Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition

The Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition, also referred to as the Taiwan Arts Exhibition, Taiwan Exhibition, or "Taiten" for short, was Taiwan's first large-scale art exhibition. It was held ten times from 1927 to 1936 and was organised by the Taiwan Education Association, an external organisation affiliated with the Cultural and Education Bureau of the Governor-General of Taiwan under Japanese rule. In 1937, it was expected that the Government-General of Taiwan would takeover organizing the exhibition. However, it was postponed due to the Marco Polo Bridge incident between China and Japan. In 1938, the Government-General of Taiwan origanized its first exhibtion, and six total exhibitions were held by 1943. The exhibitions held by Government-General of Taiwan was called Governor-General's Art Exhibition, or "Futen" for short.

History

Japanese art teachers and art enthusiasts in Taiwan initially proposed the idea of ​​a "Taiwan Art Exhibition", similar to the Imperial Art Exhibition, or Teiten, back in Japan. The initial idea was the local art community themselves would organize the exhibition.

The magazine Taiwan Times then published an article by Tōho Shiotsuki, which mentioned that he, Gobara Koto, Kinichiro Ishikawa, and others discussed the preparation for the Taiwan Art Exhibition near Taipei New Park. However, when they reported the matter to the officials, the officials expressed that they wanted the Government-General to host the exhibition. Later, the Taiwan Art Exhibition was organised by the Taiwan Education Association. Although the association was a non-governmental organization, its prominent members were all high-ranking officials of the Government-General. Therefore, the Taiwan Art Exhibition can be seen as an "official" exhibition with a hint of "the colonial authorities' flavor".

The government's desire to intervene in art exhibitions had important political implications. Since the Taiwan Education Association hosted the Taiwan Exhibition, it was evident that for the colonial authorities, the exhibition was an educational tool. Minister of Culture and Education Hidehiko Ishida wrote an article before the first Taiwan Exhibition, mentioning the exhibition "provides hobbies and promote interests for islanders". To the authorities, the exhibition was a way to "enhance" the cultural standards and tastes of Taiwanese people, ultimately leading to their "assimilation". Promoting Japanese tastes and aesthetic through art exhibitions was essential for Taiwanese people to be "trained" to become people useful to the homeland of Japan. It is also a meaningful way to promote Japan's colonial achievements to the world.

Exhibition

The exhibition is divided into two departments: the Oriental Painting Department and the Western Painting Department.

Oriental Painting Department

First exhibition (1927/Shōwa 2)

The Ghost Festival in Keelung by Hideo Murakami

• Special selection: The Ghost Festival in Keelung by Hideo Murakami

• Examiner: Kinoshita Shizua, Gobara Koto

• No inspection: Hagiya Akiharu (real name Hagiya Tomotsune), Suda Anzai

Many famous painters at that time, such as Tsai Shiue-Shi, Lu Tie-Zhou, Li Xue-Qiao, and Kunishima Suiba, were rejected. Only Chen Jin, Lin Yushan, and Kuo Hsueh-hu were selected among the Taiwanese painters, who were young and unknown at the time. The trio were later known in history as the "Three Youths of Taiten". The reason for the selection, examiner Kinoshita Shizua pointed out, was that it would be unacceptable for works such as "portraits with erased brushes", "orchids, bamboos, and Bodhidharma that were drawn causally" and "copied from the Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden" to be among the exhibited works. What this actual meant was that Kinoshita opposed the traditional ink-copying culture of Taiwan's Han cultural system in order to encourage the new artistic concept of sketching. However, according to Xue Lifa, he believes there are ink-copying elements among the selected works by Takatori Gakuyo, Isaka Kyokko, and even the Taiwanese Kuo Hseuh-hu.

Therefore, the aggrieved painters who were rejected, under the initiative of Nakaji Noro, held an "Exhibition of the Rejected" on the third floor of the Taiwan Daily News building, in hope to stir up public opinion and fight back against the review results. Among them, Lu Tie-Zhou's Hundred Birds was well received, causing the Taiwan Education Association, which hosted the Taiwan Exhibition, to receive fierce criticism from all walks of life.

