting, one of the most important contemporary movements of abstract art in China. His universal themes radiate love, strength, and emotion understood and recognized by all. The message his art communicates is a reflection of the harmony and peace that all things living should practice daily to achieve. His richly colored compositions contain figurative elements and carefully balanced patterns. With wonderful drawing skill, he can express transparency, revealing more than one level of reality in each painting. Leading the way in contemporary Chinese art, Jiang depicts women, horses, birds, and flowers with brightly colored ink and calligraphic lines. He works mostly in watercolor and serigraphy. Art enthusiasts have been actively collecting his pieces worldwide since the early 1980s.

Tiefeng Jiang was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province in China. He began exploring painting and arts as a small child and knew right away that it was his passion. In 1964, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing where he studied with the renowned Chinese artist, Huang Yong-Yu. Upon graduating, Jiang moved with other artists to the Yunnan province, a lush and tropical region on the Vietnamese border with exotic flora and fauna, and more than 20 different minority peoples.

From 1966 to 1973, a demanding directive and a tedious task suppressed Jiang’s style; the Chinese Government forced him to create “Socialist Realism” propaganda sculptures and posters. Secretly at night, however, the artist disobeyed the government’s mandate for social realism to explore his own style and find some artistic escape and worked on his bed in his small space. He and two other artists founded the Yunnan School in secret (at first called the “Heavy Colorist School”). From 1976 to 1983, Jiang served on the board of directors for the Yunnan branch of the Chinese National Art Association. He was also a member of the Chinese Woodblock Association. Later, Jiang was an instructor and professor at the Yunnan Art Institute. In 1979, the government commissioned him to paint a mural representing the Yunnan Province which they installed in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In 1980, Jiang received second place in an international United Nations competition. The Yunnan School first exhibited their work outside communist China in Hong Kong at the Institute of Art and Design in 1982. The same year a National Geographic reporter who was investigating life in China discovered Jiang’s paintings. The pieces traveled to the United States and became popular. In 1983, Jiang visited the United States on a cultural exchange program through the University of Southern California. Shortly after his program, he permanently moved to the United States in 1984. Since then he has been exhibited and sold in galleries throughout the world and an inspiration for many.

American Fine Art, Inc. is proud to feature the original works and limited editions of Tiefeng Jiang. Visit our 12,000 sq. ft. showroom in Scottsdale, Arizona or call today. Our website is offered only as a limited place to browse or refresh your memory and is not a reflection of our current inventory. To learn more about collecting, pricing, value, or any other art information, please contact one of our International Art Consultants. We look forward to giving you the one on one attention you deserve when building your fine art collection. We hope you find our website helpful and look forward to seeing you in Scottsdale soon.