Lee Tze-fan (Chinese: 李澤藩; 5 June 1907 Shinchiku-cho (modern-day Hsinchu), Japanese Taiwan - 10 July 1989) was a Taiwanese painter and art teacher.
Lee Tze-fan was born in Taiwan in 1907 (Meiji 40) during Japanese Rule in Shinchiku Cho (present-day Wuchang Street, Hsinchu City).
During his sophomore year, the school principal Shihota Shokichi appointed Kinichiro Ishikawa, who had just returned from the United Kingdom, as the art teacher.
Additionally, he explored subject matters including architecture (towns, buildings, pavilions, and towers), gardens, street scenes, interiors, flowers, still life, people, events, and foreign landscapes.
Lee's paintings during the 1930s mainly depicted childhood memories of grandiose mansions in Hsinchu, such as the Qian-Yuan, Bei-Guo Garden, Yin Hsi East Gate, and Chenghuang Temple.
[4] Lee's compositions frequently incorporated plains, valleys, and rivers, along with historical and cultural landmarks in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli.
His realistic style, rooted in "observing nature, grasping inspiration, embracing experimentation, and expressing with various techniques", became the mainstream of Taiwanese local paintings.
In the 1970s, Taiwan's art scene started to favor local realism, bringing renewed attention to Lee Tze-Fan's watercolor paintings.
In addition, opaque watercolor pigments allowed for modifications and corrections, enabling him to wash off and repaint areas that he was unsatisfied with to save on paper.
[5] Throughout his painting process, he repeatedly modified and revised any unsatisfactory areas, eventually developing his own unique watercolor technique known as the "rubbing and wiping method".
In the 1980s, he created a style that integrated Eastern and Western painting techniques with a Taiwanese cultural spirit, expressing profound emotions and artistic transcendence."
In 1930 (Shōwa 5), Lee Tze-fan married Cai Pei, a native from Wu-Qi-Gang Street, Da-Du-Zhong-Bao, Taichū Prefecture (present-day Wuqi District, Taichung).