early life and artistic career sun zong-wei, a renowned chinese painter, was born in tianjin, china in 1912. his life's work would later be characterized by an unique style and technique in oil on canvas, earning him a place in the art competition at the 1948 summer olympics in london. he entered the art department of the central art school in 1934 and took up teaching. while a student, he gravitated to the progressive student movement and studied marxist art theory. during the anti-japanese war, he joined the propaganda work organized by guo moruo and went to the front to sketch war scenes.…