This year's special selection, The Ghost Festival in Keelung by Hideo Murakami, depicts Taiwanese local customs, but its art style looked like an extension of the Japanese ukiyo-e. Others, such as Relaxed and Cool by Suda Anzai and Dance of a Hundred Butterflies by Tsunehisa Tokoharu, all show Japanese paintings' characteristics of line drawing, delicateness, and heavier application of paint than dyeing.

Second exhibition (1928/Shōwa 3)

Nankun Syakuyaku by Gobara Koto

• Special selection: Scenery Near Yuan Shan by Kuo Hsueh-hu, Nobuki by Chen Jin

• Examiners: Kinoshita Shizua, Gobara Koto, Matsubayashi Keigetsu

• No inspection: Hideo Murakami, Gobara Koto, Kinoshita Shizua, Matsubayashi Keigetsu

Keigetsu Matsubayashi, a famous Japanese painter from the Maruyama-Shijō school of Southern Painting, was invited to serve as an examiner. Matsubayashi encouraged painters to create local art that genuinely belonged to Taiwan, which this point was repeatedly emphasised in subsequent exhibitions.

Kuo Hsueh-hu changed the traditional landscape painting style of the previous exhibition and used gouache with detailed depictions to present the gorgeous masterpiece Scenery Near Yuan Shan. His work inherited the ingenious, full-frame composition and magnificent colouring of the work Nankun Syakuyaku by Gobara Koto from the previous exhibition. Scenery Near Yuan Shan became viral as soon as it was published, which was also why the "Hsueh-hu School" was later formed in the Taipei painting circle.

This year, a large number of Taiwanese painters with the style of sketching were selected. Pan Chun-yuan, a folk artist from Tainan, demonstrated his fantastic realism skills in Seen at the Pasture. Pan did not receive a formal art education but had already become famous for his portraiture. Some traditional landscape works were still selected this year, such as Xu Qinglian's Eight Prizes Creek.

Third exhibition (1929/Shōwa 4)

• Special selection: Plum Blossom by Lu Tie-Zhou, Spring by Kuo Hsueh-hu, Autumn Sound by Chen Jin

• Examiners: Kinoshita Shizua, Gobara Koto, Matsubayashi Keigetsu

• No inspection: Chen Jin, Kuo Hsueh-hu, Kinoshita Shizua, Gobara Koto

The painter who attracted the most attention this year was undoubtedly Lu Tie-Zhou, who was unsuccessful in the first exhibition for his work Hundred Birds but won praise in the "Exhibition of the Rejected". Inspired by his failure in the first exhibition, Lu went to Kyoto, Japan, to study painting with the famous painter Heihachirō Fukuda. His painting style shifted from traditional ink wash painting to gouache paintings with objective and realistic depictions. His flower and bird paintings strive for accurate imagery, but the flowers and leaves have sharp shapes and are flat in a decorative style, so the gradients of painting and dyeing present an idealised sense of order. His works strike a good balance between naturalism and idealism.

Kuo Hsueh-hu's Spring continued with his previous subtle style of painting. Kuo Hsueh-hu's teacher, Tsai Shiue-Shi, had been unsuccessful in the last two exhibitions, so he decided to swallow his pride and ask Kuo Hsueh-hu for advice. Tsai's Autumn Day and Yuanshan was then selected in this exhibition, which became a hot topic at that time.

Shi Yushan's "The Sacrifice of Chaotian Palace" follows the theme of popular folk activities and has attracted considerable attention for its unique representation of distance and modern things. Lin Yushan's "Zhou Lianxi" is one of the few works that uses traditional ink. In response to the fact that there are fewer and fewer conventional ink paintings, examiner Matsubayashi Katsuki called for the emphasis on the tradition of expressing individuality in Southern painting and to pay attention to the expression of personal personality due to selection considerations.

Fourth exhibition (1930/Shōwa 5)

• Special Taiwan Exhibition Award: Lotus Pond by Lin Yushan

• Taiwan Exhibition Award: Festival on South Street by Kuo Hsueh-hu

• Taiwan Daily Award: Sisters Make Om Butterflies by Cai Mada

• Special selection: Young Days by Chen Jin

• Examiners: Kinoshita Shizua, Gohara Kotō, Katsuda Jiaoqin

• No inspection: Lu Tiezhou, Kinoshita Shizuya, Chen Jin, Xiangyuan Gutong, Katsuda Jiaoqin, Kuo Hsueh-hu

For Taiwanese Oriental painting, this session symbolises a new stage. First, the exhibition's reward system includes the Taiwan Exhibition Award and the Taiwan Daily Award, in addition to the unique selection. Then, Xiangyuan Gutong proposed the "Taiwan type" and said it was "different from Taiwan type." Regarding the former, Gohara believes: "The Oriental paintings in the Taiwan Exhibition have gradually formed the 'Taiwan Exhibition Type,' which can be commonly seen at the venue. Lin Yushan's Lotus Pond and Chen Jin's "Young Days" are two. This stand showcases the orthodox excellence... ." As for the latter, he mainly commented on Cai Mada's "Sisters Nong Om Butterfly": "...the author went to Beijing to study painting, so he stayed away from the Taiwan exhibition style and had a unique style." It can be seen from this that The venue has gradually formed a mainstream artistic style. Gohara's "Taiwan Style" description may be more about emotional expression than stylistic analysis. Because there is not much similarity in style between Lin Yushan's "Lotus Pond" and Chen Jin's "Young Days." The former belongs to the style of Danqing painting in the Song Dynasty, with the addition of gold-plated techniques that are standard in Japanese paintings. The latter is a purely Japanese-style beauty painting. And are these types of paintings really "commonly seen at the venue," as Gohara said? The answer is not necessarily correct, either. Let's look at the content of the paintings in subsequent editions and the interpretation of the term "Taiwan Exhibition Style" by art critics. The delicate painting style of the Xiangyuan—Kuo Hsueh-hu series is the central theme of the Oriental Painting Department of the Taiwan Exhibition. The characteristics of the "Taiwan exhibition type" mentioned by Gohara should include the creative attitude of sketching and the use of bright and flat colours. There were several generational masterpieces this year. In addition to Lin Yushan's Lotus Pond, which was added to the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts collection, Kuo Hsueh-hu's Festival on South Street and Xiang Yuan's "Taiwan Mountain and Sea Screen" are also added to the collection of Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Festival on South Street is a representative work of this year's famous folk activities. Kuo Hsueh-hu applied his sophisticated painting style to depict the modern urban customs of Dadaocheng, which is quite innovative. The images of abundance and joy reflected in the painting have also attracted the attention of researchers in postcolonial theory. Kuo Hsueh-hu's teacher, Cai Xuexi's work "Dragon Boat" for this session is also similar, and its content also deliberately presents the various ethnic groups in Taiwan at that time. Works with unique styles, in addition to "Sisters Nong Om Butterfly" by Cai Mada, "Spring Night" by Xu Qinglian cannot be ignored. This work adopts the "Tang style landscape method," combining the composition and artistic conception of the Chinese Nanzong landscape with the detailed description and patterned shapes of Japanese paintings. This style was uncommon in Taiwan then but more common in Japan. Lu Tiezhou's "Spring in the Forest" is quite similar to "Autumn in the Trees" by Shimomura Kanzan and "Falling Leaves" by Hishida Haruna, both of which are masterpieces from the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition. It is also a unique work.

Fifth exhibition (1931/Shōwa 6)

• Taiwan Exhibition Award: Back Court by Lu Tiezhou, Xin Ji by Kuo Hsueh-hu

• Taiwanese Day Award: Flowers by Huang Jingshan

• Examiners: Kinoshita Shizua, Gohara Furuo, Ikegami Hidemu, Yazawa Gengetsu

• No inspection: Lin Yushan, Xiangyuan Gutong, Chishang Xiumu, Chen Jin, Kinoshita Shizuka

Compared with the previous session, the Oriental Painting Department of this session was relatively dull, and the art criticism was less enthusiastic. Lu Tiezhou and Kuo Hsueh-hu won the Taiwan Exhibition Award with their consistent style and more mature and sophisticated attitude. Lu Tiezhou's "Back Courtyard" presents Taiwan's native flowers and birds in an ideal form and excellent layout. Kuo Hsueh-hu's "Xinji" still uses a dense painting style, but the shape is slightly simplified, and the line drawing is lighter. From the second year to this year, Kuo Hsueh-hu has won the grand prize every time. Painters influenced by his style include Cai Xuexi, Cai Wenhua, Cai Yong (Yunyan), Cai Jiuwu (Bingqian), Xie Yonghuo, and Ji Xiuzhen. The so-called "Snow Lake School" has become a force that occupies a place in the Oriental Painting Department of the Taiwan Exhibition. Lin Yushan's "Zhu Luan" has a leisurely, wild charm, significantly contrasting the gorgeous feeling of the previous "Lotus Pond." "The Poet's Flowers Fall" by Cai Mada (Wen Fu) is also a work with a rural feel and captures the momentary dynamics of the characters. Tainan's folk painter system also achieved excellent results this time. Huang Jingshan's "Flower" won the Taiwanese Film Festival, and Pan Chunyuan's "Women" realistically and meticulously depicts the interior layout of the time that blended the earth and the West and the clothing and appearance of a prostitute. The work "Painting Tools" by Pan Chunyuan's son Pan Lishui (Yun (Snow) Mountain) is a realistic still-life painting with a very novel subject matter and strong contemporary characteristics. Zhou Xuefeng, born in Chiayi, has a comfortable atmosphere in "Chaoyue" and is excellent at handling both near and far.

Sixth exhibition (1932/Shōwa 7)

• Special Taiwan Exhibition Award: Castor and Army Chicken by Lu Tiezhou, Sugar Cane by Lin Yushan

• Special Taiwan Day Award: Xun Yuan by Kuo Hsueh-hu

• Examiners: Kinoshita Shizua, Gohara Kotō, Yuuki Sumaki, Chen Jin

• No inspection: Lu Tiezhou, Chen Jin, Guo Xuehu, Kinoshita Shizua, Xiangyuan Gutong, Yuki Sumaki

Lu Tiezhou's "Castor and Army Chicken" uses his consistent plant depiction style, with an enlarged rooster on the right, making the picture full of surging momentum. Lin Yushan's "Sugar Cane" depicts a hen and chicks walking in a sugar cane garden, continuing the wild style. Kuo Hsueh-hu's "Xunyuan" depicts the Lin Family Mansion and Garden, still using a sophisticated painting style. The most prominent feature of this year's exhibition is that many female painters participate in the exhibition, such as Lin Aqin, Zhou Hongchou, Chen Xuejun, Peng Rongmei, Xie Baozhi, and Qiu Jinlian. They are all students from Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School background and studied under Xiangyuan Gutong. These works are all paintings of single plants. The painting style is very close to Gohara's, using lines to highlight the colour. In addition to "Xun Yuan," other art styles that Gohara also influenced include "Autumn Colors" by Shi Yushan, "Autumn Sunny" by Cai Yunyan, and "Valley Brocade" by Qingmiu Xuejiang. However, in this session, the clever painting style has been attacked by art critics. Comments in Taiwan's Daily Newspaper called it "venue art (works created to cater to the exhibition atmosphere)," "close to the composition of foreign paintings," "huge and densely packed," and named it "Taiwan Exhibition Type." After the term "Taiwan exhibition type" appeared in the fourth edition, it has not only been given a different meaning in this edition. Still, it has also become an adjective with negative connotations in art critics. Art critic Xi ​​Guiyilu pointed out that the Taiwan Exhibition has become rigid and must be reformed; otherwise, many people will be unwilling to participate. In addition to "Xun Yuan," Kuo Hsueh-hu has another work, "Morning Fog." This work differs from the sophisticated painting style, focusing on free and easy lines. Lines no longer exist to set off colour surfaces, and leaves are not painted piece by piece. Pan Chunyuan's "Emperor Wu" is a portrait of Guan Gong and Zhou Cang. In the previous sessions, this kind of portrait was considered to be drawn according to the painting manual and was to be eliminated, but this time, it was selected. Japanese painters still have not won significant awards, but several outstanding works have been with unique styles. For example, Murakami Murakami's "Linquan Temple Hill" is flat and sculpted, similar to "Maiko Linquan" created by Tsuchida Makisen in 1924. Yataro Miyata's "Shocking from the Flying Spring" has good light and dark performance and layout. "Deep Mountains" by Autumn Mountains and Spring Waters uses far and near arrangements to create an artistic conception. These works can only be selected but cannot win awards, which shows the narrow aesthetic interest of the exhibition.

