Exhibition sheds light on painter of Lu Xun portrait

Never to Cease Fighting, a portrait of Lu Xun, a leading figure of 20th-century Chinese literature, is familiar to many Chinese people because the painting of him produced in 1971 has frequently been published in school textbooks over the years. But few people know much about its painter Tang Xiaoming, a devoted educator who has long been based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

With a career spanning six decades, Tang, 80, is honorary chairman of the Guangdong Artists Association and has created dozens of portraits both of luminaries like Lu Xun and ordinary people from different walks of life. He exemplifies a realistic approach to painting that used to dominate the Chinese art scene for decades, and the figures he has depicted show the archetypal faces of a country in the throes of progress.

Inscribe the Times, an ongoing exhibition at the National Art Museum of China, which runs through June 16, reviews Tang's explorations in oil painting since his graduation from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1964. It displays his drawings and paintings, and features several classic Tang portraits that he says "reflect certain social situations and the mentality of the time".