Lee Chi-mao

Lee Chi-mao (Chinese: 李奇茂, March 22, 1925 – May 24, 2019), born Li Yuntai (李雲台) and self-proclaimed " the owner of the Cai Feng Tang (采風堂主)," was a Chinese ink painter from Woyang County, Anhui Province (now Lixin County). In his early years, he primarily created works with a distinctive literary and artistic style related to battle. Later, he gradually shifted to themes depicting the customs and people of Taiwan, as well as engaging in experimental new ink painting creations.

Life

Chinese Period In 1934, Lee Chi-mao's father, Li Guanying (李冠英), invited the county high school teacher Lu Huashi (陸化石) to teach Lee Chi-mao the fundamentals of ink painting. Lu used the "Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden (Jieziyuan Huapu, 芥子園畫譜)" as the teaching material. He often took students to folk temples to observe painted stories on the walls, inspiring Lee Chi-mao to excel in Buddhist painting from a young age. While Lee Chi-mao was learning to paint, his mother was often nearby engaged in weaving, making the figure of the "mother" at work a recurring theme in his later works. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Lee Chi-mao, in 1941, evacuated to Shanghai and Nanjing with fellow villagers, where he joined the recruitment for the National Army's armored forces and later changed his name to "Lee Chi-mao". After graduating in 1957, Lee Chi-mao was assigned to serve in Kinmen, experiencing the August 23 Artillery Battle. During his time in Kinmen, he depicted the landscapes and war scenes as artworks. In 1958, he held his second solo exhibition at Zhongshan Hall and was appointed as a full-time teacher in the Art Department of Fengxinggang Academy the following year (1959).

• 1966: Received the 10th Republic of China Literary and Art Association Art Award and the 2nd Zhongshan Academic and Cultural Creative Art Award

• 1973: Awarded the Cultural Contribution Award by the Ministry of Education's Cultural Bureau

• 1982: Honored with the 7th National Art Special Award

• 2001: Awarded the Culture and Arts Contribution Medal – Gold Medal by the Executive Yuan's Council for Cultural Affairs