Zhang Yu
Lineage & School of Heritage
In 1958, Zhang Yu entered the factory as an apprentice and studied jade carving under Ding Yongren, a celebrated artist of Yangzhou. He also learned the production of lacquerware from such renowned lacquer artists as Liang Guohai and Wang Guozhi, while at the same time taking Jiang Bi, a well-known traditional painter and lacquerware designer of Yangzhou, as his master in the traditional lacquer-finishing craft and in painting.
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
A man of Han ethnicity, he was born in 1944 in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. A national representative bearer of Yangzhou Lacquerware Decoration Craftsmanship, a first-batch national intangible cultural heritage project, a national-level expert with outstanding contributions, and a master of Chinese arts and crafts. Zhang Yu was born into an impoverished family of scholars and was steeped in a cultivated family atmosphere from childhood. In 1985 he went to the Central Academy of Arts and Design for advanced study, where he received the guidance of the eminent artists Wu Guanzhong, Zhang Ding and Ye Qianyu, further improving his theoretical command of art and his capacities for creative design. His works draw upon the strengths of many schools, carry tradition forward and constantly innovate; he excels at applying romantic, exaggerated planar composition to the lacquer arts. He brings a comprehensive cultural cultivation embracing literature, geography and history into his creation of lacquerware, giving his works rich cultural substance. Over a career of nearly fifty years in the craft, he has produced a great quantity of lacquerware. His works have won awards on many occasions; his representative works include Liu Yi Zhuan Shu (The Story of Liu Yi), Zhonghua Hun (The Soul of China), Jiang Tian Yi Lan (A Single View of River and Sky), Hu Shan Die Cui (Layered Verdure of Lakes and Mountains) and Weiyang Shengjing Tu (Scenic Splendors of Yangzhou), among others. In 2011 he revived the precious-shell inlay technique, which had been out of production for nearly thirty years; representative works of this line include Die Wu Jin Qiu (Butterflies Dancing in Golden Autumn) and Siji Fenfang (Fragrance of the Four Seasons).
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
Profile
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。