Mon Van Genechten (1903-1974)

"Fang Xisheng is the Chinese name of the Flemish missionary-artist Mon Van Genechten, C.I.C.M. (1903-1974). Before leaving as a missionary to China, he was a student of the famous etcher Dirk Baksteen and mastered the techniques of mural painting under the guidance of the well-known masters Sir Frank Brangwijn and Maurice Denis. Upon his arrival in China, he was given the task to master the techniques of Chinese traditional arts and crafts and to make the Gospel acceptable among the Chinese population. Afterwards he was assigned as professor in the arts at the Catholic University of Beijing. He continued to practice Chinese painting under the guidance of the famous scholar-artist Pu Xinyu." "His first work, when he was still in Flanders, testify to the sense of humanity, compassion and popular wit that is so typical of his artistic tradition. He learnt the Chinese painting techniques the hard way, and this apprenticeship caused a certain stiffness or conventionality in the works he produced during this period. The mission he had, to produce "religious paintings", reinforced this tendency. At the same time, the discipline of Chinese painting greatly softened and enriched his sense of line and landscape, and his drawings were gradually filled with the spirit, with the cosmic feature, which Chinese painting aims at expressing. But the most striking feature of Mon Van Genechten's artistic evolution was his coming back to the popular, compassionate vein that characterized his first works, without losing what he had learnt during his Chinese apprenticeship."--BOOK JACKET.