About the Author, Calligraphers and Seal Carver
HIEROMONK DAMASCENE has lived for over twenty years as an Eastern Orthodox monk in the forests of California and Alaska. Ordained to the priesthood in Russia in 1995, he serves as a priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church. He is the author of numerous articles published in America and abroad, and is the editor of the international periodical The Orthodox Word and over thirty books of Eastern Christian spirituality. His biography of his late spiritual father – Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works – has been published in English, Greek, Russian, Serbian, Romanian and Bulgarian, and along with Christ the Eternal Tao it is currently being prepared for publication in Chinese. He has lectured throughout the world and has been instrumental in establishing outreach centers of ancient Eastern Christianity.
Lou (pronounced Lō) SHIBAI was born in 1918 and began to study at the age of fourteen under China’s most famous and influential artist of the twentieth century, Qi Baishi (Ch'i Pai Shih). He was a disciple of Qi for twenty-five years, until Qi’s death in 1957; and it was Qi who gave Lou Shibai his name. Lou’s works have been reproduced in many periodicals both in China and abroad. His most famous work is Spring Warmth Comes to the World, which he painted to express his joy at the downfall of the “gang of four”. A bilingual book of his paintings, calligraphy and seals was published in China in 1990. One of the most respected artists in China, he currently resides in Beijing.
YOU SHAN TANG received his artistic training at Beijing University and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. For his on-site study and reproduction of ancient Chinese cavepaintings, the Beijing Academy awarded him the first prize for painting in 1979. After coming to America in 1984, he received the American Book Award for his illustrations for the children’s book, Pie Biter. A painter, illustrator, calligrapher, seal-carver and student of Chinese antiquity, he specializes in works that help to bridge the gap between East and West. He now resides in San Francisco.
Lou Shibai (right) with his teacher Qi Baishi, at the latter's residence in Beijing, 1936.
The author (right) with Lou Shibai in 1996.