Lin Ming-hsien, who manages the collection of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, tells us that the dominant art form in Taiwan prior to the Japanese era was traditional Chinese ink-wash painting, which gave priority to intangible moods and established motifs. Under Japanese rule, Taiwanese painters were exposed to the vibrant colors of nihonga, which was influenced by the Western concept of observing nature en plein air.

Lin Yushan: A national treasure

Born in Chiayi, Lin Yushan (1907–2004) was skilled in traditional Chinese painting, watercolor, and nihonga. In 1926 he went to Japan to study art. After his return to Taiwan in 1927, his works The South Gate and Water Buffaloes were selected for the inaugural Taiten. In 1930 his Lotus Pond, a nihonga painting that depicts a scene on Chiayi’s Mt. Niuchou, won an award at the fourth Taiten. In 2015 the Ministry of Culture listed Lotus Pond as a “national treasure.”

Lin’s son Po-ting, a former deputy director of the National Palace Museum, says that Lotus Pond uses gold pigments to evoke the warm texture of Song-­dynasty paintings, in addition to displaying the fine brushwork that characterizes traditional Chinese bird-and-flower painting. To capture the glorious moment when the blossoms began to unfurl, the painter arrived at the pond at night and stayed in a bunkhouse nearby. This painting subsequently went into private collections. When a Japanese buyer sought to acquire it, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts mounted a successful fundraising campaign, and kept the work in Taiwan.

Lin was known for his bird-and-flower paintings, as well as his paintings of tigers and sparrows. Late in life, his paintings of mountains and seas bore witness to the astonishing vigor of a seasoned artist. In these works, he was able to call up the majesty of nature through just a few simple colors.

Lin Yushan’s Spring in Formosa depicts cotton trees in bloom. A pair of black bulbuls perch on a branch in the foreground, two warbling white-eyes are below, and there are also a few sparrows, breathing life into this spring scene.

Lin Yushan’s second son, Po-ting, formerly served as deputy director of the National Palace Museum. He tells us about the “Three Youths of the Taiten.” (photo by Kent Chuang)

Kuo Hsueh-hu: An autodidact

Born in Taipei’s Dadaocheng, Kuo Hsueh-hu (1908–2012) lost his father when he was two years old, and was brought up by his mother. He discovered his artistic talents while studying at Rixin Public School, and later spent a short time learning to paint religious portraits.

Kuo’s ink-wash painting Waterfall in the Pine Valley was selected for the first Taiten. At the exhibition, he saw a set of three nihonga paintings of birds and flowers by the Japanese artist Koto Gobara, who had served as one of the selectors. Gobara’s works led Kuo to study nihonga. The following year, Kuo’s own nihonga painting Scenery Near Yuanshan was selected for the Taiten, giving him a firm footing in the art world.

Though he had received no formal art education, Kuo distinguished himself at various art exhibitions. He said that he painted by day, and in the evenings went to a library to study artistic techniques.

Lin Yu-chun, director of the Tainan Art Museum, remarks that the composition of Kuo’s Scenery Near Yuanshan bespeaks the artist’s scrupulous attention to detail. “This is what is attractive about the 20-year-old young man,” she says.

Another of Kuo’s masterpieces, Festival on South Street, shows Taipei’s Dadaocheng during the annual Ghost Festival. Lin tells us that Kuo added an extra story to the area’s two-story buildings, and juxtaposed Taiwanese with Japanese elements, and tradition with modernity, in his depiction of shops, banners and signs.

One of Taiwan’s earliest nihonga painters, Kuo was so deeply upset by the controversies from 1946 onward over what could be considered “legitimate Chinese painting” that he emigrated to Japan in 1964, and later moved to America. It wasn’t until the late 1980s, when local Taiwanese culture was finally allowed to assert itself, that he returned to Taiwan to exhibit his paintings.

“I think my father had a hard life. He was very brave,” says Kuo’s second son, Song-nian. People used to taunt this family of nine because they had an artist father: “Are you going to starve to death?” Yet Kuo carried on painting and pursuing innovations in art. He believed that being an artist required a big leap of faith.

Kuo Hsueh-hu’s Festival on South Street portrays the hustle and bustle of Taipei’s Dadaocheng during the annual Ghost Festival. (collection of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, by permission of Kuo Hsueh-hu Foundation)

Kuo Song-nian tells us about Kuo Hsueh-hu’s courage and lofty visions of art. (photo by Kent Chuang)

Completed late in Kuo Hsueh-hu’s life, Pomegranates and Turtle Doves combines traditional ink-wash and nihonga painting techniques. (collection of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, by permission of the Kuo Hsueh-hu Foundation)

Kuo Hsueh-hu’s Scenery Near Yuanshan, which made him famous, features rhythmically and densely placed landscape components, and a complex yet harmonious combination of colors. This has been referred to as the “Hsueh-hu Style.” (collection of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, by permission of the Kuo Hsueh-hu Foundation)

Chen Chin: Overcoming gender bias

Born into an affluent family in Hsinchu, Chen Chin (1907–1998) was encouraged by her high-school art teacher to study art in Japan. Dubbed a “Lady Painter,” Chen cultivated a Japanese style, and most of her subjects are women and flowers. Three of her works were selected for the inaugural Taiten, and in 1934 her Ensemble was selected for the Japanese Imperial Art Exhibition (Tei­ten), marking the first time a female Taiwanese painter had received this honor, and establishing her reputation in Japan­ese art circles. In 1996 she received Taiwan’s National Cultural Award.

Chen had a keen eye for detail. The postures and facial expressions of her human subjects, as well as the objects around them, testify to her uncompromising perfectionism.

Chen Chin (right) and her husband, Xiao Zhenqiong.(courtesy of Xiao Lili)

Re-experiencing the past

According to Lin Ming-hsien, although the nihonga paintings of the Three Youths of the Taiten are informed by Western modern art, they drew on local Taiwanese perspectives and have helped consolidate the subjectivity of Taiwanese art.

Yen Chuan-ying, a research fellow in the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, says that Chen Chin, Kuo Hsueh-hu and Lin Yushan all embraced Taiwanese subject matter, producing paintings that won the hearts of the masters of their time. Today, these works help us re-experience Taiwan’s past, and we find ourselves sharing the pride and honor of their creators.

In Temple Fair, Chen Chin renounces her characteristic academic style to represent the vibrancy of folk culture.