KUO PO CHUAN, whose father died while he was only two months old baby, was born in Tainan, 1901. He was brought up all alone by his mother. He went to Japan to study at the age of twenty-six. At first, he planned to study law, but because of the political environment, he changed his mind to study painting. After passing the entrance examination, which he had failed twice, he studied with Okade Subrosuke at the Western Painting Division of Tokyo Fine Arts School. At the age of thirty-three, he graduated fifth in his class from Tokyo Fine Arts School.
In 1937, he went to mainland China, and resided in Peiping for twelve years. This period of communicating with the elite of the city was the turning point in the artist's painting career. The former capital's scenes and the atmosphere of vast land with rich natural resources stimulated him to examine traditional contents of art. Furthermore, his close friend, a Japanese painter, Ryuzaburo Umehara, whom the artist esteemed most, and often accompanied him on painting excursions when he was in Peiping.
The artist went back Taiwan to recuperate his health in 1948 and resided in Tainan thereafter. He has taught Fine Arts at Architecture Department of National Cheng Gong University for twenty years. He always carefully chooses colors which suit his painting style, and adopts the spirit of the Orient from the utensils, embroideries and temple architecture of Taiwan in his art creation. The artist and his friends, who share his ideas, established an organization called "Tainan Research Society of Fine Arts". Of those senior painters of Taiwan, KUO PO CHUAN is known for being a very self-disciplined and demanding painter. He attaches much importance to composition and presents a simple but profound painting style with saturated colors and accurate strokes. The arrangement of the lines in his painting implies an intention of calligraphy. He is an artist who pursues the essence of creation.
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