1. Sun Duoci was taught by the well-known artist Xu Beihong, who regarded her as a "painter of genius" and had an affair with her.
20 Facts About Sun Duoci
1. 2.
Sun Duoci's grandfather Sun Nai was a key minister in the late Qing dynasty.
3.
Sun Duoci was the first minister of education and founded the Beijing Normal University.
4.
Sun Duoci's father, Sun Chuan-yuan, was an outstanding scholar in the democratic revolution of the late Qing dynasty.
5.
Sun Duoci served successively as the secretary of Sun Chuanfang and the standing committee member of the Kuomintang in Anhui province.
6.
Sun Duoci had originally intended to study literature after completed her schooling at Anqing Girls School but she failed the entrance examination National Central University.
7.
In 1930, Sun Duoci audited classes in the fine arts department of Nanjing Central University during which time she was introduced to another famous painter, Zong Baihua.
8.
Sun Duoci admired her work and invited her to pose for paintings.
9.
Sun Duoci became a full-time student with Xu Beihong in 1931 and their established affair was well known.
10.
Sun Duoci was obliged to stay with her aunt in Anqing and not live at the university.
11.
The controversy resulted in Sun Duoci leaving the university, but Xu Beihong did not leave his family.
12.
Sun Duoci returned to her old school and began teaching but without her degree.
13.
Sun Duoci's father refused and much to Sun's later regret she decided to accede to her father's wishes.
14.
Sun Duoci helped her launch exhibitions in Shanghai in 1947 and moved her to Taiwan in 1949.
15.
Sun Duoci went on to study at Columbia University in the United States and then went to the National Academy of Fine Arts in France.
16.
Sun Duoci continued to correspond with her former lover Xu Beihong.
17.
Sun Duoci won the "Taiwan Ministry of Education" Fine Arts Award in 1957.
18.
Sun Duoci later moved to the United States and lived with a physicist and art lover Wu Jianxiong.
19.
Sun Duoci was in close contact to the oil painter Wang Shaoling who lived in New York and was a friend to both Sun and Xu.
20.
Sun Duoci wore mourning for three years, an unusually long period.