LIAO CHI CHUN was born in a poor peasant family in Fengyuan in 1902. After graduating from the normal college and with the financial help of his finance, he went for further study at Tokyo Fine Arts School. In 1928, his work "A Garden with Plantain" was chosen for the Imperial Exhibition. He then returned to teach in Taiwan until his retirement.
Because of his artistic preeminence and his representative status in the fine arts circles in Taiwan, he was invited in June 1962 by the US State Department for a visit to the Fine Arts Museums of most of the big cities in the States. This exposure to the main trends in international painting significantly broadened his own horizon, and was the impetus in bringing his career to a climactic point. The influence of Euro-American paintings since informed his art.
LIAO was one of the most renowned and unassuming predecessors in Taiwan art. His command of color, especially the brighter shades, and of a light and brisk rhythm, giving forth a delightful and lyrical impression, is widely admired. Even after the war, he was still able to put to good use his already considerable experience and achievements of the pre-war years, and won the respect of the new generations with his evergreen-like vitality. Despite the fact that the most part of his life was overshadowed by war and poverty, his paintings always portrayed a bright and aspiring world, full of peace and tranquility. His art is like a transcending and brilliant rainbow that straddles the gap between new and old, the post-war present and the pre-war past.
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