Ge Sha 戈沙 (1931 – 2015)
Born in Heihe City, Heilongjiang, China, Ge Sha, who an ethnic Russian Chinese, was a painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer and actor. He travelled alone at the age of 17, from Changchun to Beijing to learn painting at Beiping National Art College (北平国立艺专). The school later merged with Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1950. It was there where he was mentored by eminent artists such as Wu Zuoren (吴作人) and Ai Zhongxin (艾中信) and graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (中央美术学院) in 1951. Ge worked at Northwest Pictorial (西北画报) and Changchun Pictorial (长春画报) and learnt to illustrate and edit images. He went on to become senior art editor to Jilin Daily (吉林日报) in 1953.
Ge held a broad outlook in life, wrote and read philosophy, and had many hobbies. In the 1950s, he worked mainly on oil paintings; after 1960, printmaking took prominence, particularly prints featuring themes featuring the Silk Road and Gobi deserts, historical and cultural monuments. In his lifetime, he held 24 solo exhibitions in China, Japan, Russia and Singapore and acted in 38 films, portraying different personalities and characters.
Ge was highly regarded locally and abroad and was a member of the China Artists Association (中国美术家协会), Chinese Printmakers Association (中国版画家协会) and Singapore Art Society (新加坡艺术协会). He passed away in Changchun at the age of 84.
