Liu Haisu

Liu Haisu (Chinese: 刘海粟; pinyin: Liú Hǎisù; 16 March 1896 – 7 August 1994) was a prominent twentieth-century Chinese painter and a noted art educator. He excelled in Chinese painting and oil painting.

Overview

His original given name was Pan, courtesy name Jifang, and sobriquet Haiwong. He excelled in oil painting, Chinese painting and art education. He was devoted to painting at an early age. He entered landscape painting school in Shanghai directed by Zhou Xiang to learn western painting when he was 14 years old. In 1910 he opened a painting school in his county. In November 1912, together with Wu Shiguang and Zhang Yunguang, he founded the first school of fine arts in modern China, Shanghai Academy of Chinese Painting (上海国画美术院), the former Shanghai School of Fine Arts (上海美术专科学校). He initiated co-education, and pioneered human body model and traveling painting from nature, and thus was scolded as an "artistic traitor", though he was supported by scholars such as Cai Yuanpei. He lectured in Beijing University and held his first personal exhibition in 1918. He went to Japan to explore education of fine arts in 1919, and founded Tianma Party upon returning to China.