Li Kuchan

Li Kuchan (李苦禅), originally named Ying Jie (later changed to Ying), courtesy name Chaosan, later Ligon, and known by his Buddhist name “Kuchan”, was a renowned Chinese painter born in Gaotang, Shandong in 1899. Celebrated for his bold and expressive freehand ink paintings of flowers and birds, Li Kuchan combined the vitality of traditional Chinese brushwork with modern sensibilities. As a student of Qi Baishi, he inherited and expanded the expressive style of xieyi (freehand) painting, infusing it with powerful emotion and spiritual depth. Li served as a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and profoundly influenced the development of 20th-century Chinese ink art before his passing in 1983.