A major exhibition may go some way to highlighting the talent and vision of an extraordinary artist who, for too long, has been in the shadow of other luminaries. Hsiung Ping-ming (1922-2002) was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, and lived in France for 55 years until his death. His name deserves to be uttered in the same breath as his peers who were also trained in China and France, such as Wu Guanzhong, Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun and Sanyu (Chang Yu).
Hsiung, unlike them, was not a career artist, although he exhibited a great deal. He taught Chinese culture, philosophy and calligraphy at the Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations of the New Sorbonne University (Paris III), for nearly 30 years until his retirement in 1989.
Despite his teaching commitments, Hsiung never relinquished a chance to draw, paint or sculpt. His artworks display the influence of art movements then prevalent in Europe, such as formalism, cubism and expressionism. They also reveal the scope and depth of the studies he undertook on Chinese literature, philosophy and calligraphy, which added a philosophical hue to his work.
Yang Zhenning, the Nobel Prizewinning theoretical physicist and a friend of Hsiung since childhood, acknowledges Hsiung as "a man of versatility, an artist and also a literati".
Yang says Hsiung's body of work reflects "tenacity and the Chinese spirit of sacrifice".
