Diana Vase
Erte (Romain de Tirtoff) 1892 -1990
Hand Carved Encased Glass Vase
Height: 19 inches, Width: 5 inches
2004 From an early original design in Gouache
Edition: 300 numbered

Cao Yong

In 1962, at the height of the great famine in China, an extraordinarily gifted child was born into hardship in Xinxian, a small town in Henan Province. Cao Yong’s family, already struggling to find enough to eat, was suspected of disloyalty to the new government simply because a great-grandparent had once owned land, real estate, and banks, and because a grandparent had been a warlord. During the Cultural Revolution, this background singled the family out for harsh treatment by the Chinese authorities. Cao Yong's family was ostracized, refused residency permits, and even denied food. While other young children of his age started kindergarten, little Cao Yong began working. At age five, he found himself ferrying heavy baskets of gravel at a construction site. One day a rock pit caved in, nearly crushing the tiny boy to death under the rubble. Luckily, he survived.

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Cao Yong
"Sisters"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed

G
Cao Yong
"Untitled - Two Girls"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
40" x 30"

G
Cao Yong
"Rainbow in Blossom"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
30" x 40"

N
Cao Yong
"Rainbow in Blossom"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
48" x 24"

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Cao Yong
"Petals in the Wind"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
48" x 36"

N
Cao Yong
"Reflections"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
30" x 40"

N
Cao Yong
"Rosy Waters"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
30" x 40"

N
Cao Yong
"The Sitting Room"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
30" x 40"

N
Cao Yong
"Flower Girl"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
24" x 30"

N
Cao Yong
"Purple Garden"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
24" x 30"

N
Cao Yong
"Fall"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
30" x 30"

N
Cao Yong
"Coastal Sailing"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
40" x 30"

N
Cao Yong
"Summer Evening"
Original Oil on Canvas
Hand Signed
40" x 30"

It was through drawing that Cao Yong found peace and consolation in those difficult years, and at age eleven his talent was recognized. He began studying with the noted artist Yu Ren from Beijing, who worked briefly in Xinxian. The shadow of ostracism followed him even to art classes, but Cao Yong’s remarkable persistence challenged him to paint, and to paint better, each day. In order to buy art supplies, he pawned his winter clothes in summer, his summer clothes in winter, and often skipped meals. He painted on any material he could find: scraps of used wrapping paper, newspaper, discarded wooden boards. When his mother brought him a bundle of dirty cloth which she had begged a shop clerk to give to her, Cao Yong burst into tears of joy: at last he had canvas!