Kailuen Eng, also known as K. L. Eng, was born around 1905 in Canton, China according to the Canadian Immigration Service. The date of his immigration to the United States is not known. Eng crossed the border at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in September 1927. He was on line fourteen of the report which had his birth information and mother’s name and location. The last column said Eng was rejected for entry into Canada.
According to the Canadian report Eng had traveled from Ohio. He was not listed in the 1926 Cleveland, Ohio city directory. In 1927 Eng’s address was 1450 East 12th Street. He was an artist at the Landon School which offered art classes and correspondence lessons. The 1929 Cleveland directory listed Eng at 1446 East 82nd Street. He was clerk at the Landon School.
The Chinese Students’ Monthly, January 1929, published the article “China at the All Nations Exposition in Cleveland”. Eng was in charge of the booths and decorations. Following the article was a brief profile of Eng which said
Kailuen Eng is a rabid reel fan. He feeds on cartoons. He can cook delicious Chinese soup. He is afraid of press photographers. He is responsible for the Chinese sets at the All Nations Exposition in Cleveland. He uses no pens—only brushes. He sings tenor at Sunday school. He hates reporters.
Eng was not listed in the 1930 Cleveland directory. He has not been found in the 1930 United States census. At some point Eng moved to the New York metropolitan area.
... The John Reed Club, Julius Manya, Sarah Berman, Raphael Doktor, K. L. Eng, Benjamin Ovryn and others represent the political Left. Hitler, Mussolini, President Roosevelt, J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Japan, Fascism, etc., are portrayed with disfavor in their paintings. ...Eng was mentioned in the New York Sun, October 12, 1936.
Will Open Gallery
Chinese Art Club to Show Paintings and Sculpture.
The Chinese Art Club will open a new gallery at 175 Canal street, in Chinatown, Wednesday evening at 8 o’clock, with an exhibition of paintings and sculpture by twenty Chinese and American artists, Chu H. Jor, president of the club, announced today.
The club was founded last year and held exhibitions last winter at 10 Pell street, but this is the first time, Mr. Jor said, that the club has had an adequate gallery to display the work of members.
Among the exhibitors are Oronzio Madarelli, Stuyvesant Van Veen, Tschia Lenzene, Harry Wong, Howard Low and K. L. Eng.
Mr. Jor said that there would be exhibitions from time to time during the winter, together with Oriental music and dance concerts, and reading of Oriental literature.
“Our purpose is to introduce Chinese art to the American public and Occidental art to the Chinese public,” Mr. Jor said. “That is why we have American artists among our members and sponsors. Many of our Chinese painters, too, have lived in America all of their lives, and their work is modern and individual, and not Oriental.”
Eng was mentioned in the New York Post, October 24, 1936.
Chinese Art Club Holds Canal Street ExhibitThe China Weekly Review, December 11, 1937, reprinted Eng’s cartoon from the Christian Student.
Those who cherish the racial interpretation of art will find some matter to ponder in the exhibit by members of the Chinese Art Club in their new quarters at 175 Canal Street. For nine-tenths of the work shown is indistinguishable from contemporary occidental art.
Howard Low is most alert to advanced modern trends, creating abstract designs, lively drawings of city life, and intimate paintings like “Goldfish Bowl,” all very well done. Chu W. Young is an able exponent of impressionist landscape art, and Chu H. Jor paints still life with a soft patine of color. Others showing are Mowee Tiam, Harry Wong, Stanley Chin, Tschai Lanzene, K. L. Eng, Bennie Sonn and S. V. Pang.
Chinese Digest, March 1938, said
Art Club to Hold Painting and Photography ExhibitsThe New York Times, March 3, 1938, said
New York—The Chinese Art club here will hold its third annual exhibit of paintings and sculpture at the club’s gallery, 175 Canal street, beginning March 1 and extending through March 25.
The exhibit will include works by Miss Yee Ching-chih, Jack Chen, Chu H. Jor, Kailuen Eng, Moowee Tiam, Tschai Lenzene, Howard Low, and others. Guest exhibitors will include Neysa McNein [sic], Oronzio Maladrelli, Guy Maccoy, Dimitri Romanovesky, and others.
