Two Ladies Playing the Qin and the Ruan

Cheng was determined from an early age to become a painter and entered at age 18 the Shanghai Academy of Fine Art. There he was trained to master the landscape and bird-and-flower painting styles of the Shanghai school. In 1952 he joined the Shanghai Art Publishing Agency as an illustrator, with assignments that included New Year’s pictures, comic strips, and short story illustrations. Among his first successes was a series of illustrations for a contemporary edition of the eighteenth-century satirical classic, The Scholars (Rulin waishi), which won a medal at the Leipzig International Book Exhibition in 1959. His success as an illustrator allowed him to pursue an innovative style in his figure painting, creating a romantic atmosphere by incorporating folk motifs and exotic elements. His works became very popular in Shanghai and were sold to foreign visitors.