Chong En Cao

Born in Guangxi Province, in 1933, Cao was a professor of drawing and sculpture at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art for many years. As is the case with many Chinese sculptors of his age, he has done sculptures of historical figures in modern China, but only those whom he thinks were important to China's development, like Sun Yat Sen and Deng Xiao Ping. Many of his sculptures have been collected by museums, in China as well as other countries, including the Swiss Olympic Museum. His works tend to have a smoothness to them, as opposed to the rough textures that many, more modern pieces tend to have.
Although his daughter, Cao Fei, is better known in the Western Art Scene, Cao Chong En, himself, is not unknown, in the West. Indeed, he came to international prominence, in the 1980's, when he entered a cast bronze sculpture of Juan Antonio Samaranch, the president of the International Olympic Committee, in an art exhibition about sports. Samaranch saw the piece and wanted to purchase it, and it was eventually given to him as a gift from the Chinese government. That one went to the Olympic Museum in Lauzanne, and Samaranch had another made for himself, in marble (shown, below). His sculpture celebrating the return of Macau (Au Men) to China won the gold prize in the First Dragon Culture Competition.
He works in stone, clay, and bronze, and he tells us that he likes to do his own work, not relying on a bevy of assistants, like many other sculptors do. You can still see him working on large stone and bronze sculptures, even at his age (we've seen the pictures and we visit him at his studio from time to time). He is also a fun guy, like many of the other artists I tend to like, and two of his daughters are also artists (the youngest one is 13, so, she has not yet decided). All told, he has created more than 2,000 works of sculpture over his lifetime.
Cao is also known for his 2.5-metre, 600 kilogram monument of Bruce Lee, located on the harbor front on Avenue of the Stars, in Hong Kong. He made an even larger version for Bruce Lee's hometown, Shunde, just south of Guangzhou. He has also made many Buddhist and Taoist sculptures, including over 100 for a 1,000 year old temple, near Chaozhou, in the east of Guangdong Province. There is a sculpture garden of his works, in Guangzhou. He, currently, splits his time between Guangzhou and a residence in Canada. Below, are shown his sculptures of the Chinese track star, Liu Xiang, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and a series of Sun Yat Sen depicting him over his lifetime.
Cao is a world-class sculptor, and we are pleased to offer some of his works at Leona Craig Art. Indeed, he is so busy making larger sculptures for people or places that he usually has no time to make smaller versions, like those that we have, here, on our website. In fact, he seems to prefer to do individual marble or clay pieces for the small ones, and many of the small clay, marble and even cast bronze pieces are one of a kind. So, our collection offers a real opportunity to collect sculpture made by this great Chinese sculptor without paying millions.

Pan He is another of the great Guangdong artists. Born into a well to do family, in 1925, before Mao came to power, he had the chance to travel and explore outside of China. His idols are, in fact, not Chinese: Michelangelo and Rodin. As a young boy, he already began making art, and at the age of 13 when his father said he should get a mentor to help hone his artistic skills, he told his father that the only one who could teach him was already dead for several hundred years: Michelangelo. In addition to sculpture, he also does watercolor painting, in the style of the West.
His work came to Mao's attention at the national art exhibition, in 1952. As a result, he was asked to make a sculpture of Mao for Mao's hometown. His concept pictured Mao, as a youth with longer hair. His commentary in doing that was to picture Mao when he was an idealistic youth, leaving Hunan to join the revolution in Guangdong, before becoming a tyrant. When he was asked to change it, he refused. Then, when making the sculpture of Mao that was awaiting assembly, he was accused of desecrating Mao, was put in prison, and was made to kneel in broken glass, and beaten regularly. Even then, he said he would not bow or grovel.
Today he is known as the Michelangelo and the Rodin of China. His larger works are prominently displayed in many cities in China, including Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as major cities in many other countries. His rams sculpture is the symbol of Guangzhou. His sculpture of a fisher girl (shown, below) is a famous site on a rock in the ocean, off Zhuhai. His bull sculpture is the symbol of Shenzhen. Several sculpture parks are already dedicated to his work, in Guangzhou, and the province has just broken ground for a huge sculpture park and museum site for work. He tells us that friends clip items from the press for him to put in his scrap books, and, last year, alone, they clipped about 700 separate articles. He tells us that he creates art, only when he has something to say, although what he says is subtly veiled, so that the local authorities do not really pick up on it.