A Study of Chen Cheng-Po's Sketchbooks: Visuals, Thoughts
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A Study of Chen Cheng-po’s Sketchbooks: Visuals, Thoughts and Records (Note: The original version (inclusive of chronology) contains some 100,000 characters. Due to limited space, however, only an abridged version is presented here. For details, please refer to the original version.) By Liao Chin-yuan∗ Ⅰ. Overview1 There are 38 sketchbooks by Chen Cheng-po2, with 1,218 pages of sketches and texts in total. The earliest date—October 24, 1925 and the latest—April 5, 1944, were marked respectively in sketchbooks SB01 and SB34. The former is on a sketch of a nude woman, while the latter is on that of Chiayi Park. In the 20-year interval, no date mark for 1943 is found. In terms of the general themes of Chen’s sketches, nude women and landscapes are predominant, now and again with a few sketches of characters and a few still lifes. His sketches were usually done with pencils, occasionally with Chinese writing brushes and pens. Chen paid much attention to the use of brushwork and lines for the outlines of objects or for chiaroscuro effects without coloring them. Only pen-and-ink drawings are embellished by running ink for partial emphasis. The 38 sketchbooks have not been published in full so far. As a result, the common way of introducing them tends to be informative references to a few sketches of a single theme. Examples include, (1) through sketches of nude women, it has been emphasized that Chen had received an orthodox education and training of academic fine arts when he was a student at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. (2) From the landscape and townscape sketches, it has been argued that he was a modern painter deeply influenced by realism and not confined to copying and tracing techniques. (3) Sketches and life drawings are considered preparations for oil painting and Chen’s sketches with similar layouts to his oil paintings are cited as important references in discussing the characteristics of his oil paintings. ∗ Liao Chin-yuan: Adjunct Associate Professor of Department of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts and Department of Painting & Calligraphy Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts. 1 In the 3-year long project of publishing Chen Cheng-po Corpus initiated by Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation, the mission of this author is to preliminarily compile Chen’s sketchbooks and analyze their significance. Because this paper is a part of the publishing project, tentative views rather than absolute conclusions are presented in stages. The errors and defects produced during the process can be revised appropriately after the project is finished, when more materials are unearthed and more research findings of other participants are published. 2 Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation has numbered the 38 sketchbooks in a chronological order based on the dates on them, such as SB01, SB02 ... SB38. For the convenience of identification, the present paper follows this way of classification. 1 With respect to the viewpoints above, if a comprehensive investigation of the 38 sketchbooks is made, it is easy to come up with the following findings. (1) Chen’s sketches of nude women were not only made during his time at Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1924-1929. They were also made in his sketchbooks in the years 1934 and 1938-1939 when he was a teacher in Shanghai and after he returned to reside in Taiwan permanently. This means that the sketches of nude women were not just for earning course credits or merely basic academic training. They had special meanings for Chen Cheng-po, because he still took time to go to art studios to sketch nude women when he was in Tokyo after his graduation. Therefore, those huge amounts of nude women sketches, initially made during his studies at Tokyo School of Fine Arts until in the middle and late 1930s after he went back to Taiwan, really should not be ignored if we intend to study Chen’s nude woman oil paintings or discussing the importance of this theme in his painting career. (2) A thorough scrutiny of landscape sketches in the 38 sketchbooks easily reveals that Chen has certain preferences and distinguishing features in his choice of themes and composition layouts. This could be a reminder that when studying Chen’s landscape sketches, in addition to the significance of the act of “drawing from life”, proper attention should be paid to visual elements such as scene selection and layout. Moreover, by the comparison of his lifelong drawing career, further studies on the historical background that contributed to the formation of such visual elements and on their cultural implications