Resisting war with the brush
In a smoky, abandoned ruin, a solitary night owl perches on the gravestone of a nameless soldier. A short knife, glinting coldly, rests as if in close-up on a table. It is "After the War"; it is "Nightmare"--Ho Te-lai's works tell us that war has come.
After he returned to Japan, Ho's worsening stomach ailment forced him to undergo surgery. The healing process was torturous, and to make matters worse, the Second World War had broken out. Under the pall of such physical and spiritual pain, the painter put down his brush. His brush had stopped, but he remained alive at heart. After the war he took up painting again, but we no longer see the youthful abandon of the works he painted in Hsinchu. Instead, he expresses the horror of war and his unbreakable hope for humankind.
In "After the War" and "Nightmare," Ho revealed the cruel and loathsome side of humanity. But at the same time he also contrasted these works with "An Eternal Dream of Peace." In this canvas, seven angelic children descend from the heavens; their hands grasp a harp, a shovel, a palette, writing paper, and a huge rose--tools with which to rebuild the world. Between golden skies and polychromatic mists, they gaze down at the human world. The cultivated, kindly Ho Te-lai no longer used the broad, direct brush strokes of inner release, but rather exhibited with imperturbable calm the serenely peaceful utopia of his heart.
In addition to thinking about how humanity can become fulfilled, and discarding notions of the insignificance of humankind, Ho went on to explore the enormity of the universe, its eternal boundlessness. He painted the resplendent "The Sun"; the profoundly warm "Sunset"; and "Dawn," with its moon not yet faded from the sky. These Number 200 canvases, each taller and wider than a human being, overflow with the vitality of heaven and earth. Ho had left the shadow of war behind, and entered into the clear-minded acceptance of the fate of middle age.
Accepting fate at age fifty
He depicted life, the spring breeze, the bright moon, the warm southerly winds; he depicted the scenery inside him, not the flowers and woods of reality. In the painting "Spring Thunder," with the damp cold of its steely grey color scheme, a white flash of lightning steaks out from the left, while amid gusts of rain, plants bend rightward in the direction of the lightning. In the lower right corner, wavelets rhythmically lap downward. This unmoving canvas overflows with the vibrant breath and pulse of nature. What is truly amazing is that Ho Te-lai, who spent most of his life in Japan, was still able to display the world of his home town, a world where "I am one with heaven and earth." His landscapes may be likened to the scholarly paintings of China, the product of one's personal care for nature.
From youth to old age, Ho Te-Iai's emergence and position in the art world were invariably avant garde. He was avant garde without trying to be: not in conflict with tradition, but in harmony with it.
The mission of the Shinkozo-Sha painting association is to start from wild spirit to utilize one's personal freedom. It seeks art that is not limited by schools or factions. This non-official painting association, founded in the late 1920's, now has over 700 members, and was the favorite of Ho Te-lai, who detested factionalism. Keeping in contact with many young painters with a fervor for art, the middle-aged Ho Te-lai became all the more graced in spirit; with the support of friends, he hosted the "Flying Bird Exhibition" in opposition to the painting galleries' unfairly priced artworks. Students even formed the "Chia-Te [Good Virtue] Society" named after Ho Te-lai, and met with him periodically for discussion....
A mirror on modern art
Three score years later, Ho Te-lai still remained faithful to himself. Excluded from the mainstream in his younger days, he was venerated and esteemed by students in the more open environment of later years.
Looking back on Ho's life, we see he put little emphasis on style and did not employ pre-set themes. Each painting is a journal of his soul. His sincerity in facing himself comes through in the singular style of his creations. And it is because of this sincerity that his works--accumulated from the sediment of his soul--so ably combine nature and the current events of his time.
[Picture Caption]
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"Spring is here, and the beautiful colors excite the soul. I rejoice that I am a painter." In his old age Ho Te-lai often went outdoors to draw. In warm breeze or spring thunder, he sketched out his concern for life.
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In a brief stay of three years in his homeland, the artist created this enthusiastic "Summer in Hsinchu (Taiwan)," in which we can see something of the bright colors and unconstrained brushstrokes in the style of this old nativist painter. Oil on wood, 24x33, 1933
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Painting with calligraphy, building an image in words: Ho Te-lar's "Fifty-Five Waka Poems" recounts the artist's own life in a way which combines the traditional and the avant garde. Oil on canvas, 130x194, 1964
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"What the wise laugh off, the foolish dream of; today the sky paints a dream of peace." Having witnessed the horrors of war, Ho Te-lai used "An Eternal Dream of Peace" to express his hopes for worldwide liberty and tranquility.. Oil on canvas, 145x112, 1951