{{Short description|Taiwanese artist (1908–1995)}} {{Infobox person | name = Lee Shih-chiao | image = Yang Zhao-jia and Li Shi-qiao at the Taichu Library 1935.jpg | caption = | native_name = 李石樵 | native_name_lang = Chinese | pronunciation = Li Shih-chiao | birth_date = 13 July 1908 | birth_place = Shinshō, Taihoku Prefecture, Formosa, Empire of Japan | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1995|07|07|1908|07|13}} | death_place = Syracuse, New York, U.S. | education = Tokyo School of Fine Arts | movement = Realism | known_for = Co-Founder of Tai-Yang Art Society 臺陽美術協會 | television = Is a character in La Grande Chaumiere Violette 紫色大稻埕 (2016 TV series) | notable_works = Younger Brother (四弟像) | awards = {{unbulleted list| ''Taipei Bridge was selected for the first Taiwan Art Exhibition (Taiten)'' (1927) | ''First Taiwanese painter to receive review exemption status for the Shin Bunten Exhibition in Japan.'' }} }} '''Lee Shih-chiao''' ({{zh|t=李石樵|p=Lǐ Shíqiáo}}; 13 July 1908 – 7 July 1995) was a Taiwanese painter. His art education and career began when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Most of his paintings were realistic, but he also created some cubist works in his mid-life. He contributed significantly to art in Taiwan as an artist and educator. The Lee Shih-chiao Museum of Art was established in 1992, three years before his death.
==Early life==
Lee Shih-chiao was a Taiwanese oil painter born in Shinshō (the present-day Xinzhuang Township, Taipei County) on 13 July 1908.<ref name="teldap">{{cite news |title=In Memory of an Old Painter in Taiwan—Li Shiqiao (Shih-Chiao Lee) |url=http://culture.teldap.tw/culture/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=154:arts-and-illustrations&id=159:in-memory-of-an-old-painter-in-taiwan-shih-chiao-lee |accessdate=11 July 2020 |publisher=Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program}}</ref><ref name="tthan">{{cite news |author1=Han Cheung |title=Taiwan in Time: Private parts not allowed |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2020/07/12/2003739770 |accessdate=12 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=12 July 2020}}</ref> Lee was the third of seven children born to his parents, who were farmers.<ref name="seasons">{{cite news |title=A Painter for All Seasons |url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?post=25126&unit=20,29,35,45 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Free China Review |date=1 February 1993}}</ref>
==Education== In 1923, he entered Taipei Normal School (台北師範學校), and began to receive formal art education under Ishikawa Kinichiro.<ref name="ntnu"/> Lee was also a student of Yoshimura Yoshimatsu.<ref name="ttnb">{{cite news |last1=Buchan |first1=Noah |title=A century on |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2007/02/08/2003348228 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=8 February 2007}}</ref> After the normal school was divided, Lee transferred to the Taipei Second Normal School.<ref name="ntnu">{{cite news |url=http://archives.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/doc/c4_1_12_eng.pdf |title=Art Master Lee Shih-chiao (1908-1995) |accessdate=11 July 2020 |publisher=National Taiwan Normal University}}</ref> In 1927, his watercolor painting entitled Taipei Bridge was selected for the first Taiwan Art Exhibition (Taiten).<ref name="seasons"/>
In 1929, he went to Japan seeking admission into the Western Painting Division (renamed Oil Painting Division in 1933) of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1931; he was accepted after taking the entrance examinations three times,<ref name="seasons"/> and began to study under Okada Saburōsuke. Lee graduated from the Tokyo School in 1935 and stayed in Japan until 1944.
