Photo provided to China Daily

Oil painter, calligrapher and educator Zhu Naizheng passed away, at the age of 77, on Thursday in Beijing.

More than 100 of his art works will be donated to the National Art Museum of China.

Born in Zhejiang province, Zhu began to master the discipline for calligraphy in childhood.

He decided to pursue art as a career and enrolled into the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Under the guidance of such celebrated painters as Wu Zuoren, Wang Shikuo, Ai Zhongxin and Wei Qimei, he perfected oil painting techniques.

After graduation, he was assigned to Qinghai province, where he spent the following two decades pursuing his love of art.

The arduous living conditions and transportation on the plateau didn't hinder him from traveling extensively and he found the surroundings inspirational for his painting.

But even during this hectic artistic period, he never discarded the ink brush and often stayed up late practicing calligraphy. After he was reassigned to teach at CAFA in the 1980s, he founded a calligraphy research studio.

He retired from the position of CAFA's vice-president in the 1990s, but continued to paint and curate exhibitions.

His latest and last retrospective exhibition, Black and White, East and West, held at the CAFA Art Museum earlier this year, displayed his life-long exploration of renaissance Chinese aesthetics via the media of ink and wash, oil and canvas.

Zhu Naizheng's works: calligraphy

Zhu Naizheng's art works: paintings