Xu Junxuan (1934) is from Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province. He joined the People’s Liberation Army in 1949 to become a member of a literary work group. In 1957, he entered the Zhejiang Art Academy; in 1960, he studied under Romanian art professors there. Upon graduation, he continued to teach at his alma mater, where he became an associate professor.

Xu is known for his oil paintings. Together with Zheng Shengtian and Zhou Ruiwen, he produced the famous fresco turned painting turned propaganda poster Renjian zhengdao shi cangsang - Mao zhuxi shicha Huabei, Zhongnan he Huadong diqude wuchan jieji wenhua da geming xingshi (‘Man’s world is mutable, seas become mulberry fields: Chairman Mao inspects the situation of the Great Proletarian Revolution in Northern, South-Central and Eastern China’, 人间正道是沧桑-毛主席视察华北、中南和华东地区的无产阶级文化大革命形势) in 1967. According to Zheng Shengtian, Xu was responsible for painting Mao's body.