Zhen-Huan Lu

Zhen-Huan Lu (1950-present), an American artist of Chinese descent, obtained his undergraduate diploma from the Department of Stage Design, Shanghai Theatre Academy, which is famous nationwide for its Western style landscape painting training program. A year after his graduation, he was appointed to teach painting and stage design there. In 1986, by an invitation to give his first solo exhibition in New York, he consequently moved to the U.S.

Zhen-Huan Lu’s disciplined background in life study, western painting techniques and aesthetics of both western and eastern roots, allow him to develop a unique American style of poetic realism that aims to make visible the invisibles through his skillful portrayal of familiar scenes and objects. His training also led him to develop equal skill in watercolor, egg tempera, and oil painting; three disparate and difficult media to master.

As Richard Lynch, the President of Hammer Galleries in New York pointed out, “Zhen-Huan Lu’s subject is the personality and history of the homes and hand-made wooden furnishings of the east coast as expressed through their weathered textures and unique façade… He plays light against shadow, vast space against enclosure and the view of nature from the comfort of domesticity…” Zhen-Huan Lu never paints people in his landscape paintings, yet his keen interest remains in human life and emotions; whether it be rocking chairs on the porch on a lazy afternoon or a pair of oars against an aged beach house, human spirit is always present. Through his masterful technique, Zhen-Huan Lu captures a world beyond the obvious with close-ups and exquisite details.

Zhen-Huan Lu’s paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and China. He has works in the collection of the China National Museum of Art and in private and public collections throughout the U.S.

In 2002, he was invited to the White House by First Lady Laura Bush to create an oil painting for the official White House Christmas card that year. The original oil painting for the card was made part of the permanent collection of the White House, and a first edition of the painting was given by President Bush to Chinese President Jiang as a gift upon his visit to the western White House in Texas.