Beginning April 1 and extending through April 15 the Chinese Art club will hold its second photographic salon. Prints for showing may be submitted by any Chinese in any part of the country, and may be of any size, but must be mounted. Submission of prints must be made on or before March 25, announced W. Yukon, in charge of this exhibit. All pictures submitted will be returned in their original wrappings to the senders after the close of the exhibition.
Chinese Art Club Displays PaintingsThe New York Post, March 19, 1938, said
Exhibit Dedicated to ‘Struggle Against Aggression’—Few War Pictures
The Chinese Art Club’s third annual exhibition was opened to the public yesterday at its galleries, 175 Canal Street. A sign at the entrance announced that the show was dedicated to “the Chinese struggle against Japanese aggression.”
There was little sign of that struggle, however, in the exhibition itself. War scenes were outnumbered by still-lifes by more than two to one. Only five of the fifty-two pictures dealt with the war, and one of these was contributed by Neysa McMein, one of the eight non-Chinese artists exhibiting.
The most ambitious of the war scenes was K.L. Eng’s painting of a refugee family. It showed a husband and wife fleeing with four children. The other war scenes were all small. They included a drawing of a woman volunteer, by Jack Chen; a wood engraving of a Chinese soldier encouraging men behind him, by Li Chun, and a water-color of a refugee, by Moowee Tiam, the club’s president.
The rest of the show was made up of pictures of fruits and flowers, pastoral landscapes and peaceful studies of people. And there was little evidence that all but ten of the works were by Chinese artists. Miss Yee Ching-chih’s three pictures and Harry Wong’s landscape were the only ones in the tradition of Chinese painting.
The exhibition will be open until March 25.
Chinese Club ShowChinese Digest, May 1938, printed Eng’s “Refugee” painting.
The third annual exhibition by members and friends of the Chinese Art Club is now current at 175 Canal Street.
Some participants, such as K. L. Eng, Jack Chen and Mowee Tiam, have turned in work bearing on the dedication of the show to the defense of the Chinese people. Others have followed their older tendencies, Chu H. Jor showing richly painted still lifes of livid lobsters and fruit. Chu W. Young an impressionist landscape, Tschai Lenzene genre landscapes and Yee Ching-Chih landscapes in the Chinese brush technique.
Work by American artists includes Oronzio Maldarelli’s handsome dancer, Guy Maccoy’s “The Old Tree,” two compositions by Genoi Pettit, a still life by Arthur Schwieder and a drawing by Neysa McMein.
The New York Times, December 8, 1938, said
The Chinese Art Club ElectsChinese Digest, January 1939, said
The Chinese Art Club, 175 Canal Street, announced yesterday that it has elected its founder, Chu Jor, as the new president for the coming year. K. L. Eng was elected vice president and Wesley S. Chan treasurer. It also announced that its annual Chinese children’s show, which will be held in February, will not be confined to New York City, but will be national in scope.
New Officers for N.Y. Chinese Art ClubThe Intercollegian, January 1942, printed one of Eng’s paintings.
New York—The Chinese Art Club here at its fourth annual meeting elected Chu Jor for its next president, succeeding Moowee Tiam. Others elected included K.L. Eng, Wesley S. Chan, Marquis Chunn, Arthur Lee, and Stanley H. Chin.
The club is now preparing for its next annual Children’s Art exhibition. This year it intends to have a nation-wide representation and Chinese children’s art work from the Chinese communities of San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and other Chinatowns.
Chu Jor in the American Artists Congress 2nd Annual Exhibition
Chu H. Jor, Moo-Wee Tiam, Don Gook Wu and C. W. Young at ACA Gallery, September 1937
Searching for Moowee Tiam, Artist and Member of the Chinese Art Club
Searching for C.W. Young, Artist and Member of the Chinese Art Club
Howard Low, Artist and Illustrator
Chu H. Jor, Moo-Wee Tiam, Don Gook Wu and C. W. Young at ACA Gallery, September 1937
Searching for Moowee Tiam, Artist and Member of the Chinese Art Club
Searching for C.W. Young, Artist and Member of the Chinese Art Club
Howard Low, Artist and Illustrator
