The Artist

Madam Li Yuen Sheng was born in the city of Tientsin in Hopei, China in 1924. Her interest in painting began in early childhood, and she studied under Mr. Chen Shao Mei, an accomplished artist before graduating from Peking's Central Academy of Arts in 1950. Subsequently she worked as a graphic designer, but her reputation as an artist spread quickly, and in 1959 she was elected a member of the Chinese Painting Research Institute.

The paintings in this book bear the most recent witness to her excellence in the traditional Gongbi painting school style. They are the culmination of a remarkable career, during which her paintings were highly acclaimed by the celebrated Chinese artist Xu Bei Hong and extensively exhibited by the Chinese Government both inside and outside of China. When she left China for Hong Kong in 1979, she was unable to take any of her paintings with her, because by that time they were considered part of the Chinese Art Treasury. Since then, the Hong Kong public has enjoyed exhibitions of her paintings at Shatin Municipal Hall and Star House at Tsim Sha Tsui. Her work has also been the topic of several newspaper and magazine articles.

The Gongbi style is very intricate in its finely detailed depiction of Chinese figures and scenery, as can be seen from the meticulous care and labor in Madam Li's work. It is only after a lifetime of practice and experience that she has acquired such a skillful hand. Now she is dedicating much of her time to teaching students who are interested in learning and preserving this fine painting tradition of which she is one of the few remaining masters.