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. (1) They provide further information to the now familiar chronology of Chen Cheng-po. (2) They make it possible to sub-divide different phases of his life. At present, his life history is usually divided into three phases — “Studying in Tokyo”, “Teaching in Shanghai” and “Settling down in Taiwan”. This further division brings forth a new start to discuss, from multiple perspectives, the influences of key factors on his art and nourishment he got in different phases. (3) They greatly facilitate the tracking of Chen’s whereabouts and leaves clues for the study of the exact dates of his oil paintings in the future. (4) From Chen’s schedule, it can be deeply felt that he had an assiduous learning spirit and strong willpower that constantly spurred himself on. For instance, When TDN [12] reported on October 22, 1936 that he was recommended to display his works at the Taiwan Exhibition and would be commended for his outstanding accomplishments on November 3 after being selected to the Exhibition for ten consecutive years, he was not fully satisfied and content with receiving such an acclaim. He did not even go back to Taiwan to accept the commendation. Instead, he spent more days sketching the unique views of Mount Myōgi and continuously concentrated on personal creation, as is shown in the sketches in SB21 of Mount Myōgi in Gunma Prefecture on November 2, 8, 9, 14, and 15 in 1936.

Ⅲ. Comparison of Pictures in the Sketchbooks As for the current tendency in analyzing the significance of the picture in the sketchbooks, the most common practice is to compare them with the contents of Chen’s oil paintings. Table 1 below shows the common way of drawing conclusions at present. It is believed that the sketches in SB09 were the drafts of the oil paintings Lakeside and Villas at Taihu Lake respectively made in 1928 and 1929.

4 Table 1 group Sketches Oil Paintings

1

SB09-081 Lakeside, 1928

2

SB09-060 SB09-080 Villas at Taihu Lake, 1929

In terms of visual impression, the method of comparing pictures in Table 1 above is indeed potentially persuasive to claim that the sketches in the sketchbooks are the drafts for oil paintings. If further consideration is given to the painting dates, however, it will be found out that SB09 mainly contains sketches from November 15, 1930 to July 15, 1932. Even for the sketch of the Turtle Head Isle, which has been used to compare with the painting Villas at Taihu Lake, the marked date of August 13, 1931 is much later than the time of creating Villas at Taihu Lake, and Lakeside in 1928 and 1929. By contrast, if the revised sketchbook-related chronology compiled by the author is adopted and a cross comparison of sketching records is made between the time (1928-1931), and place (Taihu Lake in Suchow) of creation in Table 1, and putting into consideration pictures of the life sketches and oil paintings as well as the postcards made public recently, the results as shown in Table 2 below can be obtained.

Table 2 Month Source of year Events Illustration & Date Data 1928 － Lakeside was － created.

Lakeside

5 1929 5.13 Chen Mr. Chen Cheng-po from Chiayi said in his letter from Taiwan Cheng-po’s Shanghai that he planned to travel to Suchow and Daily News recent activities Beijing in half a month. In the National Exhibition of [4] on May were reported. the Republic of China, traditional Chinese paintings 13, 1929 seemed to be suppressed by western paintings, so the campaign of learning from the west was launched among those with insight. Among those on display, only the sections on metal (bronze) and handicrafts are very distinguished and attractive. Although they are relics of civilization thousands of years ago, people who can recognize and treasure them are few. So this campaign to preserve our cultural legacy will provide support for future Renaissance. 1929 － Villas at Taihu － Lake was created.

Villas at Taihu Lake 1930 10. 22 Chen’s Although the unidentified western paintings have not Taiwan participation in been published yet, it is said that the painting “Late Daily News the Fourth Autumn”, by which Chen won wide recognition last [7] on Taiwan year, describes the view of Shanghai. The western October 22, Exhibition paintings without identification shown on the left by 1930 (Western Art Chen Cheng-po; One is Tiger Hill in Suchow; The other Section) was is “Bathing Beach at Mount Putuo.” reported. 1930 10.24 Relevant Title: “Major Popular Works” Taiwan information Text: “Mr. Chen Cheng-po’s “Tiger Hill in Suchow” in Daily News about the Fourth the Fourth Room. [7] on Taiwan October 24, Exhibition was 1930 published. 1930 10.25-1 Works Bathing Taiwan 1.3 Beach at Mount Daily News Putuo and Tiger in October Hill in Suchow 1930 are selected for the Fourth Taiwan Exhibition Tiger Hill, Suzhou (Western Art Section). 1931 7.21 The sketch of “Lake Tai”: lake surface, boats, oarsman and passengers SB09 Lake Tai and on the boat, buildings by the lake, and trees. uphill house.

SB09-111 1931 7.27 Postcard from “Paint‧ Chen Cheng-po Passion‧ to Lin Yu-shan. Chen Cheng-po”, Front Lin Yu-chun, Words on the front: p.76 To “Taiwan Master painter on Street Zongye in Chiayi, Mr. Lin Ying-gui” From “The Turtle Head Isle of Lake Tai in Jiangsu Province, Chen Cheng-po July 27, 1931”

6 Back Words on the back: “Dear Brother Yu-shan, Have you finished your masterpiece this autumn? I wish you can be selected for a second time. I have painted a couple of pictures of Lake Tai. This is one of them. I want to participate in the Exhibition of the Empire of Japan this autumn and send you this picture to extend my greetings to you. Wish you a promising future! Please extend my best wishes to other brothers. 1931 8.3 Sketches of “River Scenery”: river bank, trees, river, sailing boat, SB09 river scenery, distant mountains, lighthouse and clouds. rocks, and “Rocks & Lighthouse”: rocks, lighthouse and trees. lighthouse” Notes: From the contents of the drawing, it is speculated that these series of pictures are related to the sketches of the Turtle Head Isle of Lake Tai on August 10 and August 13.

1931 8.10 (Wuxi, Jiangsu “The Turtle Head Isle of Lake Tai”: sailing boat, river, SB09 Province) Life mountains, lighthouse and clouds. sketch of the Turtle Head Isle of Lake Tai

1931 8.12 (Wuli Lake) “Cangshan Bay” : hillside, tree, bays, river, sailing SB09 Sketches of boat, mountains” Cangshan Bay.

7 1931 8.13 (Wuxi, Jiangsu Notes: River sceneries are predominant in this series of SB09 Province) sketches. The sketch of Hui Mountain is marked with Sketches of “The Fifth Trip to Hui Mountain”. Jichang Garden, overlooking the Turtle Head Isle of Lake Tai, Hui Mountain.

1931 8.15 Postcard from Chen Cheng Chen Cheng-po Po Cultural to Wei Qing-de Foundation

Front

Back Words on the Back: Dear Mr. Wei Qingde, Please keep this painting as a souvenir It was drawn on the Turtle Head Isle of Lake Tai in Jiangsu Province. Flying Cloud Pavilion It is one of the five famous lakes in the Republic of China. I’m preparing to submit a work to the Exhibition of the Empire of Japan in autumn, so this is a sketch in summer there. August 15, 1931 By Chen Cheng-po 1931 9.11 News about “Mr. Chen Cheng-po, a painter of western style from Evening Chen’s recent Chiayi, sent a letter from Shanghai. The letter said that edition of life. he spent the summer vacation on the Turtle Head Isle of Taiwan Lake Tai. He went there from Wuxi by boat. He stayed Daily News in Qimei Hotel and finished 10 paintings in three weeks. on He would choose a couple of the paintings to display in September the Exhibition of the Empire of Japan and Taiwan 11, 1931 Exhibition in Autumn. He has left home town for a year and often sheds tears for the death of sculptor Huang Tu-shui. Then Comrade Chen Zhi-qi also passed away. Looking back to the art circles in his home town, his heart is broken.”

