Biography:

Zhang Hongnian (b. 1947, Nanjing) is a New York-based artist, whose work was exhibited at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York, one of the first American shows of Chinese artists in 1986.

Zhang studied painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, and in the late-70s to early-80s, he was involved in the Scar Art movement. Two of Zhang’s Scar Art paintings, No! and We Were Young Then, were acquired for the National Art Museum of China’s permanent collection (Beijing, 1979–1980). His painting Preparing Hay for Winter (1982) is also housed in the National Art Museum’s collection in Beijing.

Zhang moved to the United States in 1985, studied at the City College of New York, and has continued to work in a realist tradition, expanding his subjects from Tibetan to American themes. Four of his epic historical paintings have been collected by the National Geographic Society. Aside from his art practice, Zhang has taught painting at the New York Academy of Art (1997–2001) and at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts at Fudan University (2010).