The Chinese artist Li Ershan has painted the portraits of 145 famous persons in Chinese history -- from Sun Wu of the Warring States Period (475-221BC) to Li Hongzhang of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Now, this painting extravaganza of famous generals of classical China has come to an end and he has abandoned the traditional full figure, for just the heads, to show their own character through their appearances and expressions.

Li Ershan had been the head of the Datong Daily Newspaper, but he's not just a journalist, he's a poet as well, and he also writes articles and commentary. However, few people really know about his painting talent. So, when the 65-year-old artist suddenly came out of retirement to announce his own art exhibition, even close friends were surprised.

After he retired seven years ago, Li began doing cultural promotion work, in Tianjin, then, about two years ago, suddenly decided to start painting again -- after having dropped it for 40 years. When asked why, Li replied by saying that painting can help people prove their existence and, even though he was a bit green at it, he wanted to achieve something.

Unit now, Li had finished his famous persons series, having painted 145 generals throughout Chinese history. Then, he abandoned the traditional style and was depicting the heads of these figures. These 145 generals had their own characteristics so, before he began painting them, Li had to study all the historical records to get their background information and individual traits. Then after consulting figures in other paintings, an idea began to grow in his brain on how to approach the project. It was only when the concept was fully formed that he could begin to paint.

Li also did a series of literati in classical China after painting the generals and has a plan for a series on classical politicians, thinkers, and scientists, with the total number of figures estimated at around 800. And, the process of deciding just which figures to paint is difficult, or, in his words, “Their historical value needs affirmation from historiography and also needs judgment from me.”

After the painting work is done, Li composes captions to explain the character and quality of the particular person.

As for the art exhibition itself, in the Heyang Art Gallery, in Datong, on Jan 8, 2014, Li comments that it is a sort of report to his fellow countrymen and includes not only historical figures, but some scenes of beauty from his hometown as well.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw