A truly revolutionary painter

The late Cantonese artist Li Tiefu (1869-1952) once said, "All my life, I've had two passions: revolution and art."

Li, who died nearly seven decades ago, is less well-known today since he spent half his life in North America and remained distant from art communities.

But he was a pioneer of Chinese oil painting. He was among the first Chinese to receive academic art training overseas.