Liu Haisu

(b Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, 1896; d Shanghai, 6 Aug 1994). Chinese art educator and painter. He came from a merchant family that had supported the Taiping Rebellion (1850-64). He began to learn painting at the age of six by studying line drawings in the style of YUN SHOUPING. At the age of 13 he went to Shanghai, hoping to study Western painting. He did not find any established art school there but discovered the works of Vel?zquez and Goya, which he copied to learn Western oil and watercolour techniques. In 1912 he established the Shanghai Academy of Painting, predecessor of the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, with Wu Shiguang, Zhang Yuguang (1885-1968) and others. He also worked with a teacher who had studied Western painting in Japan and briefly attended Aurora University, which was run by French Catholic missionaries.

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