1931 10.25-1 Ke Garden, Taiwan 1.3 Suzhou was Daily News selected for the in October Fifth Taiwan 1931 Exhibition

Ke Garden, Suzhou

From a comparison of the chronological orders and pictures shown in Table 2, it is evident that if the sketches listed in Table 1 are considered drafts of Lakeside and Villas at Taihu Lake merely by visual impression, mistakes are probably made. But if the dates and diversified materials related to “Lake Tai” listed in Table 2 are adopted

8 to make a comparison, it is easy to see that the sketches of Lake Tai in the sketchbooks was a continuous creation and shared a concurrent development with the Lake Tai oil paintings. This can be a reminder that if we shake off the confinement of separately categorizing the sketches and oil paintings in the future and conduct an integrated study of their contents, focusing on the appearance of Lake Tai as depicted by Chen in different years, two achievements will be made. First, the significance of picture in the sketchbooks can be considerably extended. Secondly, it will contribute to exploring the monographic study of Chen’s works with the theme of Lake Tai in the early 1930s.

Ⅳ. Female Nude Sketches in Sketchbooks Among the 38 sketchbooks, 14 sketchbooks involving 350 sketches are under the theme of nude women. Nude woman is one of the main themes of the sketchbooks and the number of sketches is second only to that of landscapes. The time distribution of these nude sketches can be divided into three basic periods: from October 1925 to March 1928, from September to October in 1934, and from February 1938 to October 1939. In fact, the actual periods are shorter and more concentrated because the number of days in which nude sketches appeared are different in each period.

Two reviews on Chen’s nude women sketches are frequently quoted as reference. They are two monographs in the “Artist Special: Chen Cheng-po” published in Lion Art (No. 106 in December, 1979): Chen Cheng-po—A Naive Painter from the Academia by Xie Li-fa and Memoir of My Friendship with Mr. Chen Cheng-po by Lin Yu-shan. Xie Li-fa asserted that “Chen was very inadequate in academic sketching skills”, nudes in particular. In view of Chen’s unique artistic quality, it was wrong from the very beginning for him to “enter an arts school to receive academic tutoring. But it is precisely Chen’s inadequate academic sketching capability that happens to highlight the clue to the fact that he was not easily confined by the modern art educational frames set by Japan—Taiwan’s former colonizer. At the same time, it serves as the main cause that made him easier to become “A Naive Painter from the Academia”. On the other hand, Lin Yu-shan mentioned that Chen Cheng-po scarcely drew characters and landscapes and the style of his painting was special. “For instance, when painting nudes, he did a great job in body parts, but the drawing of the hands and feet seemed extraordinarily naive.” Lin emphasized that the extraordinarily naive parts “were bound to make people with ordinary vision feel odd”. Nevertheless, the features of drawing, such as “wonderful brush strokes, fancy

9 artistic conception and exotic style, all stem from the artist’s personality and sentiments and cannot be created on demand. So Chen’s “unique quaint drawing style” also “came from his strong personality”. Lin’s comments suggest that although Chen’s nudes did not have normal proportions, they reflect Chen’s uniqueness and the quaintness of his creation.

Obviously, both of the monographs cited above tend to adopt a positive view on Chen’s style and figure sketches and consider the oddish parts a reflection of Chen’s special temperament. Unfortunately, afterwards some publications and media quoted these remarks out of context and edited them arbitrarily, leading to the general belief that Chen’s “naive painting style” is exemplified by his figure sketches and nude women sketches. Those sketches even serve as major evidence to establish Chen as a “naive painter”.

Regarding this, two recent papers, Chen Cheng-po and Academic Painting: Starting from the Classic Postures of Female Nudes as Depicted in Chen’s Wash Sketches by Li Su-chu and Shaping a Style—the Significance of Chen Cheng-po’s Works in Art History by Hsiao Chong-ray, put forward that it is necessary to reexamine Chen’s nude women sketches and figure sketches.4 Li Su-chu approaches from the art history in the Renaissance and the paintings of Kuroda Seiki, a modern Japanese painter. Chen’s female nudes with buttocks twisting are cited as a classic pose of academic sketches of nude women. This proves he was an academic artist trained by following the rules of traditional western nude sketches. Hsiao Chong-ray believes, based on the time when Chen began his study of oil painting, he might have been influenced by the artistic trend of subjective painting from Vincent Van Gogh, Cezanne and other artists not belonging to academicism at that time. Consequently, the evaluation of his nude women sketches or characters should be based on that criterion. Although Li and Hsiao hold opposing views on whether Chen’s nude women sketches and figure sketches belong to academicism, they both revise the long-standing viewpoint that Chen is considered as a “naive painter” given his nude women sketches. They find their own benchmarks from western art history and emphasize Chen was neither a “naive painter”, nor should his painting style be regarded as “naive”.

No matter it is the articles in “Artist Special: Chen Cheng-po” in Lion Art in 1979, the

4 Li Su-chu, Chen Cheng-po and Academic Painting: Starting from the Classic Postures of Female Nudes as Depicted in Chen’s Wash Sketches; Nostalgia in the Vast Universe: Commemorative Exhibition of Chen Cheng-po, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, October 2011. Hsiao Chong-ray Shaping a Style—the Significance of Chen Cheng-po’s Works in Art History, Archives, Phenomena, New Horizons: Special Exhibition of Chen Cheng-po’s Cultural Relics and Proceedings of the Academic Forum on His Work, issued by Administration Department of Cultural Affairs of Chiayi.”

10 biased opinions derived from those articles, or recent new perspectives based on western art history, all contain some key factors in analyzing Chen’s nude women sketches. As far as I am concerned, rather than verifying the differences among these viewpoints, the top agenda should be a comprehensive sorting and organizing of existing nude woman sketches. Furthermore, a chronology of Chen’ nude women sketches should be made by compiling in order all his female nude oil paintings clearly marked with dates, the completed research findings of nude women female sketches as well as public records like pictures and texts relevant to his works on nude women. From such a chronology,5 more persuasive ideas and arguments on Chen’s nude women sketches and nude drawings can be put forward.

According to the current chronology of nude women sketches currently completed by the author, however, it can be found that the dates on nude women sketches are unevenly distributed. This is not only adverse to an objective analysis on the evolution of Chen’s artistic styles, but will also make it impossible to fully compare those sketches with the nude women pastel quick sketches and nude women oil paintings in terms of their styles. Even so, several features can be summarized based on the key points of these drawings. A couple of these features will be introduced below.

To begin with, at first glance, nude women sketches created from October 1925 to March 1928 seem to be quite in accord with the general impression of Chen’s nudes—the hands and feet account for a strange proportion of the bodies and a lacking in orthodox academic style. Actually, the nude women sketches with a range of styles mainly reveal Chen’s active exploration of such themes and skills at the beginning of his study at Tokyo School of Fine Arts. In terms of the features of nude women sketches at this time, it is safe to say that lines, chiaroscuro and space were the three main elements that shaped his view of nude women sketches. Among these three elements, lines are not only used to outline the figures of nude women, but also to mark light and shade. As for “chiaroscuro”, sometimes, the aim was to capture the indoor light sources projected on the models. But sometimes, it was adopted to strengthen the physicality of the models’ breasts, waists and buttocks, as well as the concave-convex changes of the bodies. With regard to “space”, the commonest treatment was to painstakingly omit the objects that the models leaned against or stood on so as to try to grasp the three-dimensional sense of the models’ bodies under different gravitational points merely by lines and chiaroscuro. This was a challenge. In order to reduce the peculiar feel of nude women floating with weird

5 Due to limited space, the chronology of female nude sketches compiled by this author is not included here.

11 postures, Chen Cheng-po indicated the directions of different parts of the body in details by lines and chiaroscuro. For example, for the female nude sketch in SB02 marked as “December 5, 1925 Study 3”, the unusual shape and proportion of the figure indeed would lead people to question about Chen’s sketching ability. However, if the directions of the nude woman’s shoulder line, breasts, elbows, waist, buttocks, legs, knees and insteps are carefully observed, it will be clearly seen that Chen actually never ignored the actual physicality of the nude women in three-dimensional space.

