Ya Ming

Chinese, 1924 - 2002

BiographyYa Ming, born in 1924, was originally named Ye Jiabin. He is a native of Hefei in Anhui province. He came from a poor family and joined the army at age fifteen, and subsequently enrolled at the Huainan Art College. Upon graduation he did propaganda work as a cartoonist. He also served as a reporter, art editor, and chief editor for several magazines, and he designed woodblock prints, New Year's pictures, and illustrations.

His move to Nanjing in the 1950s initiated a new course in his artistic career. He began doing traditional painting, first with figure painting.

In 1960, Ya Ming joined a group of Jiangsu artists, led by Fu Baoshi (1904-1965), took a sketching trip to six provinces visiting all the famous mountains and rivers in China. Ya Ming greatly benefited from the exposure to the grand scenery as well as the other great artists. When the works from their journey were exhibited in Beijing the following year, Ya Ming's paintings of Huangshan (Yellow Mountains) and the Yangzi gorges were much admired. In the 1970s his frequent and extensive trips to some of China's most scenic areas (the Yangzi gorges, Huangshan, Mount Omei, Hua Shan, Tai Shan, among others) resulted in some excellent works.
Ya Ming, like other Chinese artists who had been condemned during the Cultural Revolution, underwent rehabilitation in 1972. After six or seven years of inactivity, the outpourings of new paintings he produced yielded astounding quality and maturity.

Ya Ming's highly energetic landscapes derive from what he has learned from nature combined with traditional landscape painting methods.

Ya Ming is a famous contemporary artist of China. His works will enrich our collection of contemporary paintings.

Person TypeIndividual