Li Kuchan（李苦禪）

Li Kuchan (1899-1983), born in Gaotang County of Shandong Province, was a great painter, calligrapher and art educator. During the early years, he studied Western painting techniques in an art school in Beijing. Later on, he became a student of renowned Chinese artist Qi Baishi, and began to study Chinese painting. He worked as a professor at the Hangzhou Art School and Beiping Art School, as well as at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Li well combined Western techniques and spirituality with traditional painting. He specialized in bird-and-flower paintings in the freehand style that captures the spirit of its subjects through expressive calligraphic brushwork and simplified forms.