Chow Chian-Chiu, 95, Artist's images caught the eye of Richard Nixon
Shrike
CHOW CHIAN-CHIU
Artist's images caught the eye of Richard Nixon
BY ELIAS E. LOPEZ
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/obituaries/14790644.htm
Chow Chian-Chiu, an internationally renowned Chinese artist and
t'ai chi instructor who with his wife operated a studio in Coral
Gables, died June 4 of complications of pneumonia and kidney
failure in a San Diego hospital. He was 95.
Since settling in Miami in the late 1960s, Chow and his wife,
Leung ChenYing, who died last year, taught students Chinese
watercolor and brush painting techniques.
They also taught wu-style t'ai chi, a martial art.
''He was a wonderful teacher. He shared all of his secrets, all
of his techniques. He held nothing back,'' said Nancy Browne, a
student of the Chows for more than 18 years.
Chow Chian-Chiu was born Dec. 22, 1910, in the city of Guangzhou
in southern China.
In 1939, Chow and his wife met in a bomb shelter in the Canton
province of China as Chinese troops fought an invasion from Japan.
She was an art student, and Chow was a major in the Chinese army.
But he was also an art teacher, and their love of art created a
bond that lasted more than five decades.
''We didn't have any money to hold a wedding ceremony,'' Chow
Chian-Chiu told The Miami Herald in 2000. ``So I wrote 50 poems
to remember that special day.''
Soon after they married they moved to Hong Kong to teach art,
where pupils included the sons and daughters of Chinese and
foreign dignitaries.
In the early '50s, Chow was named president of the International
Studio of Chinese Art.
In 1965, their only son, Chee Woo, moved to the United States to
attend Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he studied
business and economics.
In 1968, the Chows, while touring the United States giving
lectures and holding exhibitions, were encouraged to stay by an
admirer of their work.
In 1969 they settled in Miami and opened a studio downtown.
That year the artists caught the eye of President Richard Nixon
with images of an eagle on the surface of the moon.
The paintings were an allegory of the Apollo 11 mission, and
Nixon put them on display on Capitol Hill.
The Chows were considered the patriarch and matriarch of the
Chinese community in South Florida.
''They were highly respected and very active,'' Chee Woo said.
``They contributed paintings to a lot of charitable causes.''
In 1998, the couple received a distinguished achievement award
from the Chinese-American Benevolent Association of Fort Lauderdale.
In July 2004, the Chows closed their Coral Gables studio and
moved to California to be near their son and grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held June 18 in San Diego.
There will be a memorial gathering June 25 at Fairchild Tropical
Botanic Garden.
Students and friends will meet at the gift shop at 9:45 a.m. and
then walk to a tree dedicated to the Chows.