Shao Fang Sheng
Shao Fang Sheng (September 13, 1918 – April 22, 2009)[1][2] was a Chinese artist who was also one of the few original apprentices of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Early life
Shao came from a well-known industrial family that had their roots in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, China. She was born and raised during the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China. At age 17, she became a disciple of classical Chinese painter Chen Shaomei.
She was a very athletic in her youth, representing her city Tianjin, as a short stop and nationally in softball as a teenager.
Career
Upon arrival to the United States, she stayed with Frank Lloyd Wright and Olgivanna Lloyd Wright,[3] where she apprenticed and cooked and entertained guests including John Wayne, James Stewart and other actors and socialites. She taught Mandarin to John King Fairbank, a well-known scholar from Harvard University, in the American Embassy, Nanjing. Furthermore, her ability to paint with watercolours was noticed by several well-known painting masters, and she was commissioned by the Nationalist Government of China, to duplicate the frescos within the Mogao Caves, situated in the Gobi Desert, near Dunhuang, China. Her late husband Sheng Pao Sheng was also an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright and an architect and civil engineer who was a section chief of the Burma Road.
References
- ^ "Shao Fang Sheng". Marietta Times. April 27, 2009. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011.
- ^ "Obituary information for Shao Fang Sheng". Hadley Funeral Home. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
- ^ "Chinese Woman Gets Art Show in Chicago". Milwaukee Journal. August 7, 1949. Retrieved 1 July 2010.