Liu Haisu was a native of Changzhou in Jiangsu Province. He was an accomplished painter, poet, calligrapher and seal carver. A pioneer in art education in China, Liu founded the Shanghai Graphic Art College in 1912 (later the Shanghai College of Fine Arts). In 1915, he shocked the art world in China, by using a nude model in his life classes. Liu travelled widely in Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia; there have been many exhibitions of his works and he has also given lectures on some of his tours. During one of his earlier visits to Europe, he formed an acquaintance with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. There were two large-scale exhibitions of Liu's paintings in Hong Kong in 1977 and 1981. Liu was well versed in the history of both Chinese and Western art. He was also an authority on art theory, and published many books in his career. His contribution to art education in China is generally recognized; he has served variously as the head of the East China Institute of Art, the President of the Nanjing Art Academy and its Professor of Fine Arts. He also taught briefly at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as a visiting scholar.