Fang Zhaoling’s journey as an artist was inspired by many prominent painters of the 20th century. She first received training from Chen Jiucun and Qian Songyan in Shanghai; while in Hong Kong, she studied under Lu Xinnong and Zhao Shao’ang who opened the doors to the Lingnan School. She became a student of Zhang Daqian in 1953, an experience that had profound influence on her art. Fang’s mature works after the 1960s accentuate her superb skill in using confident, calligraphic brushworks to depict mountains. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she dedicated most of her time to painting landscape: the highlands of north-western China, the cave dwellings, and the Yellow River are recurrent subjects. With a unique underlying humour, Fang’s works resemble genre painting and often express a social ideology shared by the viewer.