Since it was founded, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts has borne responsibility for the mission of promoting art education in southern Taiwan.Apart from introducing contemporary art trends, the museum also showcases outstanding local artists and their interesting creative ideas. And in order to display the cultural depth of Taiwan's art history, the museum has been holding a special series of research exhibitions focusing on senior artists in the Kaohsiung area.
Originating in Europe, watercolor painting reached its zenith in 18th and 19th century England and France. Fond of English watercolor painting, the Japanese painter Kinichiro Ishikawa brought watercolors to Taiwan while teaching at Taipei Normal School, where he trained Taiwan's outstanding first-generation watercolor painters Lan Yin-ding, Li Che-fan, and Ni Chiang-huai. Among the artists who accompanied the Kuomintang government to Taiwan in 1948, Ma Pai-sui taught watercolors in the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University, and trained many outstanding watercolor painters. Afterwards, such other artists as Liang Ding-ming, founder of the Fuxinggang Art Institute, the engineer Liu Chi-wei, Hangzhou Art College graduates Ma Tien-fei and Hsi Te-chin, and Shanghai native Hu Chieh also taught, developed, and influenced a younger generation of painters in Taiwan. This individuals gradually enriched domestic watercolor painting, which reached a summit from 1975 to 1990.
Following 1990, with the diversification of contemporary art and rise of interdisciplinary art, watercolor painting gradually fell into decline. Numerous accomplished watercolor painters turned their attention to other media around this time, and only a small handful of younger-generation artists specialized in watercolors. In addition, apart from sporadic solo exhibitions, only very few groups held annual watercolor shows. This museum has long paid attention to the development of watercolor painting in Taiwan, and currently has 418 watercolor works by 118 artists in its collection (roughly 9.3% of the museum's collection). The museum has also held the exhibition "Selected Watercolors from the Museum Collection," and held exhibitions of the watercolors of such artists as Luo Tan, Ma Pai-sui, Lin Tien-jui, and Hung Chun-kui. In addition, watercolor works by Sung Shih-hsiung, Chu Chen-tung, Lo Ching-yun, Wang Kuo-jeng, Liu Chi-wei, Tsay Shoei-lin, Boonky Ho, Liang Dan- fong, Shen Kuo-jen, Lo Hui-ming, Lee Quan-pui, Su Hsien-fa, Kuo Ming-fu, Lee Dong-hwa, Lee Chun-cheng, Wu Kuang-yu, Chien Tien-yu, Chen Zong-ho, Yan Fen-lung, Ting Shui-chuan, and Yang Yuh-ru have been shown in other exhibitions on various topics. While there are many excellent watercolor painters in the Kaohsiung area, there are relatively few who specialize in this medium. Chen Chia-shang and Chen Wen-lung are two watercolor painters from different generations who have distinguished themselves in terms of both the quality and quantity of their output. In order to awaken public interest in the characteristics and appeal of watercolor painting, this museum has specially arranged the "Obsession with Art; Holding on to Feelings: Art of Chen Chia-shang" and "Land / Imprint: Research Exhibition of Chen Wen-lung's Watercolors."Chen Wen-lung was born in Huwei, Yunlin County, in 1950. After graduating from Tainan Normal College (today's Tainan University) in 1972, he served as an art teacher at Ruifeng Elementary School in Kaohsiung, where he made his home. Having studied under Ma Tien-fei, Wang Chia-cheng, and Liu Wen-san while at Tainan Normal College, Chen established an outstanding foundation in watercolor painting. Although he was an expert in ink and wash painting, and had won awards at the Southern Taiwan Art Show and the Taiwan Art Show, under the influence of older-generation painters such as Liu Chi-hsiang, Chen turned his artistic focus to watercolors after settling in Kaohsiung. Chen became determined to perfect his watercolor skills even further after winning a prize at the Southern Taiwan Art Show, and has persisted in making watercolors his creative mission until the present. At a time when contemporary watercolor painting is in decline, this is an extremely praiseworthy achievement.
Chen Wen-lung has dedicated a lifetime of effort to promoting watercolor painting in the Kaohsiung area. Apart from helping to establish the Kaohsiung Watercolor Painting Association, he has actively participated in numerous domestic and international watercolor painting organizations, which has broadened his artistic outlook. He has also encouraged other Kaohsiung painters to participate, which has enhanced the visibility of watercolor painting in Kaohsiung.
Having grown up in a farming family, the virtues of simplicity, practicality, and love of the land are deeply implanted in Chen Wen- lung's heart, and have influenced his artistic substance and direction. He also constantly seeks improvement in his artistic skills. From early direct visual portrayals of realistic rural scenes, he later embarked on a course of simplification, retention of white paper, and use of a flat brush to depict subjective symbols. He also combined watercolors and acrylics in paintings on canvas, which revealed his pursuit of novelty and helped establish his own distinctive painting vocabulary. This exhibition presents the quintessence of Chen Wen-lung's watercolor paintings and artistic ideas from the past 40 years, and conveys his life of dedication to art. We hope that this exhibition will help revive interest in the medium of watercolors, which has been relatively neglected in Kaohsiung and among contemporary art circles.
Director, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
July 2015