should be conducted. (3) From numerous oral reminiscences and scholastic discourses, it is learned that when making oil paintings, especially those related to landscapes and townscapes, Chen tended to draw real scenes on the spot, rather than relying on drafts prepared in advance. Doubtlessly, this leads to a decrease in direct correlation between his oil paintings and sketches. At the same time, it questions the very method of making comparisons between them. However, it is worth noting that he had written down words such as “pastel green”, “white”, and “red” on mountains, waters, and clouds in many landscape sketches. He had even added some lines on the sketches to serve as frame settings. All color choice marks and new frame settings mentioned above could imply that he had paid considerable attention to color choices and the composition of the picture when sketching. It indicates that drawings on his sketchbooks stand for an observation phase of his life sketching, as well as a conceptualization process in drawing composition. In this case, there exist some similar characteristics of the methods he usually employed in his on-the-spot creation of oil paintings. Hence I think that, if a comparison is going to be made in the future between his oil paintings and landscape sketches, especially those with color choice marks and new frame settings, it is unnecessary to always regard the sketches as drafts of the oil paintings. Instead, 2 based on the same on-the-spot condition of his sketches and oil paintings, an impartial and overall judgment should be made, with an emphasis on how sketches and oil paintings embodied his view of nature. Ⅱ. Comparison of Dates in the Sketchbooks For ease of sorting out the information in the sketchbooks and proving the views above, I have first arranged in chronological order all pages of the 38 sketchbooks with date marks. I have also inserted all articles related to Chen Cheng-po published in Taiwan Daily News (hereafter referred to as TDN) and the publicly available chronology of Chen Cheng-po’s provided by Chen Cheng Po Cultural Foundation (hereafter referred to as the Foundation Chronology). In this way, an integrated chronology related to Chen Cheng-po sketchbooks has been compiled.3 From this integrative chronology, it is clearly shown that the date marks on the sketchbooks not only correspond nicely with TDN’s coverage and the Foundation Chronology, but also provide additional information. Two examples are cited below as reference: (1) It was reported by TDN on July 15, 1932[3] that Chen Cheng-po, in his capacity as a lecturer, took charge of the Taichung Western Painting Workshop from July 15 to July 25. But the life sketches of Taichung Park on July 12, 1932 in Sketchbook SB10 indicate that he was already in Taichung before the workshop was held. Besides, from the sketches of Hatsune Bridge of Taichung and Taichung Park created on July 15, 1932 in SB09, as well as the sketch of Taichung Park Pavilion created on July 19, 1932 in SB10, it can be inferred that he headed for those places in Taichung to sketch during the workshop. It can also be speculated that this kind of works might have been created when he led members of the workshop for outdoor life sketches. This shows that, in that year, field practices and guidance on outdoor life sketches were provided to participants of the Taichung Western Painting Workshop. (2) According to the evening edition of TDN on September 16, 1934[4], Chen Cheng-po went to Tokyo on September 15, 1934 and planned to return to Taiwan in late September. The Foundation Chronology, on the other hand, shows that he arrived in Tokyo on September 19. In this regard, the sketches of Sinobazu no ike and Marunouchi streetscape done on September 27 and 28, 1934 in SB13 confirm his trip to Tokyo as recorded by both TDN and the Foundation Chronology. As to the date of his return, the sketches of nude women done in October, 1934 and those of River 3 Due to limited space, the chronology of sketchbooks compiled by this author is not included here. 3 Boat landscape on October 16, 1934 in sketchbooks SB14-SB17 show that Chen did not come back to Taiwan in late September as reported by TDN. As to more credible dates, the sketches of characters in boat cabins on October 30, 1934 and November 1, 1934 in SB16, as well as the photographs of Chen Cheng-po when he attended the launching ceremony of Taiyang Fine Arts Association at 2 pm on November 12, published by TDN [7] can be used as reference. It is therefore safe to say that Chen had returned to Taiwan from Tokyo around November 1, and definitely before November 12. As the two cases above show, the date marks in the sketchbooks not only record the time of Chen’s drawings, but also play an important role in the following aspects.