Ma Xuejun, also known as Ma Quancen, was born in July 1969 in Xiantao, Hubei Province, and now lives in Beijing. Chinese modern and contemporary painter, art educator, theorist, outstanding expert of the Ministry of Culture, Olympic painter, national artist, founder of the New Hongshan School.
He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts, and studied under Tang Yongli, Cui Xiaodong, Li Xiaoke and other famous artists. He is currently the president of the China Red Landscape Painting Research Association, the president of the China Red Landscape Painting Academy, the president of the Beijing Yen Ching Restaurant Painting Academy, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Arts, an assistant teacher of Chinese painting at the School of Arts of Peking University, a "special Chinese painter" of the Wenbo Art Development Fund of the Chinese Social and Cultural Development Foundation of the Ministry of Culture, a tutor of the advanced research class of Chinese painting at the Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, a researcher at the China National Academy of Painting, a visiting professor at the School of Art of Renmin University, an honorary president of the China Contemporary New Ink Art Creation Institute, an image ambassador of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and a Chinese painting "Chinese seal" for the Beijing Olympic GamesCreator, Li Keran Foundation's "Distinguished Painter", 2020 CCTV Smart China "Calligraphy and Painting Figure".
His works have been included in the compilation of "Yearbook of Chinese Contemporary Calligraphy and Painting", "Collection of Chinese Artists", "Chinese Treasures", "Beijing Olympic Games Literature Collection", "Three Hundred Tang Poems", "Strange Tales from Liao Zhai" and other calligraphy and painting classics.
In recent years, he has held many solo and group exhibitions in Singapore, Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and other places
He has been invited to participate in large-scale exhibitions and academic exchanges at home and abroad organized by the Ministry of Culture, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Chinese Artists Association, the Chinese Calligraphers Association, the China Social and Cultural Development Foundation and other official institutions. His works have been collected by the Great Hall of the People, Zhongnanhai, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Olympic Heritage Museum, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the National Museum of China, the Military Museum and many other museums and overseas art institutions. He has been praised as "the most collectible painter in contemporary China" by the collection circle, and has been awarded the titles of "Red Art Contribution Award", "99 Chinese Painting Hundred Outstanding Painters", "Artist of Virtue and Art" by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Artists Association.
Ma Xuejun ranked third in the 2019 Spring Auction Top 10 Ink Landscape Painters Under 51 Auction, and first in the 2021 Spring Auction Top 10 Ink Artists Under 53 Auction Market Circulation. ACCORDING TO A RECENT REPORT BY ARPRICE, A LEADER IN THE GLOBAL ART MARKET, MA XUEJUN IS RANKED NINTH IN THE WORLD AMONG YOUNG ARTISTS.
From 2023 to 2024, the total turnover of works in the public auction market is 91,980 RMB, making him one of the best-selling Chinese artists on the 2024 Hurun List.
Fan Di'an, Chairman of the Chinese Artists Association, commented:
Ma Xuejun's Chinese paintings are simple and heavy, elegant and natural, and the mountains, rivers and hills are more vivid and charming in the picture. What is commendable is that his works are appreciated by both the elegant and the vulgar, which not only has a certain academic standard, but also is deeply liked by the public. Since ancient times, painters have been lonely, and I hope that in his future artistic career, he will endure loneliness, continue to learn and hone, and let his works reach another artistic peak.
Xu Li, secretary of the Chinese Artists Association, commented:
One hand reaches out to tradition and the other hand to nature. Ma Xuejun, as a disciple of Li Jiashanshui, gave full play to this theory, and devoted himself to studying and exploring the Tao from the Central Academy of Fine Arts to the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts. His landscape works inherit the ink and color of the Li family's landscapes, and gradually form his own painting style by dotting the line. With the ink image as the charm, the black and white world style, the great beauty of the mountains, rivers and hills.
Tang Yongli, Dean of the School of Chinese Painting of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, commented:
Ma Xuejun's figure painting has accurate modeling, smooth lines, innovative painting methods and vivid portrayals. He can stand out in the group of contemporary figure painters because he is good at observing life, emphasizing nature, ink rhyme, and aesthetics. The Daliang Landscape Ink Care series expresses the painter's meticulous observation of life, and the skillful use of brush and ink makes the characters in the picture more god-like.
Mrs. Zou Peizhu, Mrs. Li Keran, commented:
Ma Xuejun's traditional foundation is solid, the pen and ink are profound, the picture is elegant, ancient and new. Casting merit with the pen, using the context to exemplify the meaning, not showing off the mystery, not confusing the show, this is the correct humanistic spirit and the origin of creation. Inheriting the tradition and pioneering and innovative, the artistic conception of the work is far-reaching and poetic, and the future can be expected!
Li Xiaoke, a tutor of Beijing Fine Art Academy, commented:
Ma Xuejun's works are rigorous in composition, exquisite in color, gentle and elegant, and pay attention to the charm of pen and ink. The ink color is elegant and fresh, and the characters in the picture have both spirit and action, and the portrayal is delicate. The sketches of Taihang Mountain profoundly express the local customs and folk culture. The infinite scenery is in the dangerous peak, and only by tireless hard study can we create a thousand miles of rivers and mountains in the future.
Cui Xiaodong, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, commented:
Ma Xuejun's landscape painting inherited the teaching system of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, copying, sketching, and creating, and his sketching works have a unique style and natural approach. Painting does not learn from the ancients, there is no one who can become a family, the formal rules in landscape painting, the charm of brush and ink, and the aesthetic spirit, only by learning from the ancients and then creating can we understand it thoroughly. I hope that he will create masterpieces worthy of the times in his future artistic career.
Jiang Ye, Executive Secretary-General of the China Social and Cultural Development Foundation of the Ministry of Culture:
Ma Xuejun has created huge Chinese paintings "China Seal" and "Chinese Dream" for the Beijing Olympic Games, which is to carry forward the Olympic spirit of the Chinese nation, inherit the Olympic cultural heritage, and is the first artist to display the "China Seal" cliff stone carvings to the world in the form of Chinese landscape paintings, which will forever go down in history and become famous at home and abroad.