Since the advent of object art in the beginning of the 20th century, the concept of sculpture has been expanding constantly. The diversification of materials and the vanishing of what delimits an artwork constitute the most important changes. By now, any work of any material that deals with three-dimensional space or presents itself as a three-dimensional installation would undoubtedly fall under the new categories of sculptural arts.
In the history of art, the oldest or most primal of sculptural materials had been clay from the ground. For most of the time, however, it had only been used as the base material for formulating images. It was after the 1950s that the seminal idea and challenge of using clay as a creative material in itself spread from USA to the rest of the world. This wave first landed in Taiwan in the early 1960s and rose to its height in the 1980s. The greatest significance of ceramic art-making as such is that it opens up new possibilities for sculpture. Compared to their other sculptural counterparts, ceramic materials are unique in their beauty and artistic qualities. This uniqueness lies mainly in the way that the materials' expressiveness is presented and employed, and also in the interpretation of the existing cultural semantics of clay and ceramics. The fact is: as far as earth-based art is concerned, we see in a ceramist's creations not only the unique expressiveness of ceramics, but also more of the possibilities of clay in the artist's innovations.
This paper comes in four parts. The first looks at the historical development of how artistic materials diversified over time, on which basis it elucidates the roots of the changes in the materials and notion of sculpture. The second part gives a brief account of the hows and whats of the evolution of ceramics in USA, the country from which the worldwide "clay revolution" was set off. The third part goes on to outline the historical development of Taiwanese ceramic arts, focusing mainly on ceramic art-making that treats ceramic materials as sculptural ones. The final part touches on the beauty and artistic qualities of ceramic materials, and explains how contemporary artists make use of them to unleash new forms and ideas for sculpture.
Keywords
clay, ceramics, ceramic arts, material arts, sculpture
Taiwan's public sculptures were born out of the Japanese colonial government's efforts to support urban development. They served the politics of the time, with colonial officials as the subject of eulogy. Since Taiwan was a colony, the colonial government had no intention to cultivate local talents, nor did it take into consideration the artistic value of public sculptures as installations that would interplay with, decorate and beautify the environment. It was only in the 1920s that the talent of Huang Tu shui, the first native sculptor, was recognized in the art circles of Japan. Throughout his life, however, Huang was commissioned by the authorities to create likenesses of the Japanese imperial family or other works that served as honorary tributes. Their purpose was wholly to highlight the governmental achievements of the colonial rulers. In the years from 1930 to just before the upsurge of Japanese militarism, the cultural scene in Taiwan was (relatively speaking) thriving, such that government officials began to pay attention to placing artistic sculptures in public locations with educational significance. Among these were Huang Tu shui's Sweet Dew and Samejima Taiki's Looking Towards the Homeland. Both works had been selected at the Imperial Art Exhibition, and were kept in the Taiwan Education Association Building. Huang's opus Water Buffaloes was used in 1936 to decorate the Taipei City Hall, while a cast bronze figure of a goddess made according to the sculptor's plan was placed in the Keelung City Hall. Eventually, with Japan's outward expansion, the making of sculptures was influenced by the militaristic atmosphere. Sculpted images in public spaces became aligned in purpose with loyalty and patriotism. Later, as the urgencies of the war caused the military to be in great need of resources, it became increasingly harder for sculptors to work. The use of materials was restricted, and bronze works of the past ended up as sacrifices for the war.
Keywords
Japanese Rule, public spaces, sculpture, Huang Tu-shui
In the existing research on the history of Taiwanese art, the art movement in Taiwan during the period of Japanese rule is often interpreted as a historical transition in the form of "modern art connecting to its European sources via Japan". This dominant, conceptualized interpretation focuses on general character and neglects the idiosyncrasies of individual artists. The works of many Taiwanese artists who had studied in Japan are accordingly seen by experts either as "legacies of plein-airism" or cultural products sporting a "southern exoticism" that catered to the imperialistic perspective and taste. This mainstream discourse does lay bare certain realities indeed in the writing of the development of Taiwanese art during the period of Japanese rule. However, as we in the new century today look back on the new art movement initiated by our forebears nearly a century ago, what I am concerned about and hope to uncover is this: In the era when "colonialism" was unavoidable and being confined to a gestalt of lateral transplants was necessary, was anyone able to break through the invisible limitations and start a new page with the energy of independent thinking towards the indigenization of art? Other than the vertical relation between "Japanese mentors" and "Taiwanese students," can we, in the matter of art in Taiwan under Japanese rule, put forth an alternative structure of parallels— such as "Japanese mentors" vis-à-vis "Taiwanese masters," or "Taiwanese masters" vis-à-vis "Taiwanese masters?"
Approaching from this angle, I focus more on how Taiwanese artists reflected on their own cultural situation after returning from their immersion in modern art in Japan, and how they thereby came up with artistic reversals. Such reversals might have stemmed from rebelliousness against the colonialists (as seen, for example, in Chen Chih-chi), a heartfelt attachment to the native countryside (as seen, for example, in Huang Tu-shui), or even the sort of identification with the motherland that we today would distance ourselves from (as seen in, for example, Liu Chin-tang and Chen Cheng-po). However different the inner motivations might have been, the resultant artistic praxes ultimately boiled down to two fundamental routes of evolution -i.e., the localization of sentiments and the nationalization of artistic language. The sculptor Huang Tu-shui and the painter Liu Chin-tang, two of the earliest figures in the history of Taiwanese art to study in Japan, happened to be representative of these two trends. The opuses of both men may be small in quantity due to their early demises, but as far as artistic quality is concerned, Huang Tu-shui's Siddhartha and Water Buffaloes as well as Liu Chin-tang's Days on the Run and Forsaken People count as immortal masterpieces that would shine in any top museum in the world.
This paper goes from Taiwanese art of the Japanese rule period to Japan's modern art, from three-dimensional sculpture to two dimensional painting, and from the lives of artists to their ideals and sentiments. It is hoped that my research and exposition will etch a more fitting and accurate profile for Huang Tu-shui and Liu Chin-tang as two figures in art history to set out as one "Taiwanese master" vis-à-vis another.
Keywords
Taiwan's art under Japanese rule, sentimental localization, nationalization of artistic language, Huang Tu-shui, Liu Chin-tang
朱銘美術館藏朱銘木雕作品研究與典藏維護現狀探討The Study of Ju Ming's Wooden Artifacts of the Juming Museum collection and Its Collection Management and Conservation Development
This article focuses on Ju Ming's wooden sculptures and Juming Museum. Started from the artist's studio environment, techniques, selection of materials, and later extended to explore the state of collection management and conservation.
Artifacts age and deteriorate differently within time; the degree of deterioration varies based on the materials, techniques and collection environment. Therefore, the collection environment plays an important role for long term preservation.
This article aims to advocate the museum's effort to improve the exhibition space and collection environment under the restrictions. The deterioration of wooden artifacts, the impact of temperature and relative humidity on woods, pest infestation are also discussed.
The paper proposes the ideal collection environment for the preservation of wooden artifacts. It also demonstrates the pest management procedure and development at the Juming Museum. In conclusion, it provides the directions for the conservation research and future developments of wooden artifact studies.
Keywords
Ju Ming, Private Museum, Wooden Artifact, Collection Management, Conservation, Pest infestation, Deterioration
