Liu Kuo-sung foreword Eng

Foreword

Liu Kuo-sung

Father of Modern Chinese Ink Painting

Kwok Hon-sum (Guo Hanshen) is my first student to gain worldwide recognition and critical acclaim as a professional artist.

In 1971, I came from Taiwan to work at the Fine Arts Department in the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and became the Head of the Department in the following year, with a mission of applying ground-breaking innovations. In order to nurture as many art talents as possible, my main responsibility was to reconstruct a strategic curriculum and recruit full time professors. Before that, there was only one full time Department Head with some concurrent professors teaching their specialty, moreover, a scheduled plan and curriculum was absent. Within a short space of time, I constructed a 4-year curriculum which carried into effect from that year’s first year students; simultaneously, full-time professors increased from 2 to 7 in a four year period. Accordingly, the world’s first curriculum of “Modern Chinese Ink Painting” was constructed in 1973 for the second year students; this is at present the art curriculum that has become widely utilised in many universities of different countries. I have established the “Modern Chinese Ink Painting” curriculum with my theory of “first strive for individuality, and then strive for quality.” In the past, the normal teaching method of Chinese Painting has been instructing students to copy from old masters with repeated practice of techniques from different schools, with the intention of “broadening their horizons”, so as to help lay their foundations. I have challenged this traditional notion and believe the theory should be: “first strive for quality, and then strive for individuality.” As a matter of fact, traditional ideology has blocked the way to innovation and creativity.

Old teachers have strictly followed an old educational theory, “attitude towards learning should be broadening at the bottom so as to be high at the top, like building a pyramid.” Frankly speaking, this is the usual practice of liberal education; however it should not be so for art education. Therefore, I have introduced my own art education theory instead, “attitude towards painting should climb as high as possible, like building a skyscraper.” The main reason is that skyscrapers are built much taller than pyramids; and the foundation should take root deeply, seeking for specialty, depth, and excellence but not necessarily for the width of knowledge. What is meant by my “first strive for individuality, and then strive for quality” theory? Actually, I have turned against copying from ancient masters, to experimenting and creating new techniques instead. When an artist has invented his own unique style through experiments, one should practice successively and meticulously to be able to exercise total skill and control. When he has well-built the foundation of his skyscraper, he can construct the other subsequent levels, and his uniqueness will then be formed gradually with height. In addition, I always encourage my students not to look down upon themselves. From my point of view, I treat artists and scientists with the same status, both are creators of the human civilization; scientists have created a material civilization while artists a spiritual civilization. How can a person be called a scientist? I think he should have a new thought in mind before engaging with experiments in a science laboratory. He then becomes an inventor when he can prove his thoughts through experiments; for those that cannot, they can only be professors in universities. This stands true for artist as well. Artist should have a new thought in mind and demonstrate this in his painting. If old techniques or materials cannot be well-matched in paintings, new techniques should be invented from experiments. Once a new and innovative thought has been expressed in painting, he has created an artwork, and thus can be called as an artist; for those that cannot, they can only be art teachers. This is the reason why I have suggested that an “art workshop is actually a science laboratory, and not a factory for art cloning.”

In 1974, I started to teach a 2-year course, the “Diploma Course in Modern Ink Painting”, at the Extra-mural Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. By enrolling those who have common interests and goals in innovating Chinese painting, and who were also keen to experiment with my teaching theory of “treating art workshops as a science laboratory”, a new era formed. And it was the first time I met Kwok Hon-sum for he was one of the brilliant students of the diploma course.

Kwok Hon-sum was born an art prodigy, who loved art and started painting in his early childhood. In 1968, he was admitted to study at the Fine Arts Department in the Normal University of Taiwan without his father’s consent. However, both his paintings such as “Color of Spring Field” (Fig.3), “Boat Returning Amidst Rain and Wind” (Fig.1), and calligraphy such as “Pleasure of Reading in Four Seasons” (Fig.2) immediately showcased his very impressive talents. Unfortunately, he decided to drop out of the university two and a half years later in order to help his father’s business in 1970. From that time on, he was responsible for taking care of his father’s business in the daytime, and could only paint at night. During that period, he had followed some great masters such as Liang Boyu, Ou Jiangong and Yang Shanshen to learn traditional Chinese painting, and had been awarded many painting and calligraphy prizes. When he studied in my diploma class, he had started to do some experiments with juxtaposing “ink rubbing” techniques together with the traditional smearing technique, demonstrating again his outstanding giftedness. The “Red Cliff” (Fig.4) and “Flowing Clouds over Majestic Peaks” (Fig.5) were paintings that portrayed his experimental techniques from that time. Right after, he had painted many realistic painting, such as a series of waterfalls and “Big Bank” (Fig.6) that eschewed Chinese painting traditions.

Soon after, he turned to express spiritual scenes with a sense of a lightness, freedom and quietness in the mood in his paintings, such as “Milky Way” (Fig.7) and “The Chinese Sky” (Fig.8). During this productive period, he used to always drive from Hong Kong Island to my dormitory in Shatin, chatting with me late into the night about modern Chinese Ink Painting. In 1986, I brought along some Tibetan Thangkas and prayer flags from Tibet to Hong Kong. He became fascinated with them and was greatly inspired by theseTibetan monastery cultural relics which matched exactly with his philosophy and ways of thinking. His painting style then took a turn and he began to develop an extra layer of religious meaning to his artworks. His distinguished painting style immediately convinced art lovers of his talent and he was regarded with especially high-esteem. The accomplished British art dealer, Lo Shan Tang, signed a contract with him and became his global art agent. One day, in the process of creating his own style, Kwok suddenly realized the true meaning of modern Chinese painting and rushed into my home to share with me his euphoric and gratified moment.

In 1989, he decided to immigrate with his wife and two children to the USA to paint wholeheartedly and thought it would be better for his family’s development. When the paintings of Kwok Hon-sum got more and more popular around the world, Kwok and his family truly enjoying their blissful life in the USA, and his two children were well-educated with brilliant achievements too. However, Kwok had worked too hard and fallen sick, he had come back to treat his cancer in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, he passed away suddenly because of pneumonia which he developed from flu. I came sadly from Taiwan to his funeral to grieve his death. It is so heartbreaking that an artist who spent his whole life devoted to the innovation of Chinese painting and global civilization, died at the prime of his life.

Fortunately, it is a great honor that Mrs. Kwok has promised to exhibit his paintings in Hong Kong, sharing with local and worldwide art lovers. She should be praised by all for her generosity and love for her beloved husband. Moreover, it is of no doubt an amazing showcase of the pioneering of Chinese Ink Painting, the exhibition should definitely be admired and respected.

(Translated by Margaret Kwok-fan Yeung)