Completely unique unto itself, the art of Jiang Tiefeng creates a bridge between China’s oppressed past and its artistic future. During a time when all forms of personal creativity and expression were forbidden, Jiang managed to nurture a style that has now become representative of an entire generation of artists. 



Jiang was born in 1938 in the Zhejiang province of China. As a child, he showed such artistic talent that he was permitted by his parents to attend the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. In 1964 he graduated from the academy with honors. 



Entering the art world in the height of Mao Zedong’s communist regime, Jiang was commissioned to create propagandistic images for the leader. During this time he lived in the far-out region of the Yunnan province, where he created communist propaganda by day and cultivated his personal art by night.

The Social Realist art that was the official style of the Chinese Communist Party heavily influenced Jiang’s art by inspiring him to paint in an opposite style. To this day, his art makes no attempt to render three-dimensional reality, and uses bold, primary colors. This “heavy color movement” and unique painting style are what became known as the Yunnan School, of which Jiang is the undisputed founder. 



After the end of Mao’s Communist regime (1976), Jiang began teaching the techniques of the Yunnan School to a new generation of Chinese artists. His murals and paintings hang in China’s most reputable institutions and his work has become a national treasure. Jiang’s paintings are indeed a celebration of color, joy, and the creativity of artistic freedom.