On View
On viewObject number2017.38
Lady Lotus
Artist
Hung Liu
(American, 1948 - 2021)
Date2016
Mediummixed media on panel
DimensionsOverall: 41 × 41 × 2 1/8 in. (104.1 × 104.1 × 5.4 cm)
Credit LineJoy Light East Asian Art Acquisition and Exhibition Fund
Exhibition HistoryWomen Warriors: Portraits by Hung Liu, KIA Asian Gallery, August 5 - November 26, 2017
"The Way Forward: New Acquisitions at the KIA," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Joy Light Gallery of Asian Art (Aug 26, 2018 - Dec 2, 2018)
"Unveiling American Genius," KIA Permanent Collection Exhibition, Traditional, Markin, Nay and Groos Galleries (March 1, 2021 - December 31, 2023).
"EXPO Chicago 2023" Chicago, Navy Pier (April 11 - 14, 2023).Label TextHung Liu attended the Central Academy of Art in Beijing, where she was trained in the Chinese Socialist Realist style. After waiting seven years for the Chinese government to approve her passport, Liu pursued her Master’s Degree in painting at U.C. San Diego. Liu is widely known in the US for her paintings of Chinese workers and women assigned to sexual servitude under the Communist regime.
For Liu, photography carries an especially personal significance. During China’s Cultural Revolution, when Liu’s father was imprisoned by Mao Zedong’s Communist forces, her mother destroyed all photographs of him to protect the family from further persecution. Lady Lotus is based on a photograph the artist found in 1990. Combining photography and painting, Liu exposes the political hypocrisy of an authoritarian regime and honors the humanity of women.
