Taiwan's Cultural Memory - MoNTUE 北師美術舘 (Special Exhibition) Notes

HO Te-Lai  （何德來 ）1904-1986

Tofu 豆腐 1971  . Ice Cube 冰 塊 1933

RAN In-ting （藍蔭鼎） 1903-1979

Yongle Market Taipei 永樂市場 1950 

KUO Hsueh-Hu （郭雪湖）1908-2012 （Kuo is one of  "Three Youths in Taiten" 台展三少年 ）

 Spring in the Garden Lai (Taichung) 萊園春色 1939

TAN Ting-pho (陳澄波) 1895-1947

East Taiwan Seaside Road 東台灣臨海道路 1930

Painting History  - An extraordinary journey of a missing painting. 

Notes I made from a very special exhibition. From either Taiwan history points of view or current personal art interest (layers of colors). 

NOTE - By the 1920s in the beginning is incorrect. 1920s was still 綏靖時期 (Appeasement period). Arts development did not start until 承平時期 (Peaceful period) when Japanese arts moved to Taiwan.

My Hung family ancestral home (Tamsui Red House 淡水紅樓） in three paintings. Left to right from top: KUO Po-chuan 郭柏川 1953. CHANG wan-chuan 張萬傳 (Father of Fauvism). CHEN Chih-Chi 陳植棋 1925-30.

SHIOTSUKI Tōho (鹽月桃甫) 1886-1954 
Embroidery 1930s

Shiotsuki Tōho is the cultivator of oil painting in Taiwan and known fiercely outspoken and eccentric. Art teacher of  Taihoku High 台北高校 and Taipei First High 台北第一中學。For the latter, my uncle (father's elder brother) was his pupil. 

One of his notable painting is 莎韻 サヨン，'Sayon' 1942. The aboriginal girl in 'Sayon and Bell' 莎韻之鐘, a film produced in 1943. 'Sayon' was also the last of several  'aboriginal theme' Shiotsuki painted. He heavily criticized 'staged' Formosa aboriginal images in his latter days.

CHEN Chin （陳進）1907-1998

Women of Sandimen  三地門社之女 1936

Figures in Mountains 山中人物 1950s

Chen is said to be the first Taiwanese woman painter to earn national recognition. And one of  "Three Youths in Taiten" 台展三少年 .

From 1934 to 1938, Chen taught art at Pingtung Girls' High School in Taiwan, becoming the country's first woman high school teacher. The population of Sandimen township consists mainly of the Paiwan people with a substantial Rukai minority.

KAWAI Shinzo （河合新藏）1867-1936

Records of Taiwan 臺灣所見 1917

Kawai was one of the five artists from Japan who accompanied Yoshida Hiroshi 吉田 博,to the United States to exhibit at the 1900 Japanese Art Exhibit held at the Boston Art Club.

HUANG Tu-shui (黃土水) 1895–1930  

Bust of a girl 女孩胸像 1920

Huang is the pioneer of modern sculptor in Taiwan and the first Taiwanese to study 'Art' in Japan. The exhibition title is inspired by Huang's essay 'Born in Taiwan' (1922).

One of Huang's earliest notable work is 'Aboriginal boy playing flute' 山童吹笛 (1920). The original is lost. 

TATEISHI Tetsuomi (立石鐵臣) 1905-1980

Inamuragasaki 稲村ケ崎 1930s

Landscape c. 1941

Blogpost on Tateishi's work and life -  Tateishi Tetsuomi (1905-1980). Taiwan-Culture-Folklore Artist.  (where I found the drawing of the first instant noodle sold in Dadaocheng, Taipei pre 1945)

NASU Masaki (那須雅城) 1880? - ?

Nitakayama, the New Highest Mountain , 1930

Nitakayama, also known as Mt Morrison. The highest peak in the empire of Japan.  'Old Highest' refers to Mt Fuji.

Morrison refers to W. Morrison, captain of the American freighter U.S.S. Alexander, who sighted the Mt in the closing years of the 19th century.

GOBARA Koto (鄉原古統 ）1887-1965

Garden of Summer 夏之庭 1937

GOBARA taught at a Girls' High School in Taipei, and played an influential roles on several female artists including Chen Chin. He was also known for " Twelve Scenes of Taipei".  Fantastic memory of Taipei.

YANG San-lang (楊三郎) 1907-1995

Entrance of a Village 村之入口 1929

Yang San-lang Museum post "Hidden Modern Taiwan History @Yang San-Lang Art Museum Yonghe"

LIU Chi-hsiang (劉啟祥) 1910 - 1998

Butcher's Shop 肉店 1938

Both from upper-class family  - Yang after failing to be accepted for 1931's 'Taiten', travelled to France with peer artist Liu Chi-hsiang. 

