LI Yuan-chia

British-Chinese 　1929 - 1994

LI Yuan-chia, who had entered LI Chun-shan’s studio to study painting in 1952, was one of the founding members of “Ton Fan Group.” Consequent upon peregrinating in United Kingdom and Europe, LI Yuan-chia settled in U.K. for years, and founded the LYC Museum and Art Gallery (initialed LYC) in 1972. LI had dedicated the best energy of his entire life to the conduction and development of the museum. Along with the publishing of art book volumes and the production of books and poems, LI had created loads of abstract artwork mainly by utilizing ready-mades. Not only had he been appraised as the first ethnic-Chinese conceptual artist, but also was considered one of the most important postwar conceptual artists of the art history. LI’s two-dimensional work shows that he had incorporated the traditional philosophy of Laozi, the ancient Chinese philosopher, as well as the influence from the stylistic form of Chinese calligraphy. Many of LI’s work were collected by the Gavian Family and the LYC Foundation, other significant documents and manuscripts were collected by The John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester. With supports from various parties, Taipei Fine Arts Museum presented the major retrospective exhibition “View–Point: A Retrospective Exhibition of Li Yuan-chia” in 2014, to commemorate this established and prospective abstract artist of ethnic-Chinese society. Artwork by LI Yuan-chia had been collected by the Tate Britain Museum.

Selected Exhibitions:
2014 View–Point: A Retrospective Exhibition of Li Yuan-chia, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2014 Li Yuan-chia, Tate Modern, London, UK
1989 The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Postwar Britain, Hayward Gallery, Wolvehammpton Gallery, London, UK
1971 Pioneers of Participation Art, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
1969 Golden Moon Show, Lisson Gallery, Cumbria, UK
1968 Cosmic Multiple, Lisson Gallery, Cumbria, UK
1967 Cosmic Point, Lisson Gallery, Cumbria, UK
1957 São Paulo Art Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil