Identity, , and Hybridity: The Colonial Style of Taiwanese Painter Cheng-po (1895-1947)

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

Christina Sarah Wei-Szu Burke Mathison

Graduate Program in

The Ohio State University

2013

Dissertation Committee:

Professor Julia F. Andrews, Advisor

Professor Lisa Florman

Professor John C. Huntington

Professor Andrew Shelton

Copyright by

Christina Sarah Wei-Szu Burke Mathison

2013

Abstract

At the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth, the collision of rapid modernization and cultural identity caused massive upheaval in as wars redrew national boundaries and occupation reshaped traditional viewpoints. From the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) to the Second World War (1939-1945), conflict brought both destruction and cultural exchange. Few places demonstrate this more clearly than . Occupied by the Japanese from 1895 to 1945, Taiwan was enriched by a modernized educational system and an active colonial government but was overwhelmed by forced cultural assimilation.

Artworks of the time illustrate the interaction of these forces, but one artist in particular, Chen Cheng-po (1895-1947), combined a multitude of influences to create uniquely Taiwanese works. His capture the interplay of colonialism, identity, and cultural hybridity in a way that defines the era for Taiwan. Born the year the occupation began, Chen was educated in the Japanese system, studied in , taught in

Shanghai, and returned to work in Taiwan. Although killed by the government, his paintings and success as an artist in the three regions he traversed demonstrate Chen’s ability to harness cultural interplay.

This dissertation examines Chen Cheng-po’s artworks and personal documents to explore the meaning of identifying oneself as a Taiwanese individual and colonial subject during the Japanese occupation. This dissertation explores primary sources, such as

Chen’s own writings and his collection of reproductions of art, within the colonial ii

context through the writings of theorists such as Edward Said, Fernando Ortiz, Homi

Bhabha, and Claude Lévi-Strauss. It considers how Chen does not simply conform to colonial government standards in the creation of his artworks. Instead, his paintings manifest his ability to understand and succeed within a variety of art circles, and consciously adopt specific elements to create independent and original works of art that exemplify his travels and absorbed ideologies. Returning to Taiwan, Chen’s efforts functioned as a catalyst for the growth and development of the world, even after his death.

Despite this acclaimed career, how is it that Chen is scarcely recorded in Japanese and histories, and only now receiving the attention as an artist that he deserves? Political oppression prevented detailed study of the materials associated with

Chen until the 1980s, and new primary sources are still emerging. It is my goal in this dissertation to fill voids in the historical accounts of this period, particularly as the last few years have revealed an outpouring of paintings and documents that have been concealed since Chen’s lifetime. This study will examine his works in the contexts of identity and colonization, excavating the layers of complexity in the hybrid nature of colonial Taiwan as revealed in Chen’s paintings.

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Dedication

To the memories of my Ah-ma Burke and Ah-Ma and Ah-Kung Lai

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Acknowledgments

This dissertation would never have come to fruition without the endless support of many individuals. My adviser Professor Julia F. Andrews has provided me with countless opportunities to study with world-renowned scholars and witness her endless contributions to our field. I am greatly indebted to her for her sound advice and exceptional example of scholarly research. Professor Kuiyi Shen of the University of

California San Diego has also served as a remarkable resource of knowledge in my education over the years. The education Professors Andrews and Shen have provided personally and more broadly in their research and publications is immeasurable.

Professors John and Susan Huntington have also provided so much support since the first day I visited The Ohio State University. I could not have completed this degree if it were not for their encouragement and instruction. I am also grateful to my committee members, Professor Lisa Florman and Professor Andrew Shelton for generously extending their knowledge and guidance throughout the writing process. I appreciate very much Professor Florman’s patient guidance, willingness to meet to discuss European art, modeling sound research and teaching, and her sheer kindness as I worked on this project. Professor Shelton was extremely generous with his time while working as Chair of the History of Art department and I am grateful for his editing and advising. Professor

Maureen Donovan provided countless hours of time discussing the world with me. I am grateful for her encouragement and excitement for my project. My hope is

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that this thesis reflects at least a portion of all of the time and effort provided by my committee members.

Also in the History of Art Department, I want to thank those professors who have aided in my education during my time at The Ohio State University. While not involved directly with this dissertation, they have provided isnight and advice that has been integrated into my work here. I am also grateful to the administrative staff members,

Mollie Workman, Gwyn Dalton, and Mary Jones for all the answers they have provided to my endless lists of questions.

I owe an immeasurable amount of thanks to the family of Chen Cheng-po.

Without their generosity and kindness this project would not exist. Chen Tsung-kuang,

Chen Li-po, Betsy Chen, and their family welcomed me into their home, provided me with documents and time with their father’s/grandfather’s paintings, and entrusted me to share the life of this remarkable artist with an English-speaking audience.

Outside of the dissertation research there are so many people to thank that I can only begin to address them here. Jane, John, and Margaret Mathison have provided the encouragement I have needed every step of the way. They have cheered me on and assisted me in every way they could. I am grateful to my Lai family in Taiwan who housed me and put up with my constant questions and poor Chinese as I learned more about their country. I am thankful for my Taiwanese grandparents and their willingness to have a curious American come live in their home and experience Taiwan with them. To my sister, Shyr-chii, I am grateful for all the smiles and laughter she embedded into my work as I have gone through this process. I cannot thank my parents enough for introducing me to Asian art long ago and for supporting me through to the completion of

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this degree. Their faithful encouragement and perpetual willingness to assist me in my travels and research were critical to my research and wellbeing. I would especially like to thank my husband, Randy—not only for the technical assistance in preparing the dissertation, but also for all of his patience, love, and endurance along the way. Without his constant encouragement, support and good humor, I would not have made it this far.

He has been a source of strength, a good example to me as he finished his dissertation, and the best teammate.

To God be the Glory.

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Vita

May 1997 ...... Southfield Christian High School

May 2002 ...... B.A. History of Art, Michigan State University

May 2002 ...... B.A. Chinese, Michigan State University

June 2005 ...... M.A. History of Art, The Ohio State University

Publications “Identity, Hybridity, and Modernity: The Colonial Paintings of Chen Cheng-po”( , , :  ) in the exhibition catalogue,      (Xingguo -Chen Cheng-po yishu tansuo licheng) Journey Through Jiangnan: A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, : , March 2012.

“Transnational Cultures, Hybrid Identities” in the exhibition catalogue, ( , translated: Under the Searing Sun-A Solo Exhibition by Chen Cheng-po) Taipei: Taiwan Soka Association, March 2012.

“Identity and Colonialism: The Paintings of Chen Cheng-po,”   (Xinshijie, Chen Cheng-po, translated: New Horizons, Chen Cheng-po) Conference Proceedings, City: Chiayi Cultural Affairs Bureau, October 2011.

Pong, David. Ed., “” in Encyclopedia of Modern , Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons/Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009.

Pong, David. Ed., “” in Encyclopedia of Modern China, Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons/Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009.

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Pong, David. Ed., “Liu Guosong” in Encyclopedia of Modern China, Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons/Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009.

Fields of Study

Major Field: History of Art.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ...... ii

Dedication ...... iv

Acknowledgments ...... v 

Vita ...... viii

List of Figures ...... xiii

Note on Transliteration ...... xxi

Introduction ...... 1

Chen Chengpo History and Scholarship ...... 3

Focused Research on Chen Cheng-po ...... 7

Outline of Dissertation ...... 14

Chapter 1: Historical Context ...... 19

Taiwan Before Contact ...... 20

The Beginnings of Western Contact ...... 21

Japanese Occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945) ...... 27

Kuomintang Governance ...... 54

Post-1947 ...... 62

Chapter 2: The Development of the Taiwanese Art World During the Japanese

Occupation ...... 69

Official Art Exhibitions on Taiwan ...... 73

The Role of the Taiwan Daily Newspaper ...... 77 x

The Development of Local Color in Taiwanese ...... 79

Conclusion ...... 89

Chapter 3: The Development of Identity, Modernity, and Hybridity: The Formative Years and the Tokyo School of Fine Arts ...... 92

Chen Cheng-po’s Formative Years ...... 99

Chen Cheng-po in ...... 104

Tokyo a Cosmopolitan City (Modernization and Westernization) ...... 104

The Tokyo School of Fine Arts ...... 109

Paintings and Drawings While in Tokyo ...... 115

Conclusion ...... 132

Chapter 4: The Development of Identity, Modernity, and Hybridity: Chen in China .... 134

Shanghai Modern ...... 138

The National Exhibition ...... 138

Paintings ...... 142

Landscapes ...... 143

Portrait and Figure Painting ...... 152

The Paintings My Family and Nijubashi ...... 155

Chapter 5: The Development of Identity, Modernity, and Hybridity: The Return to

Taiwan ...... 167

Chronological Account ...... 168

The 1945 Journal ...... 170

Hybridity in Painting ...... 174

Conclusion ...... 181

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Bibliography ...... 184

Appendix A: Figures ...... 200

Appendix B: Glossary of Asian Terms ...... 305

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List of Figures

Fig. 1. Chen Cheng-po, Self-Portrait, 1928, oil on canvas, 41 x 32cm, Private Collection ...... 200

Fig. 2. Chen Cheng-po, My Family, Date Unknown, oil on canvas, 91 x 116.5 cm, Private Collection ...... 201

Fig. 3. Chen Cheng-po, Nijubashi, Date Unknown, oil on canvas, 80 x 100, Private Collection...... 202

Fig. 4. Chen Cheng-po, Celebration Day, 1946, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 72.5cm, Private Collection ...... 203

Fig. 5. Chen Chin, Pounding the Pestle, 1937...... 204

Fig. 6. Kuo Hsueh-hu, Scenery Near Mt. , 1928, gouache on , 94.3 x 175cm, Taipei Fine Arts Museum ...... 205

Fig. 7. Liao Chi-chun, Banana Trees, 1928, oil on canvas, 129.2 x 95.8cm, Taipei Fine Arts Museum...... 206

Fig. 8. Liao Chi-chun, Ichipa, 1929, oil on canvas, dimension unknown, Private Collection...... 207

Fig. 9. Liao Chi-Chun, Shade, 1932, oil on canvas, dimension unknown...... 208

Fig. 10. Liao Chi-Chun, Scenery, 1932, oil on canvas, dimension unknown...... 209

Fig. 11. Chen Chih-Chi, Danshui Landscape, 1930, oil on canvas, 80.5 x 100cm, Family Collection...... 210

Fig. 12. Chen Chih-Chi, Banana Plantation, 1929, oil on canvas, dimension unknown...... 210

Fig. 13. Wang Wang Kun-nan, Between Trees, 1930, oil on canvas, dimension unknown ...... 211

Fig. 14. Wang Hsin-ying, Southern Country Temple, 1928, oil on canvas, dimension unknown ...... 212

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Fig. 15. Ishikawa Kinichiro's Letter to Chen Cheng-po, 1934, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 213

Fig. 16. Postcard from Ishikawa Kinichiro to Chen Cheng-po, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City ...... 214

Fig. 17. Chen Cheng-po, The Watershed, 1915, watercolor on paper, Private Collection...... 215

Fig. 18. Chen Cheng-po teaching students at Shuikutou Elementary School...... 216

Fig. 19. Chen Cheng-po, Tropic of Cancer Post, 1921-23, watercolor on paper, 24 x 28.5cm, Private Collection...... 217

Fig. 20. Chen Cheng-po, Lumber Factory, 1921, watercolor on paper, 18.2 x 23.3cm, Private Collection...... 218

Fig. 21. Chen Cheng-po, A Stroll in the Countryside, 1916, watercolor on paper, 31 x 23.5cm, Private Collection...... 219

Fig. 22. Chen Cheng-po, Mother and Daughter on an Outing, 1916, watercolor on paper, 31 x 23.5cm, Private Collection...... 220

Fig. 23. Catalogue of an exhibit in Tokyo and Osaka on Contemporary French Art, 1924, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 221

Fig. 24. Catalogue of an Exhibit on Contemporary French Art, in Tokyo and Osaka, 1927, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 222

Fig. 25. Cover of the book Chinese Art by Kuwayama Masuji, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 223

Fig. 26. Belgian Art in Exile catalogue from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 224

Fig. 27. Cover of a book on Rembrandt in Chen Cheng-po's collection, 1922, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 225

Fig. 28. Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Self Portrait, reproduction in Chen Cheng- po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 226

Fig. 29. Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Self Portrait, reproduction from Chen Cheng- po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 227

Fig. 30. Self Portraits of and Paul Cezanne, Reproduction from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 228

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Fig. 31. Maurice Utrillo, 1924, Reproduction from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 229

Fig. 32. Shina kaigashi (The History of ), front cover, book from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 230

Fig. 33. Shina kaigashi, interior title page, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 230

Fig. 34. Page from Chen Cheng-po's TSFA textbook, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 231

Fig. 35. Page from Chen Cheng-po's TSFA textbook, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 231

Fig. 36. Chen Cheng-po's notebook, 1926...... 232

Fig. 37. Chen Cheng-po, Tree, 1924, gouache on silk, 61 x 51cm, Private Collection...... 233

Fig. 38. Chen Cheng-po, Deep Private Thoughts, 1926, gouache on silk, 126 x 111cm, Private Collection...... 234

Fig. 39. Chen Cheng-po, Lilies, Undated, gouache on silk, 65.8 x 44.9cm, Private Collection...... 235

Fig. 40. Chen Cheng-po, A Woman, 1926, gouache on silk, 126 x 111cm, Private Collection...... 236

Fig. 41. Chen Cheng-po, Untitled, Undated, ink and color on silk, Private Collection. . 237

Fig. 42. Chen Cheng-po, Tropic of Cancer Landmark, 1924, oil on board, 45 x 33cm, Private Collection...... 238

Fig. 43. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Suburbs, 1926, oil on canvas, dimension unknown, whereabouts unknown...... 239

Fig. 44. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Street, 1927, oil on canvas, Private Collection...... 240

Fig. 45. Chen Cheng-po, Summer Streetscape, 1927, 100 x 80cm, Taipei Fine Arts Museum...... 241

Fig. 46. Detail of Chen Cheng-po's "CTH" Signature...... 242

Fig. 47. Chen Cheng-po, Wu Feng Temple, 1925, oil on wood, 33 x 23cm, Private Collection...... 243

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Fig. 48. Chen Cheng-po, Tokyo School of Fine Arts, 1926, oil on board, 23.5 x 33cm, Private Collection...... 244

Fig. 49. Chen Cheng-po, Museum, 1926, oil on canvas, 33.5 x 45cm, Private Collection...... 245

Fig. 50. Chen Cheng-po, Outside Courtyard, 1927, oil on canvas, Private Collection. . 246

Fig. 51. Chen Cheng-po, Small Town Scenery, 1928, oil on canvas, Private Collection...... 247

Fig. 52. A Sketch by Chen from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts Campus, from Chen Cheng-po's sketchbooks, 1927...... 248

Fig. 53. Sketch of two figures, detail in book from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 249

Fig. 54. Chen Cheng-po, Nude, Undated, oil on canvas, 65 x 91cm, Private Collection...... 250

Fig. 55. Chen Cheng-po, Nude, 1926, oil on canvas, Private Collection...... 251

Fig. 56. Tokyo School of Fine Arts Textbook Cover, Shirahama Akira, Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 252

Fig. 57. Tokyo School of Fine Arts Textbook Cover, Detail, Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 252

Fig. 58. Catalogue of Wang Jiyuan's exhibition, 1933, Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 253

Fig. 59. Excerpts from the Ministry of Education’s 1929 National Exhibition Catalogue, ...... 254

Fig. 60. Chen Cheng-po, Clear Stream, 1929, oil on canvas, 73 x 60.5cm, Private Collection...... 255

Fig. 61. Chen Cheng-po, Afternoon at the Silk Shop (now known as ), 1929, oil on canvas, 89.4 x 115.5cm, Taipei Fine Arts Museum...... 256

Fig. 62. Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming Painting Exhibit catalogue, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 257

Fig. 63. Chen Cheng-po, Taihu Lake Villa, 1929, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 117cm, Private Collection...... 258

Fig. 64. Chen Cheng-po painting en plein air at , 1929, Photo courtesy of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 258 xvi

Fig. 65. Chen Cheng-po with painting students at Lake Tai, 1929, Photo courtesy of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 259

Fig. 66. Chen Cheng-po, At the Foot of Tianping Mountain, 1930, oil on canvas, 24.5 x 35cm, Private Collection...... 259

Fig. 67. Chen Cheng-po, Beach at Putuo Mountain, 1930, oil on canvas, 61 x 73cm, Private Collection...... 260

Fig. 68. Chen Cheng-po, Wuli Lake, 1931, oil on canvas, 91 x 116.5, Private Collection...... 261

Fig. 69. Chen Cheng-po, (Broken Bridge), 1930, oil on canvas, 38.5 x 46cm, Private Collection...... 262

Fig. 70. Chen Cheng-po, In Front of Putuo Temple, photograph of microfiche, Date Unknown...... 263

Fig. 71. Chen Cheng-po with students from Shanghai xinhua yizhuan xuexiao, in Suzhou, photograph from journal...... 264

Fig. 72. Charcoal Sketch of Nude Figure, 1930, charcoal on paper, 62 x 46cm, Private Collection...... 265

Fig. 73. Watercolor, Undated, watercolor on paper, 22 x 31cm, Private Collection...... 265

Fig. 74. Watercolors, 1932, watercolor on paper, 36.5 x 26.5cm, 36.5 x 28.5cm, Private Collection...... 266

Fig. 75. Chen Cheng-po, Nude Sitting on a Rock in the Woods, 1932, oil on canvas, 68 x 52cm, Private Collection ...... 267

Fig. 76. Chen Cheng-po, Nude Female Lying Flat, 1932, oil on canvas, 79 x 53cm, Private Collection...... 268

Fig. 77. Chen Cheng-po, Abstract Nude, Undated, oil on wood, 33 x 24cm, Private Collection...... 268

Fig. 78. Examples of reproductions of figure painting, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 269

Fig. 79. Example of reproductions of figure painting, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 269

Fig. 80. Chen Cheng-po, Standing Nude with Mask, Undated, oil on canvas, 78 x 52cm, Private Collection...... 270

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Fig. 81. Chen Cheng-po, Masked Nude Female, 1932, oil on canvas, 80 x 65cm, Taipei Fine Arts Museum...... 271

Fig. 82. Chen Cheng-po, Self Portrait, 1930, oil on canvas, 41 x 33cm, Private Collection...... 272

Fig. 83. Chen Cheng-po, Woman, 1931, oil on canvas, 72.5 x 60.5cm, Private Collection...... 273

Fig. 84. Chen Cheng-po, Grandmother, 1930, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 50cm, Private Collection...... 274

Fig. 85. Chen Cheng-po, Little Brother, 1931, oil on canvas, 82 x 53cm, Private Collection...... 275

Fig. 86. Chen with his family in Shanghai, 1931, photo courtesy of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 276

Fig. 87. Chen Cheng-po, Dancing Girl, 1932, oil on canvas, 53 x 33cm, Private Collection...... 277

Fig. 88. Chen Cheng-po, Snuggling, 1930, oil on canvas, Private Collection...... 278

Fig. 89. Koide Narashige, The Family of N, 1919, oil on canvas, 78 x 90.5cm, Ohara Art Museum...... 279

Fig. 90. Maeda , Master Carpenter's Family, 1928, print on paper, Private Collection...... 280

Fig. 91. Vincent van Gogh, Potato Eaters, 1885, oil on canvas, 82 x 114cm, Van Gogh Museum...... 281

Fig. 92. Chen with other artists from his circle in Shanghai, photo courtesy, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 282

Fig. 93. Collaboration of five artists, 1929, ink and color on paper, 81.1 x 36.1cm, Private Collection...... 283

Fig. 94. Postcard from Fujishima Takeji to Chen Cheng-po, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 284

Fig. 95. Postcard from Umehara Ryuzaburo to Chen Cheng-po, from Chen Cheng-po's collection, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 285

Fig. 96. Chen Cheng-po, Spring at West Lake, 1933, oil on canvas, 91 x 116.5cm, Private Collection...... 286

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Fig. 97. Chen Cheng-po, Foliage, 1934, oil on canvas, 80 x 100cm, Private Collection...... 287

Fig. 98. Chen Cheng-po, Linlang Mountain Pavilion, 1935, oil on canvas, 73 x 91cm, Private Collection...... 288

Fig. 99. Photo of Chen with the family in Yiyuan, Linlang Mountain Pavilion, photo courtesy of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 289

Fig. 100. Chen Cheng-po, Farm, 1934, oil on canvas, 91 x 116cm, Private Collection. 290

Fig. 101. Chen Cheng-po, Alishan in Spring, 1935, oil on canvas, 91 x 116.5cm, Private Collection...... 291

Fig. 102. Chen Cheng-po with Alishan in Spring in the background, photo courtesy of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City...... 291

Fig. 103. Chen Cheng-po, Middle of the Street in Chiayi, 1934, oil on canvas, 91 x 116.5cm, Private Collection...... 292

Fig. 104. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Street View, 1934, oil on canvas, 91 x 116.5cm, Private Collection...... 293

Fig. 105. Chen Cheng-po, Looking towards Chiayi, 1934, oil on canvas, 73 x 91 cm, Private Collection...... 294

Fig. 106. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park, 1934, oil on canvas, 73 x 91cm, Private Collection...... 295

Fig. 107. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park, 1937, oil on canvas, 130 x 162cm, of Fine Arts...... 296

Fig. 108. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park, 1939, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 72.5cm, Private Collection...... 297

Fig. 109. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park, 1939, oil on canvas, 73 x 91cm, Private Collection...... 298

Fig. 110. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park with Pedestrian Path in Front of Shrine, 1939, oil on canvas, Private Collection...... 299

Fig. 111. Chen Cheng-po, Coconut Grove, 1939, oil on canvas, 97 x 130cm, Private Collection...... 300

Fig. 112. Chen Cheng-po, Danjiang Middle School, 1936, 90 x 116.5cm, Private Collection...... 301

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Fig. 113. Chen Cheng-po, Zhangrong High School Campus, 1941, oil on canvas, 91 x 116.5cm, Private Collection...... 302

Fig. 114. Chen Cheng-po, New Buildling, 1941, oil on canvas, 72.7 x 90.9cm, Taipei Fine Arts Museum...... 303

Fig. 115. Chen Cheng-po, Zhangrong High School Dormitory, 1941, oil on canvas, Private Collection...... 304

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Note on Transliteration

Japanese words are written in the Hepburn romanization system. Chinese and

Japanese names are given in their customary order, with family name first. Chinese terms are rendered in the system, with the exception of Taiwanese names. The names of

Taiwanese individuals and place names are spelled according to the way the individual or site is commonly known in Taiwan. Since this study focuses on identity, the use of names as practiced by the individual and the family is the spelling employed in this dissertation.

The pinyin spellings of the Taiwanese romanizations are included in the Glossary of

Asian Terms in Appendix B.

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Introduction

This dissertation focuses on the twentieth century Taiwanese oil painter, Chen

Cheng-po, and issues of identity, hybridity, and modernity, as manifested in his paintings.

Taiwanese painters during the Japanese Occupation regularly wrestled with the complexity of identifying themselves as modern painters in a .

Chen Cheng-po serves as an excellent example of the transitions taking place during the occupation; Japanese colonization presented Chen with many opportunities for developing his artistic abilities but also challenged him as a Taiwanese individual and colonial subject. He painted using the Japanese-promoted Western materials of oil and canvas, and worked within the criterion of the colonizers while simultaneously creating an individual style. Chen’s exploration of this hybrid Taiwanese-Japanese culture in his paintings, as well as the seeming ease with which he moved from his work in Taiwan to

Japan, to China, and finally back to Taiwan, highlights the complexity and cultural interchange of East Asian modernity in the early twentieth century. Studying in Tokyo from 1923 to 1929, and then teaching in Shanghai from 1929 to 1933, Chen stands (as does his work) at the intersections of modernity, colonization, and the developing cultures of Taiwan, Japan, and China. As a painter, Chen was so broadly steeped in an all-encompassing modern East Asia that he, rather remarkably, became an award-winning artist in all three of these regions.

Although Chen Cheng-po is a fascinating artist in his own right, this dissertation

1

aims to use his successful artistic career as a window into the cultural world of East Asia during the first half of the twentieth century and in particular into the definitions of modernity and colonial culture that developed in this non-European setting. His life speaks not only to the differences between the cultures and languages he straddled, but also to their commonalities. Chen may be said to exemplify this age of inter-Asian cultural connections, and his work speaks to a particular East Asian modernity that flourished during the early twentieth century.

While it may seem that events occurring so recently as the Japanese Occupation

(which ended with the close of World War II (1939-1945)) and the 228 Massacre1 in

1947 would be well documented, there is a surprising lack of independent research in this field. In the decades following Chen’s death, the same forces that compelled his son to keep his journal hidden exerted pressure on scholarship about the colonization, suppressed information about the 228 Massacre, and restricted outside investigation.

Much of the scholarship on Taiwanese art during the subsequent decades was heavily ideological and not terribly art historical. In the last few decades, access to the factual evidence of the occupation and primary resources has increased dramatically. However,

Chen’s death (while he was attempting to serve as a mediator during the 228 Massacre) has also spurred many subsequent studies that treat Chen as a folk hero or attempt to advance a specific political agenda. As a result, it is difficult to distinguish the true story of Chen’s life from the messages that others wish to convey in its telling. The research presented in this dissertation is based on primary sources and personal interviews that I believe help in separating facts from inaccuracies in other accounts of Chen’s life.

1 The 228 Massacre, or 228 Incident, refers to the widespread killing of Taiwanese by 2

My goal is to explore the topics of identity and colonialism in the Japanese occupation of Taiwan through the context of Chen and his painting and outside any political or ideological agendas. Because of the political, social, and even emotional nature of this subject, it has lent itself to misinterpretation and over-interpretation. For these reasons, and additionally because earlier publications have been entirely in Chinese, there is a gap in the art historical literature. I hope that this study on Chen will highlight the value of cross-cultural perspectives and the significance of the development of identity within a colonial state.

Chen Chengpo History and Scholarship

For around forty years after the Nationalist (Kuomintang)2 take-over of Taiwan, much of the authorship of Taiwan’s history in general was prone to anti-Japanese sentiment. Unfortunately, this meant that the first-generation of Taiwanese artists, including Chen Cheng-po, were often considered by critics and biographers as culturally a part of colonial Taiwan, and therefore Japan. Although this was not necessarily true, some authors fell into a pattern of criticizing work by Chen and his contemporaries. In the fifties and sixties, certain parts of history and were conveniently left out as authors chose to avoid bringing up any information that might cause them to be persecuted by the new regime in the era termed “.” In place of more objective scholarship, fervent anti-Japanese sentiment, along with a nationalistic support for the KMT party, formed the background from which much scholarship emerged.

During this time, the colonial period was often referred to as Taiwan’s shameful past, and authors looked to Taiwan’s roots in history as they voiced their anti-colonial

2 Hereafter, KMT. Also spelled Guomindang in pinyin. 3

opinions in covering the first decades after the end of colonial rule. The authors during this time period must be assessed within this understanding of the contemporary political agenda.

With the death of Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) in 1975, and the succession to power of his son, Chiang Ching-kuo (1910-1988), Taiwan experieced more transformation in government control. It was also in the late seventies when an interest in

Taiwanese consciousness became more publicly visible. This return to native roots was a trend in Taiwan that had intellectuals of the time concerned with losing their Taiwanese identity. As a result, art history turned to the Japanese occupation period to understand

Taiwan’s past while remaining nationalistic under the censorship that the KMT still held.

It was not until the late eighties after the lifting of martial law on the island that academics like Yen Chuan-ying were able to complete research that uncovered many of the facts of the time during the Japanese occupation. Following the end of Martial Law was a mandate to focus on Taiwan-central topics. Much of Yen Chuan-ying’s early research in Taiwan worked to reconstruct the record of Taiwan’s recent past.

Only a few scholars have published focused examinations on the painter Chen

Cheng-po. Any extensive research on Chen Cheng-po has been completed by Taiwanese authors and is written in Chinese.3 These various sources provide a more general look at

Chen within the larger context of Taiwanese painting. No previous studies on Chen

Cheng-po focus on identity and colonialism in relation to the Japanese occupation of

3 The exception to this are by the Taiwanese author, Li Su-chu. Li wrote her dissertation in Japanese. Out of her dissertation research she published two articles in Japanese. Besides these two articles, the rest of her dissertation research has been published in Chinese. 4

Taiwan, nor have any publications provided a perspective from outside Taiwan. Beyond a simple classification as a Taiwanese artist, the nature of the time period in which Chen lived raises the possibility of Chen being categorized as a Chinese or a Japanese painter.

Changing territorial control of the island, as well as temporary individual relocation, thus might produce both involuntary and voluntary identity shifts.

Although every set of research is a reflection of the time and context from which it comes, my goal is to explore these complex topics within the context of Chen and his painting, teaching, and travels, avoiding, as much as possible, the ideological and political agendas woven into earlier studies. This study of Chen Cheng-po is not only the first in English on this topic but is also the first to examine Chen in the context of cross- cultural pollination and the development of identity within a colonial state. The following is the present state of knowledge of Chen Cheng-po as represented in current literature.

As a result of the political, social, and even emotional issues surrounding this topic, it has lent itself to misinterpretation and over-interpretation. Following the

Nationalist takeover of Taiwan, factual information about the Japanese occupation was suppressed. Much of the scholarship on Taiwanese art during the subsequent decades was heavily ideological and not art historical. Within the last thirty years the research has paralleled the trend of the period, to revive the stories of Taiwanese individuals who might be upheld as cultural heroes. For these reasons, and because these earlier publications have been entirely in Chinese, there has been a gap in the English language, art-historical literature.

If Chen Cheng-po is included in Chinese publications examining twentieth- century Chinese artists, the coverage is typically an abridged version of his activity in

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China and general in scope. In the 1989 publication Fifty Years of Chinese Western Art

(Zhongguo xihua wushi nian) by Chen Ruilin and Zhu Boxiong,4 Chen Cheng-po is mentioned briefly as a Taiwanese artist in the larger context of Chinese modern art. Chen is brought into the discussion as a member of an art society and as a teacher in mainland

China. Similarly, in a publication by Xu Zhihao three years later,5 Chen is discussed in passing in the general context of in China. Chen and Zhu write a short biography of Chen Cheng-po as well as other Taiwanese artists. The chapter begins with a brief account of the state of the art world of Taiwan and in the case of Chen Cheng-po discusses his life with a particular focus on his career in China. Chen Cheng-po is also recorded in Li Chao’s History of Oil Painting in Shanghai,6 but only briefly and in the context of an artists’ association. In a discussion I had with Professor Li Chao7 in

Shanghai in February of 2011, we discussed Chen Cheng-po’s active role in Shanghai in

1929-33. Li contends that Chen should have greater recognition within the accounts of

Chinese modern art, due to Chen’s activity in the major Shanghai art circles during this significant period of the development of Chinese art. However, these few examples of abbreviated entries are representative of how Chen is recorded by Chinese authors.

Scholars of Chinese art history from the West follow a similar brevity in their accounts of Chen Cheng-po. Michael Sullivan addresses Chen briefly in his book Art and

4 Chen, Ruilin and Zhu, Boxiong. Zhongguo xihua wushi nian, 1898-1949, (: Renmin meishu chuban she, 1989). 5 Xu Zhihao, Zhongguo meishu shetuan manlu, (Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1994). 6 Li Chao. Shanghai youhua shi (History of Oil Painting in Shanghai), (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chuban she, 1995). 7 Professor Li Chao is a professor of art history at Shanghai University, specializing in research of modern period Shanghai oil painters. 6

Artists of Twentieth Century China.8 Like the passages by Chen, Zhu, and Xu, this is a very brief introduction to the Taiwanese artist and also deals more with the Taiwanese art world as a whole and its relation to greater China. Chen Cheng-po is also included in the recently published text, The Art of Modern China, by Julia F. Andrews and Kuiyi Shen.9

In this publication, Chen is written about in the section entitled “Alternative Chinas:

Hong Kong and Taiwan,” and is discussed in the greater context of Taiwanese art during the twentieth century.

“Taiwanese Painting Under the Japanese Occupation”10 is an article from the

Journal of Oriental Studies, in which John Clark discusses the institutions of the exhibition system and art classes in Taiwan during colonization. While not writing extensively on Chen, of the English written sources, Clark contributes the most information about Chen and other Taiwanese artists, by providing a brief biography of each artist discussed in his article. Perhaps due to issues of accessibility of resources in

Taiwan during the time of Clark’s research, Clark’s article relies heavily on secondary sources of earlier publications by the Taiwanese author, Xie Lifa.

Focused Research on Chen Cheng-po The only English written source that focuses solely on Chen is a very short essay written by Wang Feiyun entitled “Nostalgia in Oils”.11 Published in the journal Free

8 Sullivan, Michael. “Art in Taiwan,” in Art and Artists of Twentieth Century China, (Berkeley: University of Press, 1996), 178-181. 9 Julia Andrews and Kuiyi Shen. The Art of Modern China, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012). 10 Clark, John. “Taiwanese Painting Under the Japanese Occupation.” Journal of Oriental Studies Vol. XXV No. 1 (1987): 63-105. 11 Wang, Feiyun (Wang Fei-yun), “Nostalgia in Oils,” Free China Review, March 1996, pp. 63-73. 7

China Review, it is designed to reach a non-native Taiwanese audience and one not familiar with art history. Wang therefore spends most of the essay addressing a more emotive side of the story of Chen Cheng-po with an abbrieviated exploration of a small portion of his painting ouevre.

Xie Lifa is the first art historian to address the topic of Taiwanese artists who lived during the Japanese occupation. In 1979, during a period when association with the

Japanese colonial era continued to be problematic, Xie wrote a critique of an art exhibit on Chen by noting that Chen was a “naïve painter” (suren huajia) because of what Xie considered an inability to paint clearly and realistically.12 Xie has also written many articles and books on the subject matter of Taiwanese artists, including one entitled the

Excavated Artists of Taiwan (Taiwan chutu renwu zhi).13 Published in the eighties in

Taiwan, he writes single chapters on ten of Taiwan’s artists from the colonization period.

One chapter is focused on Chen Cheng-po and discusses his style in comparison with that of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). He looks at pieces such as Chen’s Self-Portrait (Fig.

1) of 1927, and uses the background of sunflowers and brushstrokes as a means to connect Chen with the Dutch, Post-Impressionist artist. Xie uses quotes from Chen’s journal, emphasizing the tragic and early death of the artist, casting Chen in an emotive light.

12 Xie Lifa. “Xueyuan zhong de suren hua jia, Chen Cheng-po,” in Chen Cheng-po Hua- chia (The Painter Chen Cheng-po), (Taipei: Xiongshi meishu, October, 1979), 21-31. 13 Xie Lifa. Taiwan Chutu renwu zhi: bei maimo di Taiwan wenyi zuojia, (Monterey Park, CA: Taiwan chuban she, 1984). 8

In this same catalogue as Xie Lifa’s essay from 1979, Chen Tsung-kuang (b.

1926) writes a short article entitled “Wo de fuqin” (My Father).14 Naturally, it contains a more personal look at Chen as an artist, but also as a family man. It provides an eyewitness account of memories Chen Tsung-kuang has of his father, from the time of his youth. Chen Tsung-kuang records how his father would paint, as well as some favorite subjects of the artist. While the artist’s son is able to provide an intimate look into the life of Chen Cheng-po that only a family member can provide, this also offers a reminiscent and nostalgic mood to the overall catalogue. As will be discussed in chapter three of this dissertation, this exhibition catalogue from 1979 demonstrates the complex issues that faced the Taiwanese as they confronted the past. Thus, a personal essay by the artist’s family member alongside one that can be considered a disdainful view of the painter is quite representative of the period.

Lin Yuchun is another Taiwanese art historian who has written exclusively on

Chen in a book entitled Youcai, reqing, Chen Cheng-po.15 Her book published in the nineties is a compilation of many of Chen’s paintings with comparisons between his work and that of Post-Impressionists of Europe. Lin makes use of selected primary sources from the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Chiayi City, the hometown of Chen Cheng- po. While Lin’s text is focused solely on Chen, her more recent research and conference papers have provided more detailed insight into Chen’s life and works than this early publication. Likely a result of what primary sources were available at the time of this

14 Chen Tsung-kuang, “Wo de fuqin” (My Father), in Chen Cheng-po huajia (The Painter Chen Cheng-po), (Taipei: Xiongshi meishu, October, 1979) pp. 87-91. 15 Lin Yu-Chun, Youcai, reqing, Chen Cheng-po (Painter, Enthusiast, Chen Cheng-po). Taipei: Hsiung Shi, 1994. 9

earlier publication, Lin Yu-chun focuses this 1994 publication on similar biographical facts as those found in other Taiwanese publications from this time. The contents of this dissertation extends Lin’s research and use of primary sources, particularly with the addition of newly released primary documents and an alternate analytic approach. This study differs from Lin’s in its focus on a more in-depth analysis of newly released primary sources and assist in further developing an understanding of Chen’s identity in the modernity of East Asia.

In 1993 Xiao Qiongrui wrote an essay entitled “Chen Cheng-po, A Naïve

Painter?,” which is an essay that engages Xie Lifa’s earlier critique of Chen’s work.16 He disagrees with Xie, taking another look at Chen’s painting style and noting it as being lively and full of multi-dimensional perspectives. Through a general stylistic analysis,

Xiao rebuts Xie’s critique that Chen’s painting style is immature. In this article, Xiao uses some visual psychology to analyze Chen Cheng-po’s works. Since 1993, Xiao

Qiongrui has commented on Chen’s artistic style, generally noting it in the context of the loss of this artist during the 228 Incident.

On the general topic of Taiwanese artists, Yen Chuan-ying has undeniably made the greatest contribution. She has undertaken a great deal of research on the Japanese colonial period in particular, and has written multiple essays for the Taiwan Fine Arts

Museum’s publications and an essay in the Taipei Series.17 In her examination of Chen in the latter publication, she provides a historical framework for his life. Yen

16 Xiao Qiongrui, “Chen Cheng-po, suren huajia?” in Shidai yu yixiang: shi xiandai yishu fazhan damao, (Tainan: Xinsheng tai yishu you xiangong si), 1993. 17 Yen Chuan-ying. Chen Cheng-po, Taiwan Fine Arts Series, (Taipei: Yishujia chuban she, 1993). 10

characterizes Chen as a type of martyr of his time and analyzes a few of his paintings as carrying on some traditional Chinese characteristics. The Taipei Fine Art Series publication was roughly contemporaneously with Lin Yuchun’s and Xiao Qiongrui’s articles. In the early nineties, only a very limited number of documents were available to these authors. Even the postcards, some of Chen’s paintings, and other writings by Chen were not yet organized or a part of such institutions such as the Chiayi Municipal Center.

Despite the relative dearth of organized resources or archival information, which did not fully come to light until six decades after Chen’s death, Yen and these early authors managed to assemble a remarkable body of material about the artist. Due to the restrictive cultural and political milieu in which these were researched and published, as well as the political transitions still taking place in Taiwan, it was not feasible to provide as complete a picture of Chen’s oeuvre and historical context as became possible later.

By 2001, Yen Chuanying compiled transcriptions of articles from the Taiwan

Daily News,18 all related to Taiwanese artists. These were published in Fengjing xinjing:

Taiwan jindai meishu wenxian daodu.19 This dissertation relies on Yen’s publications, along with the paintings and plethora of materials uncovered within the past decade since

18 The Taiwan Daily News (Taiwan nichinichi shinpo) was the official newspaper during the Japanese colonial period and was published in Taiwan from 1898-1944. Some authors argue that it can be understood as the mouthpiece of the colonial government. It was published in Japanese with a section that ran until the kōminka period. Wang Hsiu-hsiung, “Development of Official Art Exhibitions in Taiwan” in Marlene J. Mayo and J. Thomas Rimer with H. Eleanor Kerkham, War, Occupation, and Creativity: Japan and East Asia, 1920-1960, (Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2001), 103. 19 Yen Chuan-ying and Hetian Wuliangyi, Fengjing xinjing: Taiwan jindai meishu wenxian daodu (Landscape and Inscape: Anthology of Modern Taiwan Art Documents), (Taipei: Xiongshi tushu gufen youxian gongsi, 2001). 11

Yen’s 2001 publication, to update the account of Chen’s life, painting style, and the scope of his artistic influence.

Li Su-chu is the foremost scholar on Chen Cheng-po in Taiwan. She wrote her dissertation on Chen Cheng-po at University,20 which was recently published in

Chinese in Taiwan, in 2012.21 Li’s publication focuses on the two paintings, My Family

(Fig. 2) and Nijubashi (Fig. 3). In Li’s main publication of 2012, she strives to determine the dates of these two works and expand on what has previously been published. Given the shift in Taiwan’s political climate and the access to more of Chen’s documents by the time of Li’s dissertation research, her research on Chen Cheng-po surpasses prior studies of the artist. Her publication contributes a great deal towards a more accurate understanding of Chen Cheng-po. Li Su-chu’s work with the Chen family and organization of some of the primary sources, including transcriptions of particular writings of Chen’s from the original Japanese into Chinese, lays the groundwork for subsequent studies on the oil painter.

Within the past few years, research, publications, and exhibits concerning Chen

Cheng-po have increased dramatically. The Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation, directed by Chen Cheng-po’s eldest son, Chen Tsung-kuang,22 with Chen Tsung-kuang’s son (and Chen Cheng-po’s grandson), Chen Li-po,23 has promoted and initiated the

20 Li Su-Chu. M.A. Thesis,  サアムシニーグ Something   , (Kyoto University, 2000). Li Su-Chu. Ph.D. Dissertation,  サアムシニ ーグ Something   , (Kyoto University, 2005). 21 Expressing “Something” of this Era—An Examination of Chen Cheng-po’s Paintings, (Biaoxian chu shidai de “Something”—Chen Cheng-po huihua kao)    Something , Taipei: Diancang yishu jiating, 2012. 22 Chen Tsung-kuang serves as Chairman of the Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation. 23 Chen Li-po serves as Director of the Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation. 12

exhibits and publications of Chen Chengpo’s works. In October of 2010, I participated in the first of several international conferences, with concurrent exhibitions, devoted solely to research on, or related to Chen Chengpo.24 This first conference was held in Chen’s hometown of Chiayi. Several documents in the accompanying exhibit were released for public view for the first time that October. Earlier that year, when researching in Chiayi,

Li Su-chu and I visited Chen Tsung-kuang at his home. The family invited us into a room in their home where nineteen nude figure paintings by Chen were laid out for us to examine. These paintings had not been seen by the public since Chen Chengpo’s lifetime, and would come to be a major portion of two separate exhibits that followed in the Fall of

2011 at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts25 and in the Spring of 2012 at the Taipei

Fine Arts Museum.26 Another upcoming solo exhibit of Chen Chengpo’s work is scheduled to travel from Tainan, Taiwan, to Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, and back to the

National Palace Museum in Taipei beginning in January, 2014.

Truly, these past two years have overflowed with a flood of primary sources, works of art, and exhibits. An eighteen-volume publication about Chen and his collected works, edited by Xiao Qiongrui, is expected in 2014. Traveling international exhibits are underway and further documents are emerging. The quantity has been astonishing, and a

24 (Xinshijie, Chen Chengbo, translated: New Horizons, Chen Chengbo), Chiayi Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi, Taiwan, October 2011. 25 Wu Hui-fang, Tseng Mei-chen, and Chen Mei-chi, Nostalgia in the Vast Universe: Commemorative Exhibition of Chen Cheng-po (Qie qie gu xiang qing: Chen Cheng-po jinian zhan), (Kaohsiung: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, 2011). 26 Lin Yu-chun, Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest (Xing guo Jiangnan: Chen Cheng-po yishu tansuo licheng), (Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2012). 13

bit overwhelming. Needless to say, the astonishing quantity of information on Chen

Cheng-po that has recently been unveiled is very much in need of continued research.

After Chen was killed, even his name was unmentionable. The family recalls collectors no longer wishing to display Chen Cheng-po’s paintings, and either returned them to the family or scraped off his signature. In some cases artworks created by this politically discredited oil painter were burned and destroyed, all so that any traces of association with Chen Cheng-po would be eradicated. As harsh and appalling as this seems, this was the nature of the environment in Taiwan in 1947 and the decades following. Such acts were carried out simply to avoid suffering the same fate as Chen. As a result, Chen’s works were not displayed again until the seventies. The first exhibit of his work since his lifetime was in 1979, thirty-two years after his death. Understanding how thoroughly this artist’s reputation and work had been swept out of the Taiwanese art world sheds some light on the reasons why so much of the writing of the 1990s was more emotional than analytical, as well why there was generally so little research on this painter. It is remarkable that conditions have developed that allow studies of Chen’s paintings, documents, and biography. In many other cases, once the documents and works of art are lost, such an individual would be almost entirely erased from history.

Outline of Dissertation Chapter One provides the historical background of the periods leading up to and including the Japanese Occupation. When Taiwan came under Japanese control in April of 1895, the island began a fifty-year era filled with a strong Japanese influence and an accelerated move towards modernity. The period of occupation began with military

14

control and was followed by a focus on economic development.27 In the 1920s, cultural initiatives were launched and events like the official art exhibitions commenced.28 The year the official exhibitions were inaugurated in 1927 also marked the shift towards civilian governor-generals, with a large population of Japanese residing in Taiwan as educators, officials, and businessmen.29 Japanese education and the assimilation of the

Japanese culture overall, developed into the final years of the colonization with the kōminka movement.30

With the transition of power from the Japanese colonial empire to the KMT in

1945, Taiwan struggled again with the challenges precipitated by a new government structure.31 The difficulties that ensued in the short period after Nationalist rule of Taiwan began culminated in one of the most tragic eras in Taiwan’s history, the 228 Incident.

Although Chen Cheng-po’s life ended in this calamitous set of events in 1947, the portion of this dissertation that deals with his historical context continues through the present,

27 Liao Ping-hui, “Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory,” in Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945, eds. Liao Ping-hui and David Der-wei Wang, (: Columbia University Press, 2006), 2. 28 Wang Hsiu-hsiung, “The Development of Official Art Exhibitions in Taiwan during the Japanese Occupation,” in War, Occupation, and Creativity: Japan and East Asia, 1920-1960, Eds., Marlene J. Mayo, et al., (Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2001), 92. 29 Harry Lamley, “Taiwan Under Japanese Rule, 1895-1945” in Taiwan: A New History, (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 231. 30 The kōminka movement refers to the imperialization policy introduced in April of 1938 by Governor-General Kobayashi. It was a more extreme measure in the process of assimilation pressuring Taiwanese to assume Japanese names and abolishing Chinese language in newspapers and education in schools. Ibid., 238-244. See also, Chou Wan- yao, “The Kōminka Movement in Taiwan and : Comparisons and Interpretations,” in The Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931-1945, eds., Peter Duus, et al., (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 40-70. 31 Steven Phillips, “Between Assimilation and Independence Taiwanese Political Aspirations Under Nationalist Chinese Rule, 1945-48,” in Taiwan: A New History, (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 279-287. 15

assessing the implications of the historical events on the publications concerning Chen

Cheng-po.

Chapter Two addresses the art world of Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era, and the general artistic climate in which Chen Cheng-po developed as a painter. Because of the repeated shifts in the government situation of Taiwan over several centuries beginning in with the 1500s, the artistic world encountered immense transformation.

When the Japanese occupation of the island began, the artistic connection with China abruptly ended because of the societal restructuring and political goals of the Japanese empire. In the establishment of the colonial empire, the Japanese sought to modernize

Taiwan with the Western-style infrastructure developed in their own nation. In the art world, this process was accomplished by teaching western-drawing techniques in schools, establishing official exhibitions, and restructuring the education system as a whole.

Chapters Three, Four, and Five examine Chen Chengpo’s life and paintings through an analysis of rare contemporary materials from Chen’s collection of books, postcards, reproductions of other artists’ artworks, and primary sources in the form of

Chen’s personal writing and some correspondance. These sections are organized by time and space, studying the artist during certain periods of his life based on the region in which he is located. It is difficult to gain a satisfactory assessment of Chen’s style prior to his education in Japan. However, Chapter Three begins with a brief look at this early period in Chen’s initial artistic education. It continues with the development of his style under the tutelage of Western-trained instructors along with the promotion of “local color,” clearly evidenced in his paintings from his period in Japan. Chapter Four explores

Chen’s time in China, in what may have been a freer environment for the

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experimentation of styles. It is in this period that Chen appears to explore various modes of representation. His return to Taiwan documents a re-entry into the daily scenes of his homeland and his works and documents are examined in Chapter Five. Investigating

Chen’s paintings by periods and in the context of his private documents aids in distinguishing the development of his personal growth and his purpose as an artist.

Integrated into these three chapters are a few theories in Western theoretical approaches that may be applicable to this unique situation of Taiwan in the East. A great deal of scholarship has been published on topics of identity and post-colonialism. Several authors’ works aid in studying Chen Cheng-po in the colonial context of Japanese- occupied Taiwan. Homi Bhabha, Fernando Ortíz, and Claude Lévi-Strauss propose concepts that, although not created in light of Taiwan’s specific situation, relate in such a way that they may shed some light on how to best analyze Chen’s works in the colonial context. Edward Said’s Orientalism, is another useful text to consider alongside Taiwan’s colonial situation. It may seem an unusual text to use in the context of this subject of colonialism in East Asia, but it is ironically insightful in broadening the understanding of the Japanese view of Taiwanese as an “other” as they “westernized” and “modernized” the island and its people.

The research compiled in this dissertation suggests that because of the opportune times during which Chen Chengpo was in Tokyo, Shanghai and Taiwan, he slowly developed and appropriated the tools and skills to promote his ideals for the situation of the colonized Taiwanese and the “occupied” art world of Taiwan. Instead of simply being influenced by the experiences of the art communities in Japan, China, and colonized

Taiwan, Chen adopted the existing tools to create something innovative and new.

17

Comparable, perhaps, with the concept of bricolage, or what occurs with transculturation,32 Chen makes use of the existing artistic language provided by the colonial subjugation, to create something original and independent. In essence, he himself transliterates the translated Western-art styles presented by the Eastern governing authorities, to create a hybridized form of art that presents a message acceptable to colonial forces, yet also accessible to the colonized Taiwanese.

32 In 1940, Fernando Ortiz introduced a term familiar to many in meaning, but not in vocabulary. The word was “transculturation”. While its meaning may seem self- explanatory, Ortiz draws out a deeper understanding of the concept and explores it in his many essays on this topic. Ortiz used the metaphor of ajiaco to describe the situation of his people and to explore the concept of transculturation. Ajiaco is, “a well-known Cuban dish… a Creole stew that incorporates American, European, and African ingredients.” Patricia Catoira. “Transculturation a la Ajiaco: A Recipe for Modernity,” in Mauricio Font, Alfonso W. Quiroz, eds., Cuban Counterpoints, The Legacy of Fernando Ortiz, (New York: Lexington Books, 2005) 181-192. Ortiz defines transculturation as: a set of ongoing transmutations; it is full of creativity and never ceases; it is irreversible. It is always a process in which we give something in exchange for what we receive: the two parts of the equation end up being modified. From this process springs out a new reality, which is not a patchwork of features, but a new phenomenon, original and independent. http://www.gira.info/en/about-us/research-questions-and-key- notions/transculturation-and-cultural-hybridity. In the context of Ortiz’s experience, he understands transculturation within his native Cuba, as the Cuban culture and the Spanish culture converge. The result is not outright resistance, but instead, a coming together of independent cultures; a melding of societies, nations, and mindsets. The result is a people, region, and history, that reflects a hybridized nature. Ortiz’s definition of the term describes an active, ongoing process. For him, as historical circumstances bring together the Cuban and Spanish cultures, two entities and all of their characteristics collide, creating, and from then on, continuing to create, new transmutations—new and authentic constructions. In Taiwan a similar cultural process occurs during the Japanese occupation. And in the “mixture” during this period are Taiwan’s heritage, Japanese governance, China’s draw and changing environment, and Western thought funneling in through modernization. Chen Cheng-po’s paintings can be considered within this synthesized environment to examine whether his works are a transmutation of tranculturation.

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Chapter 1: Historical Context

Even the past few decades of Taiwan’s recent history reveals a land full of transformation and controversy. The centuries preceding these contentious years uncover a fascinating narration of various cultures entering the island, ending with the

Kuomintang government’s arrival and eventually Taiwan’s quest for independence.

Because the is so unfamiliar to the Western world, it is necessary to give an account of the island’s past, including its beginnings and the centuries of foreign rule. The goal of this chapter is to provide the historical context leading up to and including the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, focusing on this colonization and the processes introduced during this period. It begins with a very brief look at the empires prior to any Western contact with the island. From there, a short examination of the

European colonizers, and eventually Chinese forces, leads to the period of the Japanese colonization. Japan’s conquest of Taiwan led to enormous change in every realm of

Taiwanese society, and this portion of the dissertation will provide the historical background of the transitions during this era.

Following the Japanese occupation, Taiwan entered into a period under

Kuomintang (KMT) rule. This refers to the time beginning in 1945 during which the

Nationalists, headed by Chiang Kai-Shek, entered Taiwan as leaders of the Republic of

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China.33 The end of this chapter examines this period in order to provide the context in which many of the earlier publication sources on Chen Cheng-po derived. An analysis of

Chen is incomplete without consideration of how he is recorded in the historical accounts. Due to the political and sensitive issues surrounding his death and the cultural climate directly following his death and the 228 Incident, the post-1945 era is critical to fully appreciating Chen as an artist and the gross lack of scholarship of this significant painter.

Taiwan Before Western Contact There is a great deal of ongoing research as to the origins of Taiwan’s earliest inhabitants. But it is known that migrations of people from Southeastern China and islands in Southeast Asia and the Pacific as early as 4000 B.C.34 These immigrants are the peoples known today as the yuanzhumin, or ‘original inhabitants’, of Taiwan, the aborigines.35 Today these aboriginal groups still survive to a certain extent, with eleven groups still in existence.36 As hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists, they settled on the island, remaining in contact with the islands to the south.37

33 Due to the political context of this transition in power, countless perspectives persist today regarding the Nationalist regime and the ruling of this period. For more information on this era in Taiwan’s history and the various perspectives, see, Liao Ping-hui and David Der-wei Wang, eds., Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory, (New York: Columbia University Press), 2006; Murray A. Rubinstein, et al., Taiwan: A New History, (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2007). 34 Gary Davison, A Short History of Taiwan: The Case for Independence, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003), 1. 35 Michael Stainton, “The Politics of Taiwan Aboriginal Origins,” in Taiwan: A New History, (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 28-30. 36 In Gary Davison’s book A Short History of Taiwan, he references Zhou Mingfeng’s Taiwan jian shi [A concise history of Taiwan] and Miyamoto Nobehito’s Taiwan di yuanzhu minzu [The original inhabitants of Taiwan]. Davison notes that there are different schemes of classification for aboriginal groups, but that they can be identified in 20

The first evidence of contact with China appears to be in 239 A.D. when an expedition of troops was sent to Taiwan to explore the region.38 Later immigrants from the mainland reached the area in the seventh century and later in the eleventh century.39

During the (1279-1368) where Mongolian rule of China reached an immense expansion, the took control of the islands off of the west coast of Taiwan. This can be considered the first Chinese imperial claim on the region of

Taiwan. Even in the fourteenth century, when the Chinese admiral and explorer Zheng

He (1371-1433) landed on the island, it was a result of a shipwreck. His encounter records making contact with aborigines and learning about medicinal herbs, knowledge of which he brought back to China with him.40

The Beginnings of Western Contact The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw an influx of Chinese and non-

Chinese forces entering the island. In 1598, the of Japan sent a military force of tens of thousands of men. Records indicate that aboriginals warded them off resulting with the Japanese troops retreating. Eventually, Japanese settled in different areas of Taiwan in line with trade routes, and small populations developed on the southwest and northern coasts. However, with the Japanese policy of isolation, by 1628,

Japanese settlers in Taiwan left these regions.

the following groups: Ami, Paiwan, Taya, Bunun, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Yami, Saisiat, Taroko, and Thao. 37 M. Stainton, 30. 38 G. Davison, 7. 39 Ibid., 9. 40 John E. Wills, Jr., “The Seventeenth-Century Transformation: Taiwan Under the Dutch and the Cheng Regime,” in Taiwan: A New History, (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2007). 21

It was not until 1544 that Taiwan was placed on a map for the Western world.

That year, after being shipwrecked on the island, Portuguese sailors named Taiwan Ilha

Formosa, meaning “beautiful island”. Formosa is a title for Taiwan that remains to this day, and the adopting of this name can perhaps be representative of the type of espousal of influences the island has undergone over its varied history.

Another event of seeking refuge on the island of Taiwan occurred in 1619, but this time involved the Spanish. As Spanish interest in trade and conquest in the East continued beyond their control in the , ships were sent towards China to determine the best area to establish trading grounds. The missionary Dominican Fr.

Bartolomé Martínez found himself seeking refuge on the shores of what the Spanish referred to as Isla Hermosa, Taiwan. Upon reporting his travel findings, he resolved that this island of Taiwan was the most advantageous area for trade with China. In 1626, the

Spanish landed in modern day in northern Taiwan, taking it as a trading post.41

Spanish settlement on the island was short-lived. It was as early as the 1500s that armed Spanish ships, similar to Chinese, Japanese, and Portugese vessels, passed through the , noting its strategic location within East Asia. The Spanish contingent on Taiwan concentrated itself in Keelung (Jilong) and Tamsui (Danshui), both in northern Taiwan. A fort was established in Keelung, and trade began for the Spanish, with the hopes of offsetting Dutch trade and acquiring access to China for better trade and missionary purposes. However, the Dutch maintained a larger force on the island,

41 José Eugenio Borao Mateo, The Spanish Experience in Taiwan, 1626-1642: The Baroque Ending of a Renaissance Endeavor, (: Hong Kong University Press, 2009) 39. 22

and in 1642, they ousted the Spanish from their post in Keelung. Thus, the Spanish remained in Taiwan from 1626 to 1642.42

The Dutch first entered Taiwan in 1622 and were originally on the island of

Penghu, establishing a formal presence on the island by 1624. Their main enterprise was as the Dutch East Company43 interested in trading with China and Japan. Since the

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) government did not want them on Chinese territory, they moved to Taiwan and set up a community in Tainan, a western region closer to the south of the island. The Spanish presence in Tainan and Tamsui was problematic for the Dutch and eventually they took over the Spanish fortress established in Keelung. In addition to this fort, the Hollanders began laying the foundation for what became Fort Zeelandia, the namesake of the Dutch ship that landed on the island in 1624.

The Dutch established a government throughout much of the island and created mines and plantations and introduced crops and different tools. They also worked in trade with China and Japan and made efforts to have more Chinese immigrate to Taiwan.

Much of the focus of the Dutch during their rule in Taiwan was concentrated on business and profit for the . Aiding in moving from

Fujian province to the island, they encouraged them to settle in Taiwan to farm and hunt for livelihood. The products of this work would then become exports to China and Japan.

With the Dutch keeping ownership over the land in Taiwan, they taxed the residents and retained a percentage of all trade that left the island.

42 John E. Wills, Jr., “The Seventeenth-Century Transformation: Taiwan Under the Dutch and the Cheng Regime,” in Murray Rubinstein, ed., Taiwan: A New History, (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 91. 43 The Dutch East India Company in Dutch is Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, often abbreviated as VOC. 23

During Dutch rule of Taiwan, relations between the residents of the island and the colonial power were variable. Some relationships developed between the aborigines and the Dutch, with occasional alliances between the two parties. But efforts to “civilize” the native groups led to some hostility from the aborigines. The colonizers also had to deal with uprisings by Chinese immigrants protesting the taxing and foreign governing of trade relations as well.44

As mentioned above, the main purpose for the Dutch presence on the island of

Taiwan was to obtain access to the Chinese mainland for economic growth for the

Hollanders, and for the further expansion of the Dutch East India Company. The products of Taiwan certainly aided in this profitable goal, but gaining access to China’s market allowed for the purchase and export of Chinese goods to be sold in Japan for profit. In fact, the trade base on Taiwan became one of the most profitable branches of the Dutch

East India Company in Asia.45 The extortion of Taiwan and the peoples on the island caused unrest, and along with the weaker market, the era of Dutch rule in Taiwan was drawing to an end.46

As the Manchu rulers of the (1644-1911) came to power in

Mainland China, changes also occurred on the island of Taiwan. On the southeastern coast of China in Xiamen in province, across the water from the island of Taiwan, a group of loyalists, resisting the new, foreign rulers, fought to save their dynastic empire. After failing to capture the former capital city of , the twenty-

44 Denny Roy, Taiwan, A Political History, p. 16. 45 Shih-shan Henry Tsai, Maritime Taiwan: Historical Encounters with the East and the West, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2009, p. 23. 46 J. Wills, Jr., p. 94. 24

five to thirty thousand soldiers turned their efforts to fighting the Dutch in Taiwan.

Hoping to reclaim this island as a Ming Dynasty stronghold, it was in 1661 that this group of Ming loyalists began a movement to overthrow the Dutch occupiers of Taiwan.

This military campaign, beginning in southeastern China and leading to Taiwan, was directed by the individual known in the West as .47 Born to a Japanese mother and a Chinese “maritime adventurer”48 father from Fujian, Koxinga spent most of his life in , rising through the official system to become a leader in the region of

Fujian during the Ming Dynasty.49 Despite Koxinga’s immigration to the Fujian region at the age of seven, his achievements within the official examination system is noteworthy, obtaining the xiucai degree by the age of fifteen. By the age of nineteen, Koxinga was invited to the Ming court at Nanjing to be discipled by the well-known scholar Qian

Qianyi.50

47 Koxinga is also known by the name Cheng Ch’eng-kung (Zheng Chenggong in pinyin) and