Ma Tianqi (1934) was born in Haicheng, Liaoning Province. In the autumn of 1958, he was admitted to the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts and served as the chairman of the student union and as a member of the National Federation of Students. After graduation, he stayed on to teach in the school, and was transferred back to the town of Haicheng to meet the needs of local cultural work, where he engaged in mass cultural work for 45 years. He used to be the curator of Haicheng Cultural Center.

His works have been selected for more than 40 major exhibitions, including the National Art Exhibition, the International Exhibition of Modern Chinese New Year Pictures, and the National Invitation Exhibition of Famous Artists in Calligraphy and Painting. He has held solo and group exhibitions in Beijing, Jinan, Tianshui, Luoyang, Qingdao, Kunming, Taipei and other places, as well as Japan, the Philippines and other countries.