The Seven Friends Painting Association and Taiwanese Art Circles (1950s-1970s)
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Chiu, Lin-ting
Abstract
This dissertation studies the Seven Friends Painting Association established in Taipei in 1955. This painting association is important in that it combined the “artistic value” with “political reality” through the creation of traditional Chinese ink painting. With the withdrawal of KMT Government in 1949, the seven painters of the Association, some were civil servants and some amateur painters, came to Taiwan separately. Though they didn''t know each other back in Mainland China, they gathered together during the Cold War Period (1950s-1970s), shaping a shared sense of duty to maintain the tradition of Chinese literati painting. This emphasis on the literati tradition, of course, was closely related to the emphasis of the KMT Government on the cultural policy of reviving the Chinese Tradition. Through this policy of “culturally Chinese,” KMT Government aimed to highlight its own orthodox status of being ''politically Chinese.”
For Taiwan, however, where the land had always been the peripheral for Chinese Culture and was actually under Japanese rule before the arrival of KMT Government, such a policy faced challenges from the Japanese colonial culture. In this light, the first chapter of this study concentrates on the development of ink painting in Taiwan before the KMT Government. Firstly, the chapter analyses the Chinese ink painting that came to Taiwan during the end of Qing dynasty. Secondly, the chapter delineates the rise of Toyo Painting (Japanese painting) through the advantage of Official Artistic Exhibition and the eclipse of Chinese ink painting. This chapter also describes the Western Painting Department of the Official Artistic Exhibition and its influences on Taiwanese painters. On the basis of this discussion, we find that the “debate on the national painting” actually reflects two ways of thinking about the “national painting.” On the one hand, we find that local painters of Taiwan, with their experiences of Japanese colonial rule, developed a more intricate way of interpreting the “national painting.” On the other hand, Chinese painters who came to Taiwan after 1949 were influenced by the historical memory of revolution of Chinese painting in early 20th century, the revival of literati painting, and the political defeat and were therefore showing greater “authoritarian” and “realistic” attitude toward regulating the concept of “national painting.”
The second chapter will describe the activity and significance of the Seven Friends Painting Association and analyse the interaction of “artistic value” and “political reality.” With the close interaction between members of the Seven Friends Painting Association and higher echelons of KMT Government, the Association''s production of literati ink paintings, characterized by the unification of poetry, calligraphy, and painting and by the symbolization of brush and ink, becomes the best advocate of the Government''s cultural policy and provides the artillery against the “new national painting” of social realism in the People''s Republic of China. It is worth noting, however, that under the seemingly combination of “artistic value” and “political reality” the Association''s promotion of literati painting is also informed by the members'' ethical and personal consideration.
Lastly, this study examines the influence of the Association on Taiwanese painting through the two important governmental artistic exhibitions, namely “the National Art Exhibition of Republic of China” and “the Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition.” Members of the Association were mostly judges for these governmental artistic exhibitions. These exhibitions, being public arena for art, become important channels for the Association''s political intention. Of course, this chapter will also address and focus on how local painters of Taiwan reacted to this influence.
To sum up, the discussion of this study show that the tradition, like the innovation, of artistic performance is an important means to resist the revolution of epoch and provides a rich mine for further researches.
Subjects
Seven Friends Painting Association
Taiwanese Painting
Literati Painting
Provincial Art Exhibition
National Art Exhibition
Taiwanese Art
Chinese Art.
Type
thesis
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