In contrast, the nude women sketches from September to October 1934 and from February 1938 to October 1939 had shaken off the above methods employed from October 1925 to March 1928. A new rule was developed based on Chen’s personal subjectivity, by which the nude women in the pictures were divided into several arc continuums of various sizes and “form” was the principle of presenting the bodies. For instance, it is inferred that SB15 was the work on October 13, 1934 and SB27 was the work on September 30, 1939, etc.

SB27, speculated date: September 30, 1939

SB02, Study 3, SB15, speculated date: SB27, marked December 5, 1925 October 13, 1934 “September 30, 1939 Cheng-po”

In this process, the curves used in depicting the arc continuums demonstrated a smoothness and sense of movement unlike those in the past, revealing Chen’s confidence and ease in deploying his skills. If reference is made to the style of Chen’s “pastel nude women quick sketches”, 6 it will be easy to discern that the lines and the control of forms in the nude women quick sketches made in 1931 and 1932 had a profound influence on the style of nude women sketches from September to October 1934 and from February 1938 to October 1939. In these sketches, compared to the pastel quick sketches in which “the lines have far exceeded the physical limitations of the bodies and are freely stretching like flying dragons or crawling snakes”, the sketch

6 The citations below are from Chen Shui-tsai’s Light Brushstrokes, Strong Poetic Sense: The Style of Chen Cheng-po΄s Watercolor Nude Sketch in Chen Cheng-po Corpus (Volume 3•Watercolor Sketch), published by Artist Publishing Co. in 2012.

12 lines used in outlining the nude women’s figures also show a strong sense of speed, smoothly indicating the undulating curves of the breasts, waists, buttocks and legs. In his pastel quick sketches, Chen is seen to have developed "from realistic to impressionistic, from ‘nude woman’ to ‘pen and ink’, with a continuous changing of body forms, repeated evolution of textures, thus demonstrating a consistent theme in creative thinking”. In comparison, in his sketches, the mastering of the nude women’s forms had also shifted from a realistic representation of appearances to the division in forms of the human body structure and the minimalist description of appearances, which underline Chen's personal subjectivity from multiple perspectives.

In fact, with regard to the features of the lines deployed in the nude women sketches during the above-mentioned periods, according to data collected in the "Appendix" of Taiwan Fine Arts Series 1: Chen Cheng-po, it can be easily found that in both “Data 2”, Line Hiding Touch Drawings, in Taiwan New People’s News in autumn 1934 and “Data 6”, Random Thoughts on Producing Works of Art (Issue 7, Volume 2), in Literature and Art of Taiwan, Chen’s study and emphasis on lines had been mentioned. From “Data 1” in the same book: A Survey of Art Studios—Drawing Nude Women published in Taiwan New People’s News in autumn 1933 also shows that the objects on which Chen used lines based on his studies were not confined to the "landscape" frequently mentioned nowadays. In fact, "female nude sketches" were also one of the important categories. In short, 1933-1935 was a crucial period when Chen Cheng-po publicly announced his pursuit of Eastern art with the help of lines. The nude women sketches in the same period from September to October 1934 can be seen on the one hand as a continuation in emphasizing the importance of lines since the pastel nude women quick sketches of 1931 and 1932. On the other hand, they kept pursuing the same ideals with the making of oils and played an important role in this stage of Chen’s drawing career.

After he delved into the integration of strokes and lines in Eastern and Western drawings in the early 1930s to pursue the making of oil paintings with eastern characteristics, Chen’s female nudes from February 1938 to October 1939 had overcome the technical issues on whether the objects can be accurately mastered. They tended to express images in line with the ideas in Chen’s mind. The descriptive lines to record visual activities were also substituted by idiosyncratic lines expressing his individual consciousness and emotions. As a whole, the female nudes in Chen’s own individual style can be clearly seen, such as the work in SB27 with a speculated date of September 30, 1939 and the one in SB29 with a speculated date of October 7, 1939.

13

SB27, speculated SB29, speculated date: SB29, October 7, 1939 SB29, October 7, 1939 date: September 30, October 7, 1939 1939

As for the October 7, 1939 female nude bending over with one hand touching the ground in SB29, although her posture and bodily proportion are weird and the lines also cannot be called delicate, the overall vivid movements of her hands and feet are impressive.

It is notable that, when sketching models, Chen’s mind was not confined to capturing appearances or presenting his mature skills. As is shown in several of the pictures in his sketchbooks, when Chen was sketching female nudes, some new ideas on the theme of nude women would come into his mind. He would either partially revise the limbs of the nude woman in the picture, or add new background to redefine the meaning of the nude’s movements. For example, in Study 7 of October 30, 1925 in SB01, the original standing female nude was changed into a mermaid bathing in water with her feet replaced by a fish tail. In Study 13 of November 14, 1925, the sitting female nude was changed into a peculiar creature: her hands were replaced by fins and her lower body was immersing in water. In Study 11 of October 30, the female nude sitting on the back of a chair with her upper body leaning forward in Study 10 was changed into a woman on a swinging chair looking down at a fish.

SB01, Study 7, October SB01, Study 13, SB01, Study 10, October SB01, Study 11, October 10, 1925 November 14, 1925 30, 1925 30, 1925

Besides, the 13th sketch in SB08 with a speculated date of September 28, 1927 was based on the sitting female nude with nothing around in the 12th sketch. Additions in this sketch, such as a small round table, a tall cabinet and decorations greatly enhance the liveliness of the nude woman in the picture.

14

SB08, Sketch 12th, SB08, Sketch 13th, speculated date: September speculated date: 28, 1927 September 28, 1927

In SB16, it is obvious that the female nude of October 16, 1934 standing by a balcony railing with her hands behind her neck and her lower body leaning against a stone as well as the double female nudes of October 18, 1938 standing on the seashore back to back are related to other female nudes with similar postures on October 16 and 18.

SB16, dated Sketch 7, SB16 SB16, dated SB16, dated SB16, dated SB16, dated October 16, October 16, 1934 October 18, October 18, October 18, 1934 1934 1934 1934

All the above signs show that, in the course of drawing nude women sketches, Chen Cheng-po had further moved into the layout conceptualization phase and was planning a way to apply female nudes to new drawings of the narrative genre. Since works corresponding to Study 11 in SB01, Sketch 13th in SB08, and sketches dated October 16 and 18, 1934 in SB16 have yet to be found in Chen’s oil paintings, it is difficult to assert that such female nudes in sketchbooks were created to prepare for oil paintings. But in exploring the composition of Chen’s nude women oil paintings, such reshaping of nude women images from nude women sketches is definitely worthy of note.

Ⅴ. Life Landscape Sketches in the Sketchbooks In the 38 sketchbooks, drawings related to life landscape sketches constitute the largest part. According to the date marks, the earliest one is the sketch of Tokyo Hibiya Park on December 13, 1925 in SB02, while the latest one is of Chiayi Park on April 5, 1944 in SB34. Among the 38 sketchbooks, there is no life sketch of landscapes

15 in the sketchbooks in 1928, 1929 and 1943, whereas life sketches of landscapes are abundantly found in the sketchbooks from 1931 to 1935, providing important materials for studying Chen’s sketches in this aspect. The themes of these sketches, moreover, are related to Chen’s footprints when he traveled in three places, including Horyuji in Nara, Mount Myōgi in Gunma Prefecture, West Lake in Hangzhou, Wolf Mountain in Nantong, Taihu Lake in Suchow, Mount Guanziling in Tainan, Ta Mountain in Chiayi, Fort San Domingo in Tamsui and other scenic spots. In addition, landscape sketches based on Chiayi Park also take a lot of pages of all the sketchbooks, which shows Chen’s special emotions for his hometown.