Seventh exhibition (1933/Shōwa 8)

• Taiwan Exhibition Award: Southern Kingdom (Southern Garden) by Lu Tiezhou

• Special Taiwan Daily Award: Journey by Chen Jinghui

• Special Asahi Award: As Seen in Manchuria by Murakami Murakami

• Special selection: Sunset by Lin Yushan, Pretending to be a Family Wine by Murasawa Setsuko, Waterside by Fuwa Shuko

• Examiners: Kinoshita Shizua, Gohara Kotō, Yuuki Sumaki, Chen Jin

Starting from this session, the qualification for non-inspection will be abolished, but examiners still have the right to exhibit directly. In addition, this year's Asahi Prize has been added. After six years of competition, a Japanese painter finally won another grand prize this year. Murakami Murakami changed the trend of simplification in the previous edition and won the Asahi Prize for her multi-frame work "Seen in Manchuria" in a realistic style. In contrast, Murasawa Setsuko's "Pretend to Be a Family Sake" is relatively flat in shape, emphasising the expressiveness of lines and full of interest in life. Shuko Fuwa's "Waterside" is an idealised depiction of tropical plants and is a typical Japanese-style flower and bird painting. However, generally speaking, the bold innovations of the previous session are no longer seen. The difference between Han and Japanese styles is very prominent in this session. Opposite to Japanese painters are some traditional ink landscape works. Pan Chunyuan abandoned the solid sculptural style of previous editions and was selected with the traditional ink painting "Dawn Color in a Mountain Village." From now on, he will no longer participate in the Taiwan Exhibition. Zhu Futing's "Harvest in the Rain" is a typical Nanzong painting. Xu Qinglian's "Autumn Mountain Xiaosi" follows his previous "Tang style landscape" with a more assertive Japanese flavour. Still, it is quite different from the performance of Japanese painters in the Taiwan exhibition. Chen Jinghui's "Journey" shows that the Japanese Academy influenced the painter. He painted the activities of urban women in Taiwan, but he abandoned the depiction of street scenes and only used a shallow depth of ground to represent roads. Applying this infinite depth method is a significant feature of classical oriental figure painting. Kuo Hsueh-hu's Solitude can be regarded as the most daring work of this year. It also begins his gradual departure from the sophisticated painting style and various artistic experiments. This work is made entirely of ink and combined with the texture of the wallpaper, giving the entire picture a unique atmosphere.

Eighth exhibition (1934/Shōwa 9)

• Specially Taiwan Exhibition Award: Pear Shed by Lu Yunyou, Spring in the Stream by Shunsui Akiyama

