Veteran of art leaves deep spiritual legacy

Huang, a self-taught artist and former professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, witnessed the progress of Chinese art throughout the 20th century, and he himself took an active part in the course. He worked with, and befriended, influential personas in the circles of arts and culture. And the accomplishments came from his perseverance in self-learning and hard work.

Born to a family in destitution, Huang finished primary school and in his early teens, he left his hometown to seek a better living.

He wondered from place to place to take on different jobs to support himself: apprentice at ceramics factories, schoolteacher, prop designer at theater troupes and magazine illustrator.

Meanwhile, his interest in reading and painting formed in childhood developed into a will to establish a career as an artist and writer. Coping with life hardships and social instability, he honed skills in art and especially, achieved some fame as a woodcut artist.

"During wartime, when I heard guns and bombs, I immediately grabbed a backpack and ran for my life," Huang once recalled. "I carried these things around, as I moved from one place to another during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and throughout the decades afterward. I have never parted with them. They are like my bones, documenting part of my history."