Liu Kuo-Sung (1932) Chinese Mixed Media on Scroll

Artist: Liu Kuo-Sung (Chinese b. 1932)

Title: Spring Mountain, 1974

Size: 14 x 30 inches (painting) and 52 x 31 1/2 inches (scroll)

Signature: Signed Lower Left and on Reverse

Condition: Painting is in good condition with minor creases.

Scroll has some damage to edges and a tear in the upper left (please see photos).

Provenance: Private Collection, California. Purchased from M.M. Shinno Gallery, Los Angeles in 1977.

Biography:

Liu Kuo-Sung (also spelled Guosong) was born in Bangbu, Anhui, in 1932. Commonly recognized as the father of modern Chinese art, Liu has made an impressionable mark on both the eastern and western art worlds, merging western elements as well as entirely new techniques with the longstanding traditions of eastern paintings to create a contemporary and boundary-breaking body of work that has inspired and unified art lovers across the globe.

His talents, honed at the National Taiwan Normal University under the tutelage of Huang Junbi and Chu Dequn, have made Liu highly desirable in galleries and museums as well as universities. As a professor, he has spent many years showing others his original techniques of ink with collage and paper tearing, water rubbing and steeped ink, to name a few. He’s given instruction from Tainan National University of the Arts, Chung Yuan and Tunghai Universities in Taiwan, all the way to the University of Wisconsin-Stout and the University of Iowa in the United States. The majority of his tenure, though, was spent at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he was also steadily creating art and showing at esteemed locations around the world.

In 1957, Liu co-founded Taiwan’s Wuyue Huahui, Fifth Moon Group, a group of artists at the forefront of the Chinese modernist movement, combining classical themes and styles with modernist abstraction techniques. Almost ten years later, Liu was awarded a John D. Rockefeller III Foundation, allowing him to live nine months in New York where he was represented by the Lee Nordness Gallery. In 1968, Liu both founded the Chinese Painting Study Society and was also named one of Taiwan’s “Ten Outstanding Young Men”. The following year, he won First Prize for Painting at theMainstream ‘69 USA. Further accolades have included the Special Award in the Sixth National Art Exhibition in Beijing, The Award for Lifetime Achievement from the China Arts Awards, and the National Award for Arts in Taiwan.

Just a few of the notable hosts of Liu’s artwork include the Art Institute of Chicago, the Palace Museum in Beijing, the British Museum in London, Shanghai Biennale (1998) and Hong Kong Museum of Art. (See fuller list below.) Collectors are drawn to his bold and creative approach to the sensitive and deeply traditional subjects and styles of Chinese art, as he smoothly straddles these opposing schools of art and never shies away from breaking new ground. He has continuously stepped away from standby tools and mediums to explore more options in attempt to truly recreate the feel of a scene. His explorations even led to inventing a new art paper of his own, fittingly named Liu Guosong paper. He has famously articulated his approach in this quote: “To imitate the new cannot substitute for imitating the old; and to copy the West cannot substitute copying the Chinese.” With an open mind and an unwavering respect for the work of his predecessors, Liu paved new territory and has been widely appreciated for his vision.

A List of Exhibitions:

• 2010 Michael Goedhuis Gallery, London

• 2009 Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuchang; University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong

• 2008 Galerie 75 Faubourg, Paris, France

• 2007 Palace Museum, Beijing

• 2006 Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha

• 2005 Singapore Tylor Print Institute

• 2004 Hong Kong Museum of Art

• 2002 National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Museum; Guangdong Museum of Art

• 2001 Chengdu Modern Art Museum, Xichuan, China

• 1999 National Dr. Sun Yet-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei

• 1996 National Gallery of Art and Museum of History, Taipei

• 1992 National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung

• 1990 Taipei Fine Arts Museum

• 1989 Übersee-Museum, Bremen

• 1985 Museu Luís de Camões, Macau

• 1984 Shanghai Museum of Art

• 1983 National Art Museum of China, Beijing

• 1982 Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan

• 1979 Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt

• 1976 Ulrich Museum of Arts, Wichita State University

• 1975 Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

• 1973 San Diego Museum of Art

• 1971 Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, England

• 1970 Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln

• 1969 The Dallas Center for Contemporary of Art, Dallas

• 1968 Seattle Art Museum

• 1967 Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

• 1966 Spencer Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA

• 1965 National Taiwan Arts Education Center, Taipei, Taiwan