• Taiwan Daily Award: Vegetable Garden by Takanashi Katsuki

• Special Asahi Award: Portrait of Mother by Ishimoto Akibo

• Examiners: Matsubayashi Katsura, Gohara Kotō, Kinoshita Shizua, Chen Jin

Since then, the mature style of the Taiwan Exhibition has been almost determined. Lu Tiezhou's "Southern Country," which won the Taiwan Exhibition Award last year, and Chen Jinghui's "Road," which won the Taiwan Japan Award, use presented compositions to express the results of sketching, which is different from Guo Xuehu's style of filling the whole frame with gorgeous style. Lu Yunyou of the Chiayi School of Painting inherited this year's style line and presented the individual plants he sketched in the Huxian Flower Orchard. Katsuhiro Takanashi's "Vegetable Garden" has attracted much attention from the media and art critics. About two-thirds of the painting is left blank, and the trees are drawn with freehand brushwork. Still, the vegetables in the close-up area are scattered one by one. The explicit depiction combines the two opposite styles of Nanhua and Xiaomi. This year, the autumn mountains and spring waters continue the gorgeous style that fills the whole frame, and the trend of clearly presented themes also influences them. What he painted this time was an aboriginal woman with a clay pot on her head, her face visible from the front, deliberately emphasising the deep facial features of the aborigines. In the background are mountain and forest plants, which fill the entire painting in fine detail. Among the works of other famous artists, Kuo Hsueh-hu continued his experiments in southern Chinese painting, all based on the expression of ink lines. Chen Jin's "Wild Side" depicts family interactions in the wild. In contrast, Chen Jinghui's "Noodle Making" describes the working conditions of rural farmers, both of which are mature expressions of "local colour." Xiangyuan Gutong continued to create his "Taiwan Mountains and Sea Screen." This time, he used Taiwan's mountains and forests as the subject of his painting. His style was still detailed with pen and ink. It has the name Southern Painting, but it is difficult to say it is Southern Painting. Songlin Guiyue's "Grapes" is composed of ink lines and shading changes, and the painting is sparse and precise, so it can be called a masterpiece of Southern painting. The famous portrait artist Luo Wanmei, who has never participated in the Taiwan Exhibition, also showed off his skills this time. Still, instead of painting figures, he painted tigers, which were very vivid and lifelike. The unique work is undoubtedly Miyata Yataro's "Waiting Night Grass." This work depicts the scene of prostitutes soliciting customers in the market. It is a subject that does not often appear in Eastern paintings. The shape adopts a hazy outline to enhance the romantic and eerie atmosphere of the picture.

Ninth exhibition (1935/Shōwa 10)

• Special Taiwan Exhibition Award: Culture of Grass by Shunsui Akiyama, Sea Lemon Fruit by Huang Shuiwen

• Taiwan Daily Award: Cade by Lu Tiezhou

• Asahi Award: Junke Boat by Kuo Hsueh-hu

• Special selection: Mount Flagtail by Murakami Murakami

• Examiners: Araki Jumu, Kawasaki Xiaohu, Gohara Furuto

This Taiwan Exhibition was held together with the Taiwan Expo, so many painters created works that fit the occasion, and these works attracted more attention.

Nomura Seizuki's "New Seimei" takes the newly renovated Meiji Bridge as the scene. Women are strolling with umbrellas, and men are taking photos with cameras, presenting an image of prosperity and progress. The background is the Taiwan Shrine on Round Mountain, representing that Taiwan has become a place successfully ruled by the Emperor of Japan. This work is representative of Taiwan's achievements under Japanese rule. Works that express modern imagery include "Mandolin" by Shirako Shujiro, "Gas Station" by Eikawa Shiqing, "Qingsheng" by Chen Yongsen, "Accordion" by Chen Jin, and "Portrait of a Teacher" by Ishimoto Akibo. These works were not necessarily designed to cater to the atmosphere of the Taiwan Expo. Such modern themes were also popular in official exhibitions in mainland Japan at the time, and the artists at the Taiwan Exhibition may have imitated them. Qiu Shan Chun Shui uses the aboriginal grass as a creative theme, which may also be in response to the considerations of the Taiwan Expo. The painting takes the legendary activities of the Indigenous people who had disappeared at that time (but not long ago, the Musha Incident still exists in people's memory) as the theme and deliberately shows the muscular physique of the Indigenous people, which can be said to be a flattening of the Japanese towards the Indigenous people. The impression is presented. This effect can also be seen in "Junke Boat" by Kuo Hsueh-hu. Junke Boat, a type of sailing ship, is also one of the impressions of Taiwan for the Japanese, and the painter does not treat it as part of the landscape, but the entire boat fills the whole frame, presenting the details of the ship one by one, like a model drawing. Among the other essential works, Huang Shuiwen's works continue the style of the previous artist, Lu Yunyou, and are also botanical sketches of the Chiayi School. The theme of "Taiwan Mountain and Sea Screen" by Xiangyuan Ancient Tradition is the rapids of Taroko. Yataro Miyata's "The Story of a Girl with a Fan" is based on Haruo Satō's novel. Due to his interest in illustrations and prints, his works have begun to be combined with literature, and the color of romanticism has become increasingly intense.

