Nine Artistic Figures from Taiwan that You Should Know
The Artists Who Made The Art History of Taiwan
By National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
The Second Highest Mountain in Taiwan by Ishikawa KinichiroNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
1. Ishikawa Kinichiro
Ishikawa Kinichiro studied watercolor painting in England. He later taught at the Taipei Teacher’s College, and founded Taiwan’s earliest art groups that subsequently leading to the rise of art in Taiwan. The Second Highest Mountain in Taiwan” is one of his Taiwanese landscape masterpieces. The composition is divided into three equal parts and painted with light and simple colors with romantic brightness, befittingly showcasing the notable features of the watercolor medium. The image captures impeccably Taiwan’s intense sunlight, and the white on the mountain ridges highlights the beauty of glimmering snow, projecting an atmosphere that is serene and tranquil.
Eirakucho (1939) by Ni Chiang-huaiNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
2. Ni Chiang-huai
As a student of Ishikawa Kinichiro, Ni Chiang-huai is one of the first generation of Taiwanese western-style painters and is believed to compose Taiwan’s first watercolor painting.
The subject of "Eirakucho" is a district in Taipei, the freely running water and shadows on the ground highlight the presence of the brilliant subtropical sunlight. The viewer's perspective disappears at the end of the lane with boundless imaginations.
Wushe (1934) by Shiotsuki TohoNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
3. Siotuki Touhou
Siotuki Touhou painted a lot about the nature and culture in Taiwan, contributing immensely to the development of contemporary art in Taiwan. Wushe Incident, the largest indigenous uprising against Japanese rule in the history of the colonial era, took place in October 1930. Shiotsuki had deep feelings for Taiwan's aborigines, and produced several paintings dealing with the Wushe Incident.
In this work, Shiotsuki used an intense shade of orange as a color base, freely rendering the figure and the figure's clothing and posture with other hues. The four white lines, running from top to bottom highlight the power of ethnic symbols. The glare in the figure's eyes seems to transmit a silent protest, lending the work a surrealist quality, deepening its symbolism and spiritual connotations.
Chiayi Park (Benten Pond) (1937) by Chen Cheng-poNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
4. Chen Cheng-po
Chen Cheng-po was the first ever Taiwanese artist to be honored with a pace in a Japanese art exhibition.
The work's focal point is a large poinciana, with red-crowned cranes and white geese playing in the pond shows a lively and freehand brushwork, which shows that Chen often sought to integrate ink-painting's linear rhythms into his oil paintings.
Portrait of the Artist's Wife Holding an Orange (1929) by Liou Jin-tangNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
5. Liou Jin-tang
Liou Jin-tang devoted himself in bring together Chinese and western paintings. “Orange” used thick black lines to limn his subject and the objects around her, a clear-cut, motif-like depiction.
The full outlines of the figure's body, and the thick clothing the figure wears emphasizes her `body's mass and physicality.
The Garden (1920) by Gohara KotoNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
6. Kotou Gouhara
Kotou Gouhara taught in Taiwan’s school for 19 years and played a leader’s role in promoting contemporary art in Taiwan and influenced many Taiwanese painters. He is noted for detailed depictions of life.
“The Garden” uses tight-knit composition depicts a papaya tree, two turkeys, and a bamboo fence, brilliantly rendered with contour drawing and vivid gouache colors. Unpainted areas are covered with gold leaf, highlighting the work's decorative function. The painting deftly captures the leisurely ambiance of a Taiwanese countryside garden in days gone by.
Lotus Pond (1930) by Lin Yu-sanNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
7. Lin Yu-shan
Lin Yu-shan was renowned for his realist style and for the characters in his paintings giving off a natural ordinary feel. “Lotus Pond” is a representative of his style.
It captures the moment in the early morning when the lotus flowers: the lotus leaves are fully open and a dewdrop is ready to fall from the leaf. The feeding egret seems to make ripples. Below the water surface, water weeds and small fish can be seen. The leaves are blue and mineral green, the flowers are bright red and the water is gold, giving the picture a rich elegant feel.
Moon (1931) by Lu Tieh-chouNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
8. Lu Tieh-chou
Lu Tieh-chou’s painting career perfectly reflects the development of contemporary painting in Taiwan. “Moon” ornamented with silver powder and tenderly shines in the sky, and a few flowers and plants sway in the wind under the moonlight.
Lu Tieh-chou emphasized on objective observation and meticulous depiction in his works, through which ordinary plants are imbued with elegance and refinement, projecting vitality and lyricism. The work embodies the spirit and style of the Kyoto School, that combines western xiesheng (sketching from life) style's and eastern quiet and melancholy traditions.
Festival (1959) by Chen Jing-huiNational Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
9. Chen Jing-hui
Human figures and flowers were often the subjects of Chen Jing-hui's paintings. The artist's use of lines to depict the contours of human figures conveys a sense of three-dimensional, imbuing the portraits with grace and warmth; moreover, the clothing via figures wear offer a glimpse at the fashions of the time. This painting shows a woman dressed in a white qipao and embroidered shoes, she holds a fan and sits on the floor and a faint smile on her lips revealing the joy in her heart.
Chen Jing-hui is skilled in using lines to depict contours. The line delineating the body's structure, vividly expresses the artist's aesthetic ideal, and recorded the fashion style of the time.
