Father of modern Chinese ink painting Liu Kuo-sung says there’s still much he can do for the art as he nears 90
- Liu Kuo-sung explains that while he is satisfied with all that he has achieved, he still wants to help young, talented but unknown artists gain recognition
- He is happy to see Chinese ink art gaining in popularity in the West: “In the past it was the Chinese who learned Western painting. Now it’s the reverse”
Spry and sprightly, Taiwanese artist Liu Kuo-sung will turn 90 in April 2022 and even though his extensive travels in nature, which provide the inspiration for many of his abstract works, have been suspended since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, he is still drawing as often as he can.
When international borders reopen, he says he wants to go to Shanghai to resume his teaching at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts’ Academy of Contemporary Ink Art, of which he is the head.
“My students are illustrious figures in the arts industry,” he says. “Some are university fine arts professors. Some are the heads of art museums.”
Known as the father of modern Chinese ink painting and a pioneer of Chinese modern art, Liu has a litany of achievements to look back on.
In 2013, the Shandong Museum in eastern China opened the Liu Kuo-sung Modern Ink Art Gallery to display a permanent collection of around 100 of his works. His painting Scenery of Hong Kong sold for HK$16.8 million at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong in 2014. In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, making him the first Taiwanese recipient of the honour.
