Wang Zhan'ao (1931) was from Dalian, Liaoning Province. In 1957, he graduated from the Chinese painting department of the Northeastern Fine Arts College and stayed at the school to teach in the department. He visited the Soviet Union in the 1950s, went to Japan for cultural exchange activities in the 1980s, and participated in many domestic and foreign art exhibitions. He is good at meticulous (gongbi 工笔) figure painting and traditional mural painting.

He was a professor and party branch secretary of the Chinese Painting Department of the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts.