Born in 1921 in
Beijing (then known as
Beiping), China. He attended Nanjing secondary school, Zhenjiang secondary school, and Zhongnan Middle School, National II. Chen's youth was strongly affected by the
Second Sino-Japanese War and his family relocated in
Chongqing,
Sichuan Province. In 1950, he took classes at
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the Department of Art.
Walter Gropius, recommended him as a part-time teacher at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he taught from 1952 until 1954. Chi-kwan often painted in watercolor, borrowing elements from traditional
Chinese painting and applying them modern themes or Western style line work. Many of his works were abstract or depicted small landscapes.
Harvard Art Museums, the
British Museum, among others. In 2004, Chen was one of the recipients of Taiwan's prestigious National Award for Arts. Judges said the "decorative colors, architectural lines and mystical spaces" in his paintings "inspired us to see our surroundings in a new light." To commemorate the 90th anniversary of his birth, a selection of Chen's paintings were displayed at the
National Palace Museum in Taipei. ==Key dates==