DVAA Member since 2023
Chen Lok Lee
WEBSITE:
About:
Chen Lok Lee (May 18, 1927-December 13, 2020) was a devoted educator and prominent printmaker and painter based in Philadelphia, PA. For over twenty years, he was a Professor of Printmaking, Silkscreen and Lithography at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, the first and only visual arts college for women in the United States. Additionally, he taught Chinese calligraphy and painting through the Community College of Philadelphia and other private venues and classes.
Lee’s background as a political refugee from China influenced his artistic style and philosophies. Lee fled Communist China in 1950, narrowly escaping by swimming towards Hong Kong. He was rescued by a boat and eventually taken there. He stayed in Hong Kong for eight years, studying at the prestigious Hong Kong University, and then went on to enter the United States as a political refugee in 1959. He settled in New York City’s Chinatown, and worked his way through the Chinese restaurant business to support himself as a young artist and learn enough English to establish footing in his new country. While at the Arts Students League in New York, he began to study under very prominent and contemporary artists including George Grosz, Stephen Greene and Robert Hale, along with New York painter Hans Hoffman.
From 1967-1970, Lee studied abroad at the Rome Academy in Italy and earned an MFA at the Tyler School of Fine Arts in printmaking under Romas Viesulas and Richard Callner, the latter with whom Lee later organized the Mantegna Press II in Philadelphia of which he was technical director. While traveling and lecturing in Italy, Lee was involved in a group show at the American Embassy and a one man exhibition at “Gallery 86”, Rome. Lee had developed technical mastery in printmaking and complex imagery with his watercolors and paintings.
In 1973 he was awarded a prestigious fellowship from the Ford Foundation to study at the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico. He was recognized at an international exhibition in Hong Kong, as invited by Her Majesty’s Service in 1982. In his new adopted hometown of Philadelphia, he was selected to participate in the Mayor’s Commission for Cultural Exchange between Philadelphia and sister city Tianjin, China, from 1986-1987. Throughout his career, he was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts for several projects, one of which was as an assistant curator at the University of Michigan.
He continued to be featured and show his work in one-man exhibits and group shows at galleries throughout the United States, including Gallery International in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia’s City Hall, Brandywine Workshop, and The Print Center, also in Philadelphia. In 1994, he was recognized in Who’s Who Among Asian Americans, a research publication produced by the University of California, Berkeley, for his contributions to social, civic and professional American society.
He retired from Moore College of Art and Design in 1995, but continued to privately teach Chinese painting and calligraphy to his devoted students. As an entrepreneur, he opened a gallery and restaurant—Little Szechuan: Modern Chinese Cooking, in the suburbs of Pennsylvania.
Chen Lok Lee was a husband to Linda, whom he met while in Rome. Linda, also an artist and educator, returned with Lee to Pennsylvania. They moved to New Mexico where they were married, and then lived in Chicago, before settling back in Pennsylvania where Professor Lee was hired at Moore College of Art and Design.
He was the proud father of Romana (Cliff) and son Raymond, and doting grandfather of Hanalee. He raised his children with every devotion and detail. In the later part of his life, he was able to reunite with the family that he left behind in China, sponsoring them to come to the United States. Professor Lee leaves behind a legacy of strength, courage, honor and devotion, and touched the lives of all who knew and loved him.
ABOUT The Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project:
The Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project was founded by Lee's daughter, Romana, in March 2021. Romana Lee-Akiyama maintains the Lee collection and archive, and recently placed the work at the Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania for an extended show during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Artist Statement:
When I first came to America, I brought images in my head with me. I developed skills in a western art form — printmaking. My ideas (images from the East) manifest in a western art form which I feel helps to create an international bridge between the two cultures. Today, I once again work in Chinese painting and calligraphy as well as printmaking. Chinese see my work as western; westerners see my work as Chinese. As for me, I wish to use an international language.
