Artwork copyright Hung Liu. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Sisters in Arms I, 2003

Hung Liu
(American, born 1948, died 2021)

Location: University of Washington, Seattle

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Hung Liu's Sisters in Arms I is inspired by historical photographs of people in China. The artwork incorporates both traditional Chinese design elements, such as calligraphy and images of birds and flowers, as well as modern printmaking techniques. Liu notes, "This interweaving of images from the ancient and modern past continues my interest in a contemporary form of history painting in which the subjects from one era witness and comment upon those of another, keeping the idea of history open and fluid."

This artwork is part of a collection of artworks located in the University of Washington's Kane Hall. The collection pays tribute to the diversity of UW's campus community and features nine artists whose art explores identity. Student leaders from the UW Minority Think Tank were involved in the selection of the artworks in 2005.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with University of Washington.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Chinese-American artist Hung Liu (1948-2021) created figurative paintings using imagery from 20th-century historical photographs to explore themes of identity, memory, and personal and national history. She often referenced issues and themes that relate to Chinese and Chinese-American working-class experiences. Liu once said her goal in America was “to invent a way of allowing myself to practice as a Chinese artist outside of a Chinese culture.”

Liu was born in Changchun, China and studied painting at the Central Academy for Fine Art in Beijing, China. She immigrated to the United States in 1984 and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego in 1986. She was Professor Emerita at Mills College in Oakland, California, and taught art there from 1990-2014. Her art is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco (SFMOMA), Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and more. In 1998-99, a retrospective of Liu's work "Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu" traveled the U.S.