It is known to all that works with landscapes as the theme—especially oil paintings—are said to be the focus of Chen’s creation either in terms of their amount or exhibition record. This category contains works on characters, architectures, and natural scenery, which are now collectively called "landscapes" in the study of the art history of Taiwan. Just as his character works are questioned to be lacking in fundamental sketching skills and showing the style of naive painters, the Chen Cheng-po-focused “Artist Special" in Issue 106 of Lion Art in December 1979 also mentioned his style of “landscapes” as "different from the academic style and showed naivety similar to that of naïve drawings. He was unusual even in arrangements of space and distance. For example,

Xie Li-fa in Chen Cheng-po—A Naive Painter from the Academia said,

“If he is criticized based on academic theories, he is too tedious. An example is ‘Yiyuan’7 in 1930 when he took up temporary residence in Shanghai. The general appearance of the painting is full of the naivety of naïve paintings. A mother taking her child to walk in Yiyuan; a path around the pavilion reaching the top of a hill; another footpath through an archway winding to the other side of the lake—all these were depicted as clear as a guidebook, lest people seeing the picture would lose their way. The rest of his works like Suchow, Overlooking the West Lake from afar, and Tower all have the problems mentioned above. Each picture can tell kids a lot of stories.”

Lin Yu-shan in Memoir of My Friendship with Mr. Chen Cheng-po also said,

“On Sundays or memorial public holidays, he never participated in unnecessary entertainment. He would definitely take his painting tools to paint life outdoors, or draw the museum or Shinobazu pond near Ueno Park, or the views of flower beds and trees in the park....Chen’s landscapes often violate the rules of perspective and appear deformed, so it is inevitable that people accustomed to

7 The present name of Yiyuan is Plum Garden.

16 normal visions would feel them strange.

“In the city area of Chiayi, there were places Mr. Chen would prefer to draw, like Wenling Mazu Temple, the central fountain, the East Gate fountain, Chiayi Park, Wufeng Temple, or Amidaji Temple, etc. Before he drew landscapes, it was necessary for him to observe the scenery in detail. After finishing his draft, he would complete a painting with brush strokes full of rich rhythm and changes. In sketches of streetscapes with obvious perspective structures, his works are more peculiar than anyone else. Once I followed him in painting the central fountain ring road from a distance, under a veranda in front of Chiayi Theater on Culture Road of Chiayi. From the views of ordinary people and in terms of perspective, the road in the streetscape should become smaller with an increase in distance. But Mr. Chen’s painting was different, in which it seemed the farther the distance, the wider was the road. That was similar to ancient people when they sketched square tables. Wonderful enough, although the horizon in Mr. Chen’s painting seemed unstable, once his finished it, you would feel a natural and harmonious charm amid the unnaturalness. That is his special style.”

As far as Xie Li-fa, the author of Chen Cheng-po—A Naive Painter from the Academia, is concerned, storytelling pictures like Yiyuan (Plum Garden) are evidences that Chen was born with a style that cannot be tamed by the academic style. This feature also corresponds a lot to Chen’s character described by people that he “liked to argue with people, to exaggerate in writing, and to tell stories in painting”. It is worth noting that works listed here like Suchow, Overlooking the West Lake from afar were created when Chen was in Shanghai as a teacher. It is in this same period (from 1931 to 1935) that landscapes frequently appear in the sketchbooks.

Moreover, Chen’s friend Lin Yu-shan emphasizes in Memoir of My Friendship with Mr. Chen Cheng-po that Chen’s anti-perspective spatial arrangement is particularly weird, but surprisingly, the final pictures turn out to be naturally harmonious without any inappropriateness. Lin believes that Chen’s special sense of spatial composition not only brings wit and humor to his paintings, but also fully reflects his extraordinarily strong personality.

Concerning the special methods used in Chen’s landscapes, if we further refer to My Teacher Chen Cheng-po and I published in Issue 100 of Lion Art in June 1979, an oral report by Chen’s student Chang I-hsiung, we will know that before he had the idea of being a painter at the age of 12, he had seen Chen painting on easel near Bank of Taiwan (Chiayi Branch) on what was renamed as Zhongshan Road after the war, when he was 10 in 1924. Chen’s choice of view was so strange that it left a deep impression

17 on him. "At that time, I wondered why he painted tree leaves in a horizontal direction when they were obviously vertical."

As is noted above by Lin Yu-shan, Chang I-hsiung and Xie Li-fa, the associated composition of spatial distance, biological forms and even each object drawn show Chen Cheng-po’s unique technique in painting "landscapes". From their views, this technique stems from the nature of Chen’s personality. That being the case, would this characteristic of landscape paintings be also seen in his landscape sketches?

To find out, I first chronologically sorted out his life sketches in landscape. According to this chronology,8 the most extraordinary and often unnoticed fact is Chen’s habit of re-setting the frames of his sketches on landscapes. The following paragraphs will elaborate on this fact in describing the characteristics of Chen’s landscape sketches in the sketchbooks.

Take the sketch “July 8, 1932 in Chiayi” in SB09 as an example. If the composition of the drawing is compared with the one with new frames, the most obvious changes are the center point, the horizon and the depth of field. The original focuses on the pond and is divided into two parts by the horizon which horizontally stretches along the pond surface. The upper half of the pond is dominated by the towering trees on slopes on top of the pond. In the lower half, the front, middle and far depths of field are composed all the way up to the pond from the downhill path, rising to the slopes around it, and then ascending to its bank slope. Changes of depths can be seen. In contrast, the picture defined by the new frames compresses the original space, reduces the sense of openness and enhances the distance density of the objects depicted. Even the center of the picture is contracted forward from the pond to above the woman holding an umbrella. At the end of the road in front of her, it is obvious to see the road surface which Chen accented with black lines several times to become a new horizon. In addition, the depth of field in the new frames is affected by the shortened low wall on the left, so much so that the overall depth of field becomes shallower. In particular, the left and right short walls inclining downwards along the downhill terrain are suddenly zoomed in. The front shot and medium shot they respectively belong to are also shrunk and concentrated to the new horizon. This makes the downhill winding road on the right that extends from the short wall to the horizon more slanted than the one on the left.

Just imagine the umbrella-holding women in the middle of this picture with new frames. Though she stands on flat ground, the inclination implied by the winding

8 Due to limited space, the chronology of life landscape sketches compiled by this author is not included here.

18 path on the right suggests that the downhill path coming next may be steep and difficult. But it is all worth it because the distant view above the horizon line in the picture indicates that there is beautiful scenery of a pond to enjoy when she reaches the end of the downhill path. Thus, the sense of speed reflected by the steep downhill path and the delighted mood in expecting the beautiful scenery of the pond become mutual echoing metaphors.

Chiayi, July 8, 1932 in SB09, original picture Chiayi, July 8, 1932 in SB09, picture with new frames

The above townscape sketches of Chiayi, July 8, 1932 reveals that when dealing with outdoor scenes that attracted him, Chen Cheng-po not only sketched for records, but also intended further to restructure the layout and reconstruct the space. He actively used his subjective understanding of the objects, making outdoor life sketching go beyond basic skill training for oil painting or the accumulation of drafts before creating oil paintings. Instead, he had specific ideas and trade-off arguments for future drawings. We can speculate that such method of immediate revising of sketch compositions may be related to his habit of on-the-spot oil-painting. There is no denial that, though the townscape sketching of Chiayi, July 8, 1932 managed to (1) clarify what the artist wanted to convey through a passer-by, a downhill path and a pond; (2) diversify staggered layers of space; and (3) enrich the visual effects for viewers, adding situational persuasiveness and imagination to the picture. Yet, the new frames have brought about many changes in space structures because the measures used here are image-trimming rather than image-altering, they created some unnatural feelings of a shortening of space, ratio and depth of field. Putting this point into consideration, might the “anti-perspective” space which is said to be one of the characteristics of the landscape drawings of Chen Cheng-po arise from the trimming measures in the sketchbooks?

