A loving artist
“As I remember him, my grandfather was an amiable and easygoing person, very approachable, with a refined taste,” says Catherine Chen, Ran’s granddaughter. For Chen, Ran was a loving grandfather, a hospitable, humorous, and sincere soul. “He never expected others to reciprocate, and never spoke ill of people behind their backs.” While Ran may have come across as an eminent figure out of most people’s reach, he actually had a gentle heart and treated everyone fairly. He loved small animals and sympathized with the underprivileged. At his residence in Taipei’s Shilin District, Ran always put bird boxes on the trees in the garden, and he took in stray dogs.
Ran’s watercolors and ink-wash paintings are extremely well thought of. Often depicting rural life in Taiwan, they convey Ran’s deep feelings for his homeland. “He was so talented,” says Hsiao Chong-ray, art historian and emeritus professor of history at National Cheng Kung University. Hsiao marvels at Ran’s Feeding the Ducks, in the collection of the Chan Liu Art Museum: “There are so many ducks in the painting. Each and every one of them is carefully delineated.” This iconic ink-wash painting portrays an ordinary scene of duck farming on a river. It creates an impression of depth by spreading the ducks along a riverbank that snakes into the background. From the crowded foreground to the misty distance, every duck looks vividly alive. To paint the ducks in the background, Ran used diluted ink and gently dabbed the paper with his brush, but we can still clearly make out their heads and tails. Hsiao gives his verdict: “The painting is very powerful indeed. This is not easy to achieve! He really was a genius.”
After founding Harvest magazine in 1951, Ran and his then graphic designer, Yuyu Yang (Yang Ying-feng), traveled the length and breadth of rural Taiwan to investigate the customs and conditions of local farmers. Through the magazine, he aimed to promote agricultural knowledge and skills among rural folk. He wrote the word “Formosa” on every one of his artworks, as an expression of his love of Taiwan.
Summer Rain
Ran’s works carry deep feelings for Taiwan. Through his paintings, we can catch a glimpse of what the island was like in his time.
Hsiao Chong-ray speaks highly of both Ran In-ting and Liao Chi-chun, regarding these pioneering artists as harbingers of a new era in Taiwanese art. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)