Tenth exhibition (1936/Shōwa 11)

• Special Taiwan Exhibition Award: Slanted Photo by Zhang Qiuhe, Little Haru by Maruyama Fukuta

• Taiwan Daily Prize: Lv Yin by Setsuko Murasawa

• Special Asahi Prize: Bamboo Forest House by Takanashi Katsuhiro

• Special selection: Mo Chou by Yataro Miyata, Aftermath by Chen Jinghui

• Examiners: Soaki Yuuki, Yuichi Murashima, Shizua Kinoshita

Xiangyuan Gutong, a celebrant in Taiwan's Oriental painting circles, left Taiwan and returned to Japan in March of this year so that this Taiwan Exhibition can be regarded as the beginning of a new stage. Compared with Gohara, who teaches at the Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School and organizes several folk painting groups, Kinoshita Shizua's authority in Oriental painting is slightly lower. Zhang Qiuhe, who later changed his name to Li Qiuhe, won the highest honour in the special selection stage with his paintings of flowers and birds that filled the whole frame. So far, three Chiayi painters (Lu Yunyou, Huang Shuiwen, and Zhang Qiuhe) have won this honour for three consecutive years. The image of "Chiayi as the capital of painting" established by various painting schools during the Japanese occupation can be said to be established. Takanashi Katsuto's rural countryside is still densely realistic in the close-up and straightforward in the distant view, which was well received then. Kuo Hsueh-hu's "Wind Wave" is beginning to show a trend of plasticity, especially his use of eye-catching lines to enhance this impression. Lu Tiezhou's "Village House" was his experiment in landscape painting, and the plants placed in the landscape were not yet ideal. Modern themes are still quite popular. For example, Chen Jin's "Music Score," Lin Yushan's "Chao," Nomura Senzuki's "Autumn Melody," Xie Yonghuo's "Coke Kiln," etc., all express modern life and symbols. The then-journalist Koichi Nomura praised Chen Jin's work, writing "On Chen Jin" for it. Yataro Miyata, who has been continuously selected since the first Taiwan Exhibition and often presents unique works, finally received a special honour. Compared with his previous selected works, the depiction of the characters in his "Mo Chou" this time is more incorrect. The woman's body in the painting is elongated, too thin, and slightly awkward, which is closer to the dramatic, romantic, and decadent expressions in literary illustrations. A congratulatory party for the Taiwan Exhibition was held on November 3 to commemorate the tenth anniversary, mainly to commend the painters selected for the ten Taiwan Exhibitions. The recipients of this commendation from the Oriental Painting Department are Chen Jin, Lin Yushan, Kuo Hsueh-hu, Hideo Murakami, and Yataro Miyata.

Venues

The first to third sessions were in the auditorium of Huashan Elementary School (the original site is now the headquarters for Consumer Protection Committee), the fourth session was in the old Taiwan Governor's Office Building (now Zhongshan Hall, Taipei City), and the fifth to tenth sessions were in Taiwan Education Association Building.

Awards

The panel made selections of jurors.

• Unique Selection: Awarded to the most outstanding works.
• Recommendation: Recognized works of high merit.
• Taiten Award: Presented to exceptional entries.
• Taiwan-Nichi Award: Sponsored by the Taiwan Nichinichi Shinpo newspaper.
• Asahi Award: Sponsored by the Osaka Asahi Shimbun.

See also

• Taiwanese art
• Japan Fine Arts Exhibition

External links

• Taiwan Art Exhibition Database ( page archive backup, stored in the Internet Archive )
• Taiwan Exhibition ( page archive and backup, stored in Internet Archive ), Encyclopedia of Taiwan, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China
• Huang Mintang. Taiwan Art Exhibition - Encyclopedia of Taiwan. Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China. [ 2012-01-27 ]. ( Original content archived on 2021-04-06).
• Taiwan Art Exhibition
• Catalog of the Second Taiwan Art Exhibition