James Chan Leong (November 27, 1929 – April 15, 2011) was an influential Chinese American artist from San Francisco, California who used his paintings to convey his struggles and revelations with racial identity.
[2][3] Leong was born on November 27, 1929, in San Francisco's Chinatown, an ethnic enclave of recent Chinese immigrants to the United States.
Leong grew up in this area during pre- and post-World War II, where he battled constant prejudice as an Asian American.
This painting was named One Hundred Years: History of the Chinese in America and was commissioned to be placed in Ping Yuen, the first federally funded public housing in Chinatown.
He and other artists would spend their time in the famous bohemian hot spots of San Francisco, such as the Iron Pot Restaurant, Vesuvios Bar and City Lights Bookstore.
After this, he also received a Guggenheim Fellowship that took Leong and his then family to Rome where he painted and focused on abstract art at the American Academy.
Through his experience of 31 years in Rome, Leong found that the Italian people were far more accepting of his Chinese American identity than that of those in his home country.
After living for three decades in Italy, Leong settled in Pioneer Square in Seattle in 1994, finding the town to be the perfect blend of San Francisco and Europe.