News

Liu, now 84, is universally honored as the earliest and most important advocate of modernist Chinese painting. As a chair professor in NTNU and an alumnus from the Department of Fine Arts, he is the first Taiwanese member in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the first Chinese painter that receive this honor. On October 14th, he came back to Wen Huei Hall, NTNU for the celebration ceremony. President Chang commended him for the honor and NTM Director Mr. Chen Jimin came with greeting. 

 

Born in Bangbu, Anhui, in 1932, Liu Kuo-sung is universally recognized as one of the earliest and most important advocates and practitioners of modernist Chinese painting. He moved to Taiwan from the mainland in 1949. In 1956, Liu graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the National Taiwan Normal University, in which he studied both traditional brush-and-ink and western-style painting techniques. As one of the cofounders of Taiwan’s Fifth Moon Painting Society (Wuyue huahui) in 1957, Liu Kuo-sung sought a new approach to art, which was inspired by both traditional Chinese painting—especially the style of the late Tang period (618-907) and the monumental landscape painting style of the 10th to 11th centuries—as well as modern styles and techniques such as Abstract Expressionism. Before turning to ink painting in 1961, Liu experimented with abstract oils. By the mid-1960s, Liu had gradually developed his own personal pictorial formulae in which he combines ink painting with collage and applies ink and color on special paper. His fusion of landscape monumentality and abstraction represent the mature style that has earned him a place in many prestigious international exhibitions and collections over the past twenty years.

 

The American Academy serves as a champion of scholarship, civil dialogue, and useful knowledge. As one of the country's oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, the Academy convenes leaders from the academic, business, and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing the nation and the world. Recently, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has announced its new members in 2016 with a total number of 213 people from 17 countries. Liu Kuo Sung is one of them. Being selected as the member is one of the most prestigious honor in the academic field in the states. The first president was the second President of the United States and the first Vice President John Adams. At the moment, there are 4000 members in this academy, more than 600 foreign members with about 250 Nobel laureate and 60 Pulitzer winners.

 

Established in 1780, American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for policy research in the United States. Election to the Academy is considered one of the nation's highest honors since its founding during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, and other scholar-patriots who contributed prominently to the establishment of the new nation, its government, and its Constitution.