Liu Dan studied at the Jiangsu Traditional Painting Institute but it was during the Cultural Revolution that he exposed himself to Western art by copying photographs of Renaissance drawings from confiscated books before he had any formal training in Chinese painting.
Very early in life, he immersed himself in the study of Classical Chinese civilisation such as Confucian classics, painting, antiquities and calligraphy. In 1981 he moved to America where he lived until 2006 when he returned to Beijing.
Through his wide areas of study of Chinese and Western art and culture, Liu Dan is able to create works of art that though intrinsically Chinese, speak to a global audience.
Viewing his work “slows down the eye,” says Michael Goedhuis. Liu’s skilful paintings, whether of scholar’s rocks, old cypress trees, landscapes or flowers carries his signature of detailed, almost photographic interpretations of these natural objects.
Two large landscapes by Liu Dan were auctioned in Beijing in 2020 and in 2017 going for USD1.2 million (within estimate) and USD 1 million (double the low estimate) respectively. In 2016, three works including one from the collection of British art dealers Marcus and Debby Flacks were sold by Christie’s and Sotheby’s between USD 500,000 to over USD 700,000.
Liu Dan’s work is in the collections of The Arthur M. Sackler Museum of the Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Musée Guimét, Paris; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA; Andrew Mellon Foundation, New York, NY.
Liu Dan was featured in a story by Anna Sophie Gross in American Vanity Fair in October 2018 and in the Financial Times on 30 October 2015.
https://www.vanityfair.com/london/2018/10/liu-dan-artist-profile-china
https://www.ft.com/content/07e4f894-771e-11e5-a95a-27d368e1ddf7
