Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Chang Shuhong
Oil painter who, back from France, went to Dunhuang in 1943 and in 1944 became first director of the National Dunhuang Art Research Institute, leading the protection of the Mogao caves and the copying of their murals.
Mural of the event “The Rise of Dunhuang Studies”, which this person took part in.
The National Dunhuang Art Research Institute, founded in 1944, began full-time management of the Mogao Caves and the copying of their murals. In August 1950 it was renamed the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Institute, with Chang Shuhong as director. In March 1961 the State Council published the first batch of national key sites for protection, which included the Mogao Caves (with the West Thousand Buddha Caves) and the Yulin Caves. The emergency consolidation of the Mogao cliff was carried out in three stages and completed by 1966. In August 1984 the institute was enlarged into the Dunhuang Academy, with Duan Wenjie as president and Chang Shuhong as honorary president, and in December 1987 the Mogao Caves were inscribed on the World Heritage List. The caves lie on a cliff on the eastern foot of Mingsha Mountain, on the west bank of the Dachuan River, about 25 kilometres south-east of Dunhuang; they stretch about two kilometres from north to south, facing east towards the Sanwei Mountains.
Also known as Alternative name Tingfang
Chang Shuhong was born in 1904 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. He went to France in 1927 and studied painting in Lyon and Paris; his oils Grapes and Portrait of Shana are now in the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Returning in 1936, he taught at the National Beiping Art Academy. He reached Dunhuang in March 1943, and when the National Dunhuang Art Research Institute was set up the following year he became its first director, organising the clearing of drifted sand, the building of a protective wall and the copying of the murals. From 1951 he directed the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Research Institute, becoming honorary director from 1982. He wrote the memoir Ninety Years: Fifty Years at Dunhuang, and died in Beijing in June 1994.
Life and times
- 1904Born
Qing
Republican Era
Modern Era - 1941Guarding Dunhuang
Took partage 37Zhang Daqian went to the Mogao Caves to copy their murals, and Chang Shuhong founded the National Dunhuang Art Research Institute, which cleared the sand, walled the site and surveyed and copied the caves: after centuries of neglect, Mogao began to be protected and studied systematically.- National Dunhuang Art Research Institute Founded1944age 40On 1 January 1944 the National Dunhuang Art Research Institute was founded at Mogao with Chang Shuhong as its first director, giving the caves a resident body for their protection and study.
- National Dunhuang Art Research Institute Founded
- 1950The Rise of Dunhuang Studies
Took partage 46The Dunhuang Art Research Institute became the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Institute in 1950, the Mogao Caves were placed on the national list of key sites in 1961, the institute grew into the Dunhuang Academy in 1984, and the caves were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987. - 1994Died
Connections
- Shared events2
