Zhao Zongzao (b. 1931) Jiangyin, Jiangsu

Zhao entered the Suzhou Art College in 1947 and, in 1949, transferred to the fine art department of Nanjing University. He began making woodblock prints in 1950. After graduation, in 1952, he was sent to teach at the Zhejiang Jin Hua Normal College and, in 1955, was appointed to the faculty of the East China branch of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (afterwards called the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts and now the National Academy of Arts). Zhao's official positions have included vice-president of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, chairman of its printmaking department, chairman of the Zhejiang Printmakers' Association, member of the council of the Chinese Artists' Association, and chairman of the Zhejiang branch of the Chinese Artists' Association. He and Zhao Yannian are referred to as the Two Zhaos of Zhejiang; i.e., two outstanding professors from the print department with the same family name. Zhao often uses folk art techniques such as all-over patterning and the plane of recession tilted upwards so that actions far and near are depicted with the same scale in ascending registers.

70. All Four Seasons Are Spring 1960 42.2 x 40.6 cm Polychromatic; shuiyin on Chinese paper Seal: undecipered; signed, title inscribed and numbered by the artist: 4 Plum blossom, lotus, chrysanthemum and bamboo are traditionally called "flowers of the four seasons"; here they all flourish together. The title helps define the meaning: nascent prosperity, symbolized by spring, now exists all year round. The flowers are interspersed among depictions of stages in silkworm cultivation. In the upper right, women pick mulberry leaves to feed the worms; lower right, they sort leaves from stalks; upper left, they read and sew while attending to infant worms stacked in a shed warmed by fire; and in the center, the mature worms have spun cocoons on bundles of stalks   71. Glving Milk in the Field 1959 45 x 34 cm Polychromatic; shuiyin on Chinese paper Seal: Zongzao woodcut Into a field of spring-flowering rapeseed elderly women bring her baby to a young working mother. Swallows, a traditional symbol of spring, mark the season as well. Above, women are taking young rice plants from floating baskets and planling them in the paddies.