Liu Kang (1911– 2004) Artist and academic. Born in Fujian, Liu Kang lived in Muar until 1926. He then went to study at the Shanghai College of Fine Arts and, later, the Xinhua Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai. He travelled to Paris to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (1929– 33), and his works were exhibited in France. He became professor of Western art at the Shanghai College of Fine Arts (1933– 37). When the Sino- Japanese War broke out in 1937, he resettled in Malaya.

During the Japanese Occupation, Liu opened a hotel and café in Muar and worked in a film distribution company. Following the Japanese surrender, he launched Morrow Studio at Dhoby Ghaut in Singapore, taking on advertising work and cinema billboards, while resuming his teaching in local schools until his retirement in 1971. He produced political cartoons on the Occupation, publishing these in 1946. He was the first post- war president of the influential Society of Chinese Artists (formed in 1935), a position he held for 12 years. Liu was a founding member of the Singapore Art Society and its president (1968– 79).

Liu is known as one of the pioneers of the Nanyang Style. In 1952, Liu, together with Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng and Chen Chong Swee went on a historic field trip to Bali. They went in search of Southeast Asian visual expression, and Bali provided the visual material and inspiration for Liu and his fellow artists to develop the Nanyang Style. Mentored by Chinese artist Liu Haisu and influenced by the French post- Impressionists, Liu developed a mature style characterized by simplicity, and boldness of form, colour and line.

Major retrospectives of Liu’s work have been undertaken, including one at the Singapore Art Museum (1997). His work has also been exhibited in touring exhibitions to the United States (2000) and to Beijing and Shanghai (2000– 01).

Liu was the recipient of the Public Service Star (1970) and the Meritorious Service Medal (1996). A gallery in the Singapore Art Museum was also named after him following his donation of over a thousand paintings and sketches to the museum in 2003.

Photo credit: Singapore Press Holdings/ The Straits Times