Dr. Norman Bethune

Artist Hung Liu American, born China, 1948–2021

Date2000

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions80 x 80 in. (203.2 x 203.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Elizabeth Kuniholm

Object number2018.2

On View

Not on view

Label TextMany of Liu’s paintings are based on historical photographs of China, which she transformed by incorporating images of fruit, flowers, and birds, often rendered in the style of traditional Chinese paintings. She also layered her paintings with abstract veils of color, slightly obscuring the underlying images. As she stated, “I want to give a photograph another life through my interpretation, through my hand.”

This painting depicts a Canadian physician in the midst of a battlefield operation. Dr. Norman Bethune, who went to China in 1937 to join the Red Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, died in 1939 during the war.
["Portraits and Power," 2022]ProvenanceCreated California, 2000; collection of the artist; [Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco]; Elizabeth Kuniholm, Durham, NC, 2001; given to NCMA, 2017.
Exhibition HistoryDisplayed with the NCMA permanent collection, 2008–2009; 2010–2012; 2012–2013; 2016.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–April 21, 2025.
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