Widely regarded as one of earliest and most important advocates and pioneers of modernist Chinese ink painting, Liu Kuo-sung has made considerable contributions to the development of contemporary Chinese art. He graduated with honours from National Taiwan Normal University’s Fine Arts Department and, fresh from university, co-founded the Fifth Moon Group in 1957 along with seven other artists. The group was largely responsible for inciting Taiwan’s artists toward modern styles and techniques such as abstract expressionism.
By the mid-1960s, Liu had developed his own artistic signature. In 1966, he was awarded a grant by the John D. Rockefeller III Foundation. Two years later, he was named one of Taiwan’s “Ten Outstanding Young Men”. Liu was also the first Chinese painter to be elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his contribution to the art world, an honour granted in 2016. He is now acclaimed as “the father of contemporary ink painting” and is widely recognised as an educator in the genre.
Liu’s works are widely collected by over 80 museums globally, including the Palace Museum in Beijing, the British Museum in London, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and M+ in Hong Kong.
