Liu Haisu

▪ 1995

      Chinese painter and teacher (b. 1895?, Wujin [Wu-chin], Jiangsu [Chiang-su] province, China—d. Aug. 7, 1994, Shanghai, China), combined traditional Chinese painting methods with European techniques, especially those of van Gogh and Cézanne, and promoted this style as a model for revolutionizing art education in China. As the leader of art schools in Shanghai and Nanjing (Nanking), Liu exerted extraordinary influence. The scion of a distinguished literary family, Liu studied calligraphy under Kang Youwei (K'ang Yu-wei) and traditional landscape and flower painting under Wu Changshi (Wu Ch'ang-shih) and Chen Hengke (Ch'en Heng-k'e). At age 13, however, Liu set out on his own to pursue a less formal education. He became one of the founders of the Shanghai Academy, the first art college in modern China. During the 1920s and '30s he organized several important national and international exhibitions and toured Japan and Europe, where he studied Western techniques and exhibited his own works. As a teacher, Liu maintained that painters should combine a knowledge of formal art theory with their natural talent and personal judgment, a departure from the Chinese tradition of copying the compositions and techniques of old masters. His works in traditional Chinese style were free-flowing and brilliant in colour. His landscapes focused on rocks and trees, and some of his paintings featured eagles and lions.

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