Alisan Fine Arts celebrates 45 years of championing contemporary Chinese art in 2026. Chao Chung-hsiang, alongside notable artists like Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun, Walasse Ting, and Lui Shou-kwan, has been a vital part of the gallery’s history since our early days.
Chao studied under the renowned Lin Fengmian at the National College of Art in Hangzhou, graduating in 1939 before immigrating to Taiwan in 1948. His studies in Spain and experiences in Europe led him to New York in 1958, where he encountered the dynamic world of American Abstract Expressionism and other post-war art movements. His works explore themes of nature, spirituality, and abstraction, featuring flowers, fish, birds, and cosmic imagery.
Our presentation for Asia Week New York focuses on Chao’s black-and-white abstract ink paintings alongside his renowned “hybrid paintings” of birds and fish. The interplay of circles, squares, and geometric forms executed in bright acrylics atop traditional ink washes demonstrates Chao’s unique artistic approach, which incorporated abstract symbolism into ink wash painting. Chao’s integration of yin-yang symbols and references to Chinese philosophy enriches his work, embodying a hybrid quality and a conscious expansion to the traditional Chinese artistic language.
In the 1970s and 80s, Chao found institutional recognition through several important solo exhibitions in New York, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Arnot Art Museum, and the Parrish Art Museum. In 1972, Chao won the New York Creative Arts Public Service Program Award. From 1997-99, his works were exhibited in the traveling exhibition, Asian Traditions/Modern Expressions, organized by the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University. His work was also included in the seminal exhibition, China: 5,000 Years, at the Guggenheim Museum in 1998.
His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong; and M+, Hong Kong.