==Work and public life== Lee married Chou Lai-fu (周來富) in 1928. In 1933, Lee's work ''Garden of Lin Benyuan'' was selected for the Imperial Art Exhibition (Teiten), and his ''Interior'' was selected for the 7th Taiwan Art Exhibition with special selection status and received the exhibition's Asahi Prize. In 1934, he co-founded the Tai-Yang Art Society alongside seven others: Chang Ching-fen, Chang Wan-chuan, Li Mei-shu, Liao Chi-chun, Tan Ting-pho, Yang San-lang, and Yen Shui-long.<ref name="teldap"/>
After graduating in 1935, he remained in Tokyo and continued to develop his skills. During this period, he earned a living by painting portraits for wealthy and influential Taiwanese families.<ref name="seasons"/> His 1936 work ''The Family of Yang Zhaojia'' is a representative work from this period in his life, and was selected for the first Shin Bunten Exhibition.<ref name="seasons"/> In lieu of having been selected twice for Japan's official exhibition, Lee became the first Taiwanese painter to receive review exemption status for the Shin Bunten Exhibition. Another painting, ''Reclining Nude'' was considered pornographic and barred from the 1936 Taiyang Art Exhibition.<ref name="seasons"/><ref name="tthan"/>
In 1944, Lee returned to settle in Taiwan.<ref name="seasons"/> He painted ''Market Entrance'' in 1945. It was exhibited in the first Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition held in 1946, where he also served as a juror. The painting depicted Yungle Market in Taipei and emphasized socioeconomic inequality in Taiwan shortly after the end of World War II.<ref name="seasons"/><ref name="lookback">{{cite news |last1=Chang |first1=Ju-ping |title=Starting by looking back |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2001/04/29/0000083717 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=29 April 2001}}</ref> Lee considered ''Market Entrance'' among his best work.<ref name="seasons"/> He continued painting scenes of daily life in Taiwan throughout the 1940s, including ''Happy Farmers''. completed in 1946.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chang |first1=Ju-ping |title=Goodbye 20th century |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2001/02/18/0000074250 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=18 February 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Chang |first1=Ju-ping |title=East Asian tableaux |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2000/07/30/0000045808 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=30 July 2000}}</ref> In 1949, he used his family members as the models for his painting ''The Joy of Farming''. This painting demonstrates the artist's adept handling of group images as well as his skillful use of realist style. In 1948, he opened a private art studio and began to teach art for free.<ref name="seasons"/> In 1958, students that Lee had taught in his studio founded the Association of Taiwan Artists.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hsiao |first1=Sherry |title=Art collective to celebrate 60 years with Taipei exhibit |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2019/12/23/2003728041 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=23 December 2019}}</ref>
After 1950, Lee's style began to move away from realism, and he started using Picasso-esque techniques or reverse perspective in order to manifest the subjects of his works.<ref name="seasons"/><ref name="ttnb"/> In this period, Lee was particularly focused on Cubism.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Buchan |first1=Noah |title=ART JOURNAL: A realist in cubist clothing |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2009/08/12/2003450966 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=12 August 2009}}</ref> These changes can be seen in his works such as ''Still Life with Glass Vessel''<ref name="ttnb"/> ''Metaphysical'',<ref>{{cite news |last1=Freundl |first1=Diana |title='Geometric Abstraction' is a state of mind |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/08/29/2003200792 |accessdate=11 July 2020 |work=Taipei Times |date=29 August 2004}}</ref> and ''Painting Studio (Lily)'' (1958). In 1963, Lee began to teach arts at National Taiwan Normal University as an associate professor.<ref name="ntnu"/> He left NTNU in 1974,<ref name="ntnu"/> and became a professor of the National Taiwan Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) and Chinese Culture University.<ref name="seasons"/>
Lee closed his studio, retired from art education and moved to Seattle to live with his daughter in 1982.<ref name="seasons"/> The Lee Shih-chiao Museum of Art opened in Taipei on 11 July 1992.<ref name="seasons"/> He died in Syracuse, New York, USA.
==Lee's former residence== At 15 years old, Lee Shih-chiao moved out of his house in Xinzhuang. The house was bought by a timber-factory-running family surnamed Huang. The Huang family built factories around the house and continued to maintain the residence. They did not know the house belonged to Lee Shih-chiao's family until they found his name in the land ownership certificate. Subsequently, the Huang family decided to register the house as a historical site to protect it from redevelopment.<ref>[http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20150922000496-260102 中國時報2015年09月22日，〈藏107年 李石樵古厝重見天日〉]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} *Taiwan Digital [http://culture.teldap.tw/culture_es/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159] *Yen, Chuan-ying. The Art Movement in the 1930s in Taiwan. * [http://chenchengpo.asdc.sinica.edu.tw/friend_en Starting Out from 23.5°N: Chen Cheng-po, Academia Sinica Digital Center (ASDC)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417172718/http://chenchengpo.asdc.sinica.edu.tw/friend_en |date=2016-04-17 }}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110902014437/http://web.cca.gov.tw/tdg/8/writer-re.htm Lee Shih-chiao (1908-1995)] by Taiwan Digital Gallery. {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Shih-chiao}} Category:Taiwanese expatriates in the United States Category:Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Category:1908 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Artists from New Taipei Category:20th-century Taiwanese painters Category:Academic staff of the National Taiwan University of Arts Category:Academic staff of the Chinese Culture University Category:Academic staff of the National Taiwan Normal University Category:Taiwanese expatriates in Japan Category:Tokyo University of the Arts alumni