Li Chaoshi

Li Chaoshi was Chinese, born in 1893 and died in 1971. Exact birth and death dates and places are not documented in the sources available for this profile, and only the years can be confirmed. He was among the first generation of Chinese painters to study Western painting in Europe, including in France, though the specific school he attended and the exact dates of his study are not documented in the sources reviewed.

Back in China, he worked in oil and in works on paper using crayon and gouache. Christie's describes him as a prominent artist and art educationist who pioneered gouache painting and whose technique shows an affinity with Edgar Degas while remaining distinctly his own. A documented example of his later work is Harvest, dated 1962 and executed in crayon and gouache on paper.

Published critical writing on Li Chaoshi in general-interest outlets is limited in the sources available. The most substantive characterization comes from Christie's lot note, which describes him as among the first Chinese artists to study Western painting in Europe and as a prominent artist and art educationist, associated with pioneering gouache painting and showing a technical affinity with Edgar Degas while retaining his own distinct approach. This auction house framing is the most substantial documented assessment currently available, rather than commentary from a named critic in a general-interest publication.

Li Chaoshi's auction footprint is real but not fully resolved in public sources. MutualArt records 57 of his works as having come to auction, with realized prices reported as high as USD 484,567 for a work on paper and USD 105,048 for a painting. No single sale among these has been independently confirmed across two sources as the artist's definitive all-time record, so that figure should be treated as indicative of his price range rather than as a confirmed record. Christie's has offered his work at auction, including the 1962 work Harvest, cataloged under the artist header "Li Chaoshi (1893 to 1971)." Auction platforms sometimes render his name in reordered form, as "Chaoshi Li" or "LI CHAOSHI," which refers to the same artist.

Documentation on Li Chaoshi is comparatively sparse outside specialist art-market databases and auction house lot notes, and exact birth and death dates, detailed exhibition history, and any formal awards are not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this profile. No catalogue raisonne has been identified, and current gallery or estate representation is not documented, so buyers should verify any specific work directly through the offering auction house's condition report and provenance history. Given the range of realized prices already on record and the absence of a single confirmed benchmark sale, collectors should treat any one auction result for this artist as a data point rather than as a settled market ceiling.