Painter and educator Jiang Caiping.[Photo provided to China Daily]
Zhao Ji, or Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), remains infamous as one of history's least devoted rulers. He turned away from state affairs in favor of art and literature. Yet, several paintings attributed to him are now regarded as masterpieces, including Plum and Birds, beside which he inscribed a four-line poem:
"Mountain birds show off an easy grace; plum blossoms present a tender charm.
We've made a pact through these painted forms; for a thousand years, we point to the white-headed birds."
It is believed that the emperor used the white-headed birds as a metaphor for enduring love, while also revealing his own lifelong attachment to painting.
Centuries later, Jiang Caiping (1934-2026) quoted the second half of Zhao Ji's poem to open an article, reflecting on her own career. Written when she was 79, the piece looked back on more than six decades devoted to classical Chinese painting and art education.
That inspired staff members at the Beijing Fine Art Academy while organizing an exhibition in memory of Jiang in the academy's art museum. Titled A Promise with Painting, the ongoing exhibition, which runs through May 24, presents more than 60 paintings and drawings, as well as manuscripts, diaries and videos. Together, they trace her lifelong effort to preserve Chinese painting, from documenting ordinary lives to exploring the possibilities of handmade pigments.
Works by painter and educator Jiang Caiping on show at the exhibition A Promise with Painting: Li Qingzhao.[Photo provided to China Daily]
In many ways, Jiang seemed destined to become a painter. She once recalled that her mother had been pregnant with her while studying at an art education school in Kaifeng, Henan province. Among the teachers there was the respected painter, calligrapher and educator Xie Ruijie (1902-2000).
"My mother said that Xie encouraged her to study fine arts in Shanghai, but she gave up the dream after my younger sister was born," Jiang recalled. Years later, both sisters entered art colleges. Jiang enrolled at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where she continued teaching until retiring in 1989.
She often remembered her mother's encouragement. "She strongly supported our decision to study art… she herself later studied the flower-and-bird style of classical Chinese painting for years."
Works by painter and educator Jiang Caiping on show at the exhibition A Promise with Painting: Kapok.[Photo provided to China Daily]
At college, Jiang studied under several prominent figures of the 20th century, such as Jiang Zhaohe (1904-86), a renowned artist of figure painting who made the 12-meter-long epic scroll Liumin Tu (Refugees) — now housed in the collection of the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. Jiang once said that "the desolate, solemn mood in the painting, with the immense compassion for those suffering during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), was deeply moving for everyone who saw it".
In her own time, she carried forward that same concern for ordinary people. She painted farmers and factory workers, and traveled widely through ethnic villages to portray local residents and their surroundings.
Works by painter and educator Jiang Caiping on show at the exhibition A Promise with Painting: The Night of San Yue San Festival.[Photo provided to China Daily]
Beginning in 1977 and continuing for nearly three decades, Jiang journeyed through counties, towns and villages inhabited by different ethnic groups. She admired not only "the vigorous beauty of their costumes and dwellings", but also the balance she observed between people and nature.
"Some ethnic groups do not have a written language," she once said. "So they embroider their history into their clothing, or preserve it through customs. In these people and their surroundings, I saw a grand fusion of Chinese civilization stretching back thousands of years. Isn't that fusion itself a kind of sublime beauty?"
Tian Liming, the celebrated painter who once studied under Jiang, says her work elevated everyday people through brush and color. "By bringing ordinary people to life in her paintings, she gave form to a nation's spirit and celebrated truth and kindness," he says.
Another important part of Jiang's artistic world was her study of color in traditional Chinese painting and, later, her experiments with synthetic pigments after retirement.
Works by painter and educator Jiang Caiping on show at the exhibition A Promise with Painting: Moon.[Photo provided to China Daily]
While still a student, she spent four months copying Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) murals at Yongle Palace, a Taoist temple complex in Shanxi province. The experience sparked her fascination with color arrangements in Chinese art.
Visits to Europe and Japan in the 1980s further broadened her thinking. She began experimenting with ways to enrich the palette of Chinese painting, drawing from both natural materials and modern artificial methods.
Jiang often noted that ancient painters worked with a limited range of pigments, yet still achieved remarkable richness through subtle combinations. She especially admired the Dunhuang murals, where gentle blends of green and ocher, touched with red and blue, reflected what she described as the "Chinese aesthetic pursuit of harmony".
The distinctive blue that appears repeatedly in her paintings emerged from years of experimentation. She often placed the color in unexpected areas, such as flower petals, to create an atmosphere of calm grace. In one work displayed in the exhibition, the leaves of a banana plant are painted blue, while the leaves behind them recede into gray and black. The restrained contrasts heighten the quiet mood of the scene.
Her interest in pigments may also have reflected the influence of her father, who taught chemistry at a university. Jiang often approached painting with the curiosity of a researcher.
One of her diary pages from 2012, included in the exhibition, captures the discipline of her daily practice: "Today I'm drawing legs. Legs never turn out right for me. After studying (my own legs) in the mirror for a while, I managed to draw them more accurately …There will be a figure skating competition on television, which may help me study the female athletes' legs as well."
She frequently recalled the advice of another mentor from her college years, the celebrated painter Li Keran (1907-89): "To have the heart of a poet, the mind of a philosopher, the perspective of a scientist, and the skill of an acrobat."
"This has been the lifelong motto of my artistic journey," she said.