ISHIKAWA Kinichiro (石川 欽一郎 ) 1871-1945

Riverbank 河畔 1927

Ishikawa promoted modern western art education in Taiwan and was considered a pioneer of art education. He advocated for the Taiwanese government to hold a sponsored art exhibition and found the Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition. Taiwan has a tradition of running a competitive art exhibition where Ishikawa served as an examiner. This tradition has continued for more than eighty years and is regarded as a symbol of the important work and modernization of the government's culture and art sectors.

Lanyu  - Orchid Island/Redhead Islet (Qing and Japan)

Earthware pot, Taro staple, flying fish  - All Lanyu characteristics. 

LIN Yushan (林玉山) 1907-2004

Girl on Orchid Island (蘭嶼少女) 1963

Last one of “Three Youths in Taiten" here.  The aboriginal girl is painted looking like Yoshiko Yamaguchi  山口 淑子 (aka Li Hsiang-lan 李香蘭), the leading actress in Sayon's Bell (1943) (No?)

CHANG Yi-Hsiung (張義雄) 1914-2016

Scenery in Orchid Island 蘭嶼紀念 1978

Read - "An artist of wars and awakenings"

"Three Youths in Taiten" 台展三少年.

In 1927, the Taiwanese government sponsored the inaugural Taiten, the Taiwan Art Exhibition. Controversially, out of 92 total participants, three unknown 19-year-old artists were the only Taiwanese artists included: Chen Chin, Kuo Hsueh-hu, and Lin Yushan. The trio became known as the "Three Youths in Taiten" and earned significant media attention, launching their careers.

(For personal interest - layers of color and shade)

UPDATE - after receiving feedback from culture-preservation activist friends and from my art teacher, I have decided to duly update with additional information on three artists who played significant role on modern art development: 

1. The first painter who was allowed to go to orchid island to research aboriginal art and sun cake Taichung.
2. How a medical leader made a masterpiece reconstruction possible.

3. Youtube showing extraordinary discovery of paintings.

Yen Shui-Long (顏水龍) 1903-1997

One of the four artist who went to France, and one of the co-founders of Tai-Yang Art Society (臺陽美術協會) 1934. (The biggest and the oldest non-governmental arts organization in Taiwan)

Yen was the first painter who was allowed to go to Lanyu (Orchid Island/Red head Islet), for doing research of aboriginal art. The experience resulted in several paintings of aboriginal themes.

Yen's mosaic wall piece 'Sun Flower', complete in 1964 at 'Sun Bakery' (太陽堂餅店),  Freedom Road Taichung, was perhaps no so well-known.  

During martial law, it was reported 'political incorrect' for 'Marxism' implication. The Bakery in fear of complications and troubles, boarded up the mosaic wall and it was not until in 1989, by request of an art writer, the wall was uncovered.  

Yen also created the first mosaic wall art in Taiwan - In 1962, he completed a masterpiece 'Sports' for National Taiwan University - its permanent location.

HUANG Tu-shui (黃土水) 1895–1930  

Huang's best known work The Water Buffalo (水牛群像), completed in 1930 just before his death at 35. The work is on permanent display at Zhongshan Hall in Taipei. 

"The Buddha Comes from the Mountains" (釋迦出山)1927

38 x 38 x 113 cm 

A wooden sculpture commissioned on behalf of Taipei’s Lungshan Temple. It took Huang 3 years to complete from a plaster cast he made in 1924.

The sculpture was destroyed by an air raid during World War II. Today’s bronze statue was reconstructed using the plaster cast the Huang family gifted to Dr. Wei Huo-yao 魏火曜 (1908-1995). 

Among contemporary medical leaders few have contributed more and served longer than Dr. Wei. Who in his capacity as president of the Pediatric Association urged public health authorities to import Sabin vaccine to save young lives. In 1966, through his efforts free administration by doctors in public and private hospitals, relieving Taiwan of the threat of polio. 

Reconstruction in 1997 at its current location. 

Taipei Longshan Temple. 

In 1927, the original was an altar centerpiece.

Lü Tiezhou (呂鐵州) 1899-1942

The deers 鹿圖 c.1933 

Extraordinary journey of discovery HERE (youtube with English subtitles)

 Lü built a private art studio '南溟繪畫研究所' at his home in 1936, the only one  in Taipei for 'Nihonga' (Japanese-style painting)  study.