Before we discuss this point, close correlation, an important clue to compare “landscape paintings” with the functions of the new frames in the sketchbooks, can be found through comparison between several landscape sketches with new frames and existing oil paintings. The results are listed in Table 3 below.

19 Table 3 Year·Month·Day/ Sketchbook No./ Content of life sketch/ Group Year．Month．Day / Oil Painting Sketch a: Original Version Sketch b: Version with new frames 1932 Xihuifang 1932.7.27／SB09／(Chiayi) Townscape Sketches

1

Sketch a Sketch b-1 Sketch b-2

1933.12.14／SB13／Sketches at Bagua Mountain in Zhanghua, speculated

1934. 10.26-11.4／ Bagua Mountain, Selected for the 8th Taiwan Exhibition, Western Art Section Sketch a Sketch b

2

1933.12.20／SB13／Sketches at Bagua Mountain in Zhanghua

Sketch a Sketch b 1938.4.29-5.2／ 1938.2.19／SB25／Sketches of Jiantan Temple Ancient Temple, exhibited at the 1st Exhibition of Taiwan Sponsored by the National Government 3

Sketch a Sketch b

Around 1940.10-1941.7／SB35／Life sketches of temples Around 1941-45. Temple

4

Sketch a Sketch b

From the above four sets of pictures, differences between sketch (a) in each set and the oil painting can be found. In Group 1, Xihuifang, a shop shed appears on the right of the painting. In the sketchbook, it is located below the second floor of Xihuifang,

20 while in the oil painting, it is located above the second floor. The location of the restaurant Xihuifang, which is unclear in the sketch, is clearly indicated in the oil painting by the signboard “Xihuifang”, making viewers know at a glance the location of the focus of this picture. In Group 2, Bagua Mountain, Chen put the focus on the temple at the foot of the mountain in both the oil painting and the sketch. In the oil painting, however, he not only added new figures but also substituted the Japanese flag for green trees which share the same height with the flagpole, occupying the foreground. In Group 3, Ancient Temple, close-distance depiction from the temple entrance is carried out in the sketch. In the oil painting, on the other hand, long-distance depiction from the side of the temple is carried out, thus enriching the surrounding environment of Jiantan Temple through the addition of cottages across the street, the remote green mountains and the winding paths. In Group 4, Temple, the elevation angle in the sketch is lowered to a more horizontal angle in the oil painting, and the equidistant space between the sky above the temple and path in front of the wall is changed into a compressed space of the sky and an expansion of the path.

With regard to the differences in contents between sketches (a) and the oil paintings, if it is because of the addition of new frames in sketches (a) that changes them into sketches (b), why are there differences in composition between the two sketches and why are they different from the oil paintings? This will be studied through Xihuifang in Group 1 below.

According to Xihuifang Sketch a, we know that Chen Cheng-po had twice reset the frames to arrive at Sketch b-1 and Sketch b-2. The differences between these two sketches lie in the adjustment of the new frames on the right. In Sketch b-1, part of the shop front under the shed is shown, while in Sketch b-2, much have been deleted, leaving only one wall of the shop front. It indicates that Chen Cheng-po paid unusual attention to the composition of the picture by modifying the amount of space attributed to the shop. In addition, by comparing the central street in Sketches b-1 and b-2, we can find that, due to the narrowing width of the picture, the extension lines on both sides of the streets in Sketch b-1 have been prolonged to meet at the lower right point of the shed on the right. In Sketch b-2, the lines are greatly lowered and meet at the right wheel of the trolley. Influenced by this, the central points of both sketches have been shifted from the parked trolley to the shadow of the umbrella-holding passer-by. Immediately, the focus of the narrative is also shifted from “street space” where the restaurant Xihuifang, the shops, and the houses juxtapose in Sketch b-1, to the “characters” on the ground floor of Xihuifang in Sketch b-2. In the former, the emphasis is that Xihuifang lies in a block of street among

21 houses. In the latter, the emphasis is on the restaurant Xihuifang that people pass by.

Comparing Sketch b-2 and the oil painting of Xihuifang, though the scale and ratio of the two are similar, but the horizontal levels, the central points as well as the emphases of narrative are distinctly different. We know from the angle of the shed of the shop on the right and the height of the central street that Chen Cheng-po looked up to the neighboring townscape near restaurant Xihuifang from the shop on the right, a few steps forward from that of b-2 to the right corner of the shop. In the oil painting, we observe that the meeting point of the extension lines on both sides of the central street has been substantially elevated to the main trunk of the tree near the houses rather than the right wheel of the trolley in Sketch b-2. What is more, we can also see the extension lines of both the bluish green awning jutting from the roof of Xihuifang on the left and the shop shed on the right meet in an oblique angle at the lush leaves of the big tree.

What is emphasized in Sketch b-2 is that restaurant Xihuifang is located at the left turn of the street end. In the oil painting, however, the space of streets is enlarged through elevation, and several characters such as a porter with a bamboo hat; a woman in red blouse, blue skirt and white stockings holding an umbrella; and a woman in light green kimono holding an umbrella. The many figures entering the picture indicate that it is a busy broad road with many pedestrians. In Sketch b-2 , Xihuifang and the shop with a shed are on the opposite sides of the road, facing each other. In the oil painting, however, the two are on the opposite sides of the street, but they do not face each other. In Sketch b-2, only part of a tree can be seen above the shed on the right, whereas in the oil painting, we can see the whole tree, under which there are vendors and wagons. The vendors are placed between Xihuifang and the shop, changing the two-way space created by Xihuifang, the shop and houses into a three-way space formed by the tree and the shops from the left, right and central. The focus is therefore shifted from the character with umbrella in Sketch b-2 to the white shed of the central shop.

Under the white shed in the oil painting, there are two tables with people sitting at them. Behind them, there seems to be some advertisements and menus in Japanese katakana. After seeing the signboard “Tea Shop”, we suddenly know what the people are doing. The color of the shed is white, implying the scorching sun. People come into the tea shop to enjoy a cup of tea, to have a rest and to stay away from the heat. Above the signboard “Tea Shop”, there is another board with two characters “Commerce Chamber” on it. Though we do not know the location of this shop, we can find the bright-colored signboard of the neighboring shop, and the goods sold there are also in bright color. There’s a red banner at the door with “1932”, the year

22 Chen Cheng-po created Xihuifang, written on it.

Most signboards gather in the section between the tree truck and the green leaves on the right side of the oil painting Xihuifang. About 7 or 8 longitudinal signboards with different ground colors and calligraphic styles and characters such as “Long Spring”, “Hospital” and “Happy Forever” can be vaguely seen. And according to the changes in their facing directions, we know that these signboards are hung in accordance with the standing out or caving in of the structure of the buildings. These signboards also have the functions of emphasizing the sense of distance between the right shed and the tree, and of adding the depth of field. In addition, there are several pieces of square cloths in different sizes, all in white background and red frames and with the same character “Ice” on them. Just like another kind of advertisement, these cloths are attracting passers-by to come and enjoy thirst-quenching ice drinks.

In terms of the visual metaphor in the oil painting Xihuifang, not only the passers-by on the streets are holding umbrellas, but even the vendors who are selling ice drinks are under the tree shade to escape from the heat. So we know that the sun is shining overhead and it is very hot. Yet, the coolest place in the painting is the ice stalls under the tree. A couple, both in white, one standing and one sitting, with their white-canopied trolleys, are selling their ice products. With this, Chen Cheng-po wanted to indicate that this is the coolest place through the visual images of the color, the characters, the ice goods, and the tree shade. Look at the girl in blue-grey gown passing the ice stall. In contrast to all other people on the street, she is the only one without an umbrella. Her natural manner echoes with the sense of coolness reflected by the ice stall, thus emphasizing the coolness brought about by the tree shade.

In comparison with the tree that brings shade, a couple of figures can be seen up in Xihuifang, a two-storey restaurant on the left of the tree. Both the shed supported by buttress shafts from the window and the bluish green awning jutting from the roof indicate that in Xihuifang, which is higher than many other shops on the streets, there are shades. The white windows behind the figures in this restaurant, however, are not as glaring as the shed of the tea shop or the clouds, but we can imagine that there is strong sunshine into Xihuifang, and that the temperature in it is not low. The branches extended from the tree at the three-way junction, and even though the high shed of shops on the other side of the street seem to want to help protect the guests from the sun. Unfortunately, both the branches and the high sheds are away from Xihuifang, so there is little they can do. So it seems that the man in blue shirt and white trousers, sitting in front of the shops close to the vendors under the tree,

23 is cooler and more comfortable, because his can move with the shade. On such a hot day, feeling cool is more important than enjoying the delicacies of Xihuifang.

Generally speaking, oil painting Xihuifang integrates the focuses on “street space” and “characters” in both Sketch b-1 and b-2, and adds more presentation elements and narrative contents to enrich the contents of “street space” and “characters”, based on the theme of Xihuifang, a famous restaurant in Chiayi. The layout of placing the newly-added three-way junction as its visual center clearly indicates that Xihuifang can be first spotted on the bustling street and its two-story height, far surpassing those of other shops, makes it outstanding. Though it’s hot inside Xihuifang due to the strong sun light, the signboard Xihuifang, hung highly over on the wall of the second floor, taking advantages of its height, seems to boast about its far-reaching reputation. In contrast to the few figures on the second floor, there are lots of people under the tree shade. Under the strong sunlight, some of them go into shops; some hold umbrellas; some wear hats; some stay under the vendor wagons; some even hide into the tree shade. At this time, this tree on the street is probably more considerate and practical for the passers-by than the delicacies and services from Xihuifang. And this frame of mind should be easily understood by Chen Cheng-po, who was standing under the shop shed on the right and could easily look up and see Xihuifang.

Using the tree at the three-way junction, Chen Cheng-po vividly depicted the location, a hustling street of Chiayi, of the famous restaurant Xihuifang, and the life of people near Xihuifang. Though we cannot verify the chronological order of b-1 and b-2, there is no doubt that the “the life sketching of Sketch a and the adjustment of frames, alteration of spatial composition and changes in narrative contents of both b-1 and b-2, are all important preparations for the completion of oil painting Xihuifang. If it is seen from this point, the so-called manifestation of “anti-perspective” in Chen Cheng-po’s oil painting creation, should have some correlation with his usual method of setting new frames in his life sketches, rather than what is said in other literatures that it is the result of his character or his failure to fully utilize what he had learned from academism.

VI. Depiction of Characters in the Sketchbooks Other than the portraits of nude women and colleagues in the studio, more than half of Chen Cheng-po’s sketches, in general, were created extemporaneously during his traveling or life sketching trips. Most of the sketches are without exact dates, locations and themes, and the compositions are not as elegant as those of nude

24 women sketches and life landscape sketches. These portraits, often times with the features of quick sketches, demonstrate the immediate moods of Chen Cheng-po and offer us a change to take a peep at his private side.

According to the Chronology related to the character sketches in his sketchbooks9, it can be found that his family members are indicated as the theme in only several pieces of works — such as Playing with Goose after the War and White Plum in SB13. The rest are unknown figures. Taking for example SB02 created in December, 1925 when he was a student of Tokyo Art School. We know that on his way to Hibiya Park, he had portrayed a student absorbed in reading books in a severely cold winter, a woman who seemed to take a nap on a streetcar, and even a foreigner with a hat and a moustache, who raised his left hand with a smile, willing to be a model for Chen Cheng-po, who was sketching while walking in Hibiya Park.

Sketch 21, SB02 Sketch 23, SB02 Hibiya Park or Foreigner, 1925, SB02

It has always been challenging to depict moving figures in a short time, let alone the difficulty encountered when the figure being depicted may do something out of the artist’s expectation. This, however, seems not to be difficult for Chen Cheng-po. With his rapid and simple lines, the instant movements and expressions of the figures are vividly portrayed.

In the figure series of Taichung Ballroom dated September 1932 in SB12 and the series of singing and dancing figures speculated to be completed in around February 1935 in SB18, such sketching skills are fully deployed and the effects are very impressive.

The former mainly appear from Sketch 38 (The Night of September 13, 1932 at Taichung Ballroom) to Sketch 46 in SB12 in which the characters are a man and a woman. Chen Cheng-po recorded not only people’s dancing postures, but also the subtle thoughts between men and women. Among the many dancers, some are hugging and dancing like figures in The Night of September 13, 1932 at Taichung

9 Due to limited space, the Chronology of Character Sketches compiled by this author is not included here.

25 Ballroom; some have difficulty in putting hands on the partner’s shoulders and waists due to the difference in heights as is shown in the Sketch 43. In Sketch 46, a man invites a woman with his hand, but the woman retracts her right hand and faces to the left: it seems that she is not heeding his presence, there is no spark between them, and they will not be dancing together. There are other people who are not dancing, such as the fashionable lady on the side, waiting to be invited in Sketch 41; the two men sitting quietly beside the dance floor in Sketch 44: and the four women dressed in Japanese style in Sketch 45. The annotation of Sketch 44 says: “What about tonight?” which indicates that two men are discussing the schedule for the evening. In Sketch 45, the annotation “If there’re lots of people tonight, it’s really a lonely place” seems to correspond to their lament and loneliness as the four of them sit closely in a row in the corner.

Sketch 45, SB12

The Night of Sketch 43, SB12 Sketch 46, SB12 Sketch 44, SB12 September 13, 1932, at Taichung Ballroom, in SB12

According to the date—September 13, 1932—of the series of figures in Taichung Ballroom, we know that Chen Cheng-po at that time was on his way to do life sketching at Guanzi Ridge, and the series were created during the journey. Interestingly, a similar situation can also be found in the series of singing and dancing figures in Sketches 58–62 in SB18. Judging by the dates of the landscape sketches before and after it, this series is speculated to be related to Chen Cheng-po’s journey from White River in Tainan to Guanzi Ridge on February 8, 1935.

Because the artist chose to use fountain pen for the series of singing and dancing figures in 1935, the lines are more rapid and smoother than previous character sketches. For example, in Sketches 50 and 58, with fast-moving arcs, Chen depicted the soft and flexible body parts and dynamic dancing postures of a woman who held her right hand high and leaned backwards; as well as a fat, stout-legged horse raising its legs and dashing ahead. In Sketch 62, arcs moving rapidly from left-to-right were added at the foot and hemline of the girl, thus employing the usual symbolic method of depicting movements in cartoon figures to emphasize her way of performing with rapid and exaggerated swings.

26

Sketch 50, SB18 Sketch 58, SB18 Sketch 62, SB18

In general, the sense of movement and speed displayed by the line properties of Sketches 58 to 62 in SB18, corresponds closely with the themes and the figures’ postures. His pursuit of the free expression of feelings not bounded by the correct representation of entities clearly shows Chen’s intoxication with the performance on stage.

Though most of the character sketches were concentrated on obscure and ordinary people, Chen Cheng-po seemed to be very interested in observing their speech, gestures, and clothing. Viewers are always deeply impressed by his earnest concerns and deep interests in everything he saw after he had completed his lively and even humorous works.

In fact, Chen Chong-guang, Chen Cheng-po’s eldest son, has mentioned in his article Reflections on The Centennial Memorial Exhibition of Chen Cheng-po—A Son of Chiayi published in the 276th issue of Lion Art, 1994:

“My late father liked to depict life of ordinary people…Though their looks were indistinct, in my father’s sketches, they were not merely tiny spots, but characters with personalities. An umbrella-holding pair mother and daughter passing by, people lingering outside an eye hospital, the cabby and passenger of a rickshaw, girls standing and talking…. It seems that these people were telling some stories…From these pictures, we can feel his concern for people’s lives. These people would not be simply added or deleted for aesthetic reasons. What my father wanted to express was real life…”

The above words fully indicate that passers-by in Chen Cheng-po’s works are meaningful depiction of real life. Through the authentic depiction of their various appearances and behaviors, Chen Cheng-po managed to interweave emotions and personalities he observed from those characters into his works.

It’s worth noting that Chen Cheng-po’s concern about people had gone beyond the moments he was working and his works. From the article Memoir of My Friendship with Mr. Chen Cheng-po, written by his artist friend Lin Yu-shan and published in the 106th issue of Lion Art in 1979, we learn that he also cared much about ordinary

27 people’s knowledge of sketches, and frequently tried to bridge the gap between ordinary people and fine arts.

“Cheng Chen-po was an educator painter, so his art critiques and comments were easy to understand. Even kids liked to listen to his art critiques. He was also patient in explaining to others. Whenever he was at an art exhibition venue, he would seriously accompany spectators, many or few, old or young, and was always willing to explain to them. His colleagues often said that he was “casting pearls before swine” when he so seriously explained to those who were ignorant of arts. But with Confucius’ spirit of “making no distinctions in teaching”, he stuck to this practice and gradually won admirations from people who were also engaged in arts.”

He would not be satisfied with his own achievements; what he really cared was whether viewers could respond to his works, and what he could do to the development of art in Taiwan. With such a conviction, he could really be called an artist of the masses. In this aspect, his character sketches using ordinary people as the theme did prove him an ardent artist close to society and the multitude.

It’s worth noting that in Sketches 13 to 17 of SB05, there are several men’s head sketches with common facial features. After comparing these with Sketch 15 Mr. Cai Nian-heng, we know that except for Sketch 16 which is clearly marked as Jiu Long, Esq., the rest are all suspected to be Cai Nian-heng.

It is unclear why Chen Cheng-po depicted so many head portraits of Cai Nian-heng. However, it is worth considering that 17th sketch of a man’s head with the facial features of Cai Nian-heng is marked with a tick on the top right corner. It seems that Chen Cheng-po was most satisfied with this one. What is more, this is the last one of Cai Nian-heng series, and the date was recorded with the ending number “26” prolonged. All these give us the impression that Chen greatly valued his 17th sketch of a man’s head. Moreover, the following text can be read in the bottom left corner of this sketch:

“Politics in Taiwan should get all people of the whole island involved

Politics in Taiwan seeks for the majority

Hear the silence and see the invisible”

On the whole, it seems to relate to political issues in Taiwan, and Chen Cheng-po’s concerns and supports for Taiwan's democratic politics during the Japanese occupation can be seen. From the 12th sketch before the series of Cai Nian-heng’s

28 head sketches, we can also see his words about Taiwan’s politics in dense handwriting:

1. This is a new era of world peace influenced by western culture and civilization we turn to liberty, equality and human rights swing the warning bell to overthrow violence human beings should not fight with each other they should gather together to celebrate see how beautiful is Taiwan see how high is Mount Yushan!

2. The propaganda says that China and Japan are friendly neighbors people are so closed-minded that they are unaware of the world, being isolated from the mainland and far away from the western frontier everything should be arranged based on public opinions, so parliament should be established politics should work for the public smile gentlemen of the east smile hot-blooded men

3. We love our sacred homeland we are blessed with all kinds of natural treasures our predecessors have worked so hard for all these learning lessons from our past, we should join hands and reform we should clear away doubts about our future open new fields, and bring about our own talents.

The above corresponds to the texts on the 17th Sketch, and, according to verification made by Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation, these three paragraphs are Petition Song for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament.

From the relationship between the series of Cai Nian-heng’s head sketches and the Petition Song for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament, we learn that Cai Nian-heng was born in 1889 in Qingshui Town, Taichung. After graduating from the Mandarin School of Taiwan Government, he left education and turned to trading straw hats and mats of Dajia. At the same time, he participated actively in anti-Japanese movements and the Petition for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament Campaign, becoming a member of Preparatory Committee on the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament and a director of Taiwan Cultural Association.

Sketch 12, SB05

Sketch 13 Sketch 14 Sketch 15 Sketch 16 Sketch 17

Are the Petition Song for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament in Sketch 12, and

29 the text on Sketch 17 ideas of his own or others? And what was his motivation and intention of copying the texts? It needs further analysis and research in the future to find the answers. But if the texts and sketches were in sequential orders or belonged to the same work, then we cannot help wondering: Is it possible that these words, advocating Taiwanese to seek freedom, came from political gatherings Chen Cheng-po participated?

According to the thesis A Courageous Painter—Chen Cheng-po written by Yen Chuan-Ying,10 the practical artist Chen Cheng-po became a member of Taiwan Cultural Association, which was organized in October, 1921 by Jiang Wei-shui, Lin Xian-tang and others. Though we cannot know when Chen Cheng-po enrolled and what activities he participated, we can infer that he might get to know Cai Nian-heng through Taiwan Cultural Association. What is more, according to the chronology of Chen Cheng-po’s life compiled by me, we can conclude, from the related part of Sketch 12 Petition Song for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament, that on the day Chen did the 17th man’s head sketch, “January 26, 1926”, he was probably in Tokyo, Japan. When the process of Petition for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament Campaign is taken as a reference, it is known that the seventh petition was put forward on February 9, 1926, which is close to the date Chen made Cai Nian-heng’s head sketch. A variety of signs show that the texts and head sketches of Sketches 12 to 17 in SB05 may originate from some gatherings Chen Cheng-po participated in Tokyo for the Petition for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament Campaign.

In fact, Chen Cheng-po fully agreed to the idea of promoting Taiwan’s cultural status proposed by Taiwan Cultural Association and Petition for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament Campaign. Specifically, Chen Cheng-po mentioned this in his notebook Review (Society and Art) on September 9, 1945, that:

“In the spring of 1925, Liao Ji-chun and Chen Zhi-qi and I successively went to study in Tokyo School of Fine Arts. At that time, there were many predecessors who had already studied there, such as Liu Jin-tang, Huang Tu-shui, Wang Bai-yuan, Zhang Qiu-hai, Yan Shui-long, etc., but no arts group had been organized. Then, we students held a rap session, where Zhi-qi and I proposed that an elite fine arts group was needed for Taiwan to enhance the cultural level of our compatriots. Unexpectedly, some students present were not with us and were even against us with threatening words. Oh, that was brought about by Japanese ruthless ruling. What a tragedy! So our proposal died a pre-mature death.”

10 Yen Chuan-Ying, A Courageous Painter—Chen Cheng-po, Taiwan Fine Art Series 1 - Chen Cheng-po, February 1991, Artists Press

30 According to the year Chen Cheng-po mentioned in the above article, “the spring of 1924”, we know that the rap session was held not long after he arrived in Japan on March 22, 1924. Considering his experience of being enrolled into Department of Art Teaching, Tokyo School of Fine Arts on March 25, and officially starting the classes on April 5, we find that, though he had to deal with various matters about his study, Chen Cheng-po participated in the gathering of students from Taiwan immediately, seeking for plans of promoting the cultural level of Taiwan. His desire to make contributions to Taiwan society was very strong. Though he was regretful about the failure of his proposal, after ten years, in 1927, he and Liao Ji-chun, Yan Shui-long and others set up Red Sun Western Painting Club, which merged with Seven Star Painting Club and became Red Island Society, an art group for the whole island, and this did fulfill his dream in the past.

Looking back to “the spring of 1924”, Chen Cheng-po, a student of Tokyo School of Fine Arts, wanted to unite the Taiwanese young people, to promote with the power of art the cultural development of Taiwan, a colony at that time. As a young man, his large-mindedness and aspiration did have something in common with the political activities such as Taiwan Cultural Association and Petition for the Establishment of Taiwan Parliament Campaign. More importantly, in his mind, the founding of art groups was based on the current situation of Taiwan society, and the full leverage of artists’ advantages would contribute to the promotion of people’s intellectual level. In other words, for Chen Cheng-po, fine arts were important tools, playing the same role as political campaign to promote social progress.

Concerning this point, we can say that the features of the themes and contents in Chen Cheng-po’s character sketches—a strong concern about social reality and people’s lives in Taiwan—do share the same keynote with his attention to the roles fine arts can play in social construction.

VII. Conclusion In general, from the 38 sketchbooks sorted out by the author, it can be found that sketches of nude women, landscapes and characters all bring new perspectives to the scrutiny of Chen Cheng-po’s art of sketches.

The large number of sketches of nude women not only shows Chen Cheng-po’s diligence in practicing the depicting human body when he studied at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, but also highlights the attention he paid to this type of drawing. In particular, through the comparison of chronological order and style, it can be easily

31 found that his mastery of sketching nude women improved gradually from the initial attention to the scale of outward appearances and outlines to the seeking for the sense of the human body about limbs and postures, then to the subjective expression of geometric continuums such as arcs, circles and cylinders. He even added settings around the nude women and improved the overall method of narration. Thus, the changes in emphasis in depicting nude women and his ambition of continuous innovation during different periods are displayed.

However, his sketches of nude women are frequently considered to be non-academic and incorrect by the research community of fine arts history in Taiwan. Adding the fact that among his oils selected for exhibition, there is almost no trace of his works on nude women, so the nude sketches have not been valued for a long time. Under such influence, the number of his sketches of nude women and the number of his nude women oil paintings are out of proportion. So the phenomenon that he had made a large number of nude women sketches but had left only a few nude women paintings has seldom been the concern of critics.

What is worth pondering is that, though Chen Cheng-po had already left sketches of nude women in his sketchbook in October, 1925, at that time the public probably could not accept nude drawings or nude woman drawings. Even on October 28, 1927 when Taiwan Art Exhibition was started, there was an article in TDN with the heading “Attempting to be Accustomed to the Inevitable Issue of Nude Pictures and Make Progress”. The article referred to the incident that a nude women picture of Saburosuke Okada was due for display at the first Taiwan Art Exhibition, but due to the intervention of the police, the picture had to be withdrawn. At the end of the article, blames went to those who could not understand the art of nude pictures and sculptures but took art as pornography. The article concluded that these people should feel ashamed. From the article, the reality was reflected that Taiwan society was then so backward that people still condemned nude drawings as pornography.

Under such an atmosphere, works with nude women as the theme by both Liao Ji-chun and Yan Shui-long from Tokyo School of Fine Arts were selected for the Western Art Section of the First Taiwan Art Exhibition. It is interesting that Liao Ji-chun’s Female Nudes and Chen Cheng-po’s Double-plaited Nude Female seem to be about the same model and the two paintings may be exercises in depicting nude women.

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Female Nudes by Liao Ji-chun, Double-plaited Nude Female selected for the 1st Taiwan Art by Chen Cheng-po, 1926 Exhibition in 1927 (Section of Western Art)

Compared to Liao Ji-chun and Yan Shui-long, whose works about nude women were both selected for the first Taiwan Art Exhibition, Chen Cheng-po, their schoolmate at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, had not been able to have his nude women paintings displayed until he went to teach in Mainland China in 1929. His Body of Chinese Women was displayed at West Lake Exhibition in June, 1929, and his Human Body was displayed at the Second Art Exhibition of Shanghai Art Gallery in 1931, and so on. What is more, when he just returned to Taiwan from Shanghai and temporarily stayed with Yang Ying-wu in Changhua, he started making nude women paintings.

As if responding to this juncture in time, from 1930 to 1932, Chen began to make new attempts such as new frame settings and color codes, and the lines he applied were more arbitrary and free. In addition, many critical creative ideas that determined Chen Cheng-po’s direction of creation—the use of lines and strokes from both eastern and western cultures, the striving for oil paintings with a Japanese style, and the Three Major Notions appearing in Taiwan New People’s News—were all taking shape or published in this period.

Overall, the creation of nude women painting when he was in Shanghai coincided with his establishment of solid and all-round creative ideas. In other words, though he had made many nude women sketches when he was studying at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, it is inferred that during that time, Chen Cheng-po felt that he lacked a clear personal style in the portraying of nude women, so he delayed the attempt on nude women paintings until the early 1930s. For that matter, the large number of nude women sketches accumulated when he was at Tokyo School of Fine Arts made preparations for his continuation in nude paintings in Shanghai.

When teaching in Shanghai, Chen Cheng-po gradually formulated his ideas on creation, which influenced his nude women sketches in the years of 1934, 1938 and

33 1939 when he returned to reside in Taiwan permanently. These sketches share the same creative direction and emphases on lines, portraying, and composition as his contemporaneous oil paintings. All these indicate that Chen Cheng-po considered nude women sketches as an indispensable part of his overall creation.

Compared to the above-mentioned characteristics of nude women sketches, the methods Chen Cheng-po used in his landscape sketches, especially the setting of new frames and the change of viewpoints it brings, are reflected in his creation of landscape sketches. These methods are close to the conceptualization of the working state of “Landscape Paintings”, and are also important clues to scrutinize his preferences in framing and composition. In life landscape sketches, the lines employed are obviously more varied than those used in nude women sketches, and they are also applied more freely. Sometimes, Chen even ignored the concrete appearances of real objects, and just sketched rapidly with lines, showing the existence of objects in a simplified way. During that time, the expression of his subjective emotions obviously took precedence over the realistic depiction of landscapes. In future, the above-mentioned characteristics of life landscape sketches should appropriately be included, together with the strokes of “Landscape Paintings”, into our discussion of Chen Cheng-po’s expression of lines.

Compared to the nude women sketches and life landscapes sketches in the sketchbooks, the character sketches seem not discussion inviting because there are only a few of them and Chen Cheng-po’s paintings are seldom character ones. Insofar that there is the tendency to seize movements in a short time in character sketches, various kinds of structural requirements for portraying as in nude women sketches are not required and special attention to spatial arrangements in landscape sketches are not needed. Thus, Chen Cheng-po could draw in a relaxed mood and this allowed him to show more real personal emotions. This helps us to gain a better understanding of his private image. More importantly, from the figures of these ordinary people in daily life, we can discern his concerns about their behaviors and inner feelings, as well as his happiness with them. When such acute observation on characters and depicting angle were used in his “Landscape Paintings”, the figures in various social situations not only enhanced the narration, but also added to the sense of reality, letting spectators feel that the public places in the sketches are where everyone can go freely and share equally. This scene setting is related to his identity as an artist, his sense of mission as an intelligentsia, his constant concern about the plights of his time and the future of Taiwanese, and his aspiration to dedicate himself to social reforms in Taiwan.

In terms of the overall project, this paper is the initial and partial result of discussion

34 based on Chen Cheng-po’s sketchbooks. There are still many topics to be developed. We are looking forward to continuing research in new fields and discussing various aspects with more materials.

(Special acknowledgement goes to Professor Chang Cheng-Jen from the School of Fine Arts, Taipei National University of the Arts for his instructions during the writing of this book, especially about the nude women sketches section. Also, I am sincerely grateful to Mr. Chen Li-po, Director of Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation, Assistants Miss Lai Ling-ju and Miss Ho Kuan-yi, and Professor Hsiao Chong-ray, the chief-editor, for their help, support and valuable suggestions in material provision and writing revisions, so that I could complete the work when I was ill. March 23, 2013)

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