Gan Heng(1918 – 2004)
A native of Shunde in Guangdong Province, Gan Heng(1918 – 2004) graduated from the Guangzhou Municipal Fine Arts School. Early in his creative career, he devoted himself to studying and mastering Western painting techniques. Later, thanks to his passion for Chinese painting, he shifted his focus to Chinese ink art and created vivid depictions of figures, flowers, birds, insects and fish.
Gan engaged in propaganda artwork for the resistance against Japanese occupation. After the war, he relocated to Macao and taught art at several schools. He was the Vice Director General of the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao for a long time, going on to found the Macao Hang Ngai Painting Studies Association, which trained numerous students.
Gan crafted a distinctive artistic personality in his work, particularly in his dynamic and powerful depictions of goshawks, which earned him the reputation of ‘the king of goshawks’. He held several solo exhibitions and in 1979 was selected to show at the Fine Arts Exhibition of Guangdong Province. In 1984, he was invited to show his work at the ‘Macao Week’ held in Portugal. Additionally, he participated in the sixth and seventh editions of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1984 and 1989, respectively. Gan held solo exhibitions at the then Leal Senado in 1988 and 1993. In 1989, Gan received the Medal of Cultural Merit from the Portuguese Macao Government. He sat on the judging panel for the flag and emblem of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Gan passed away in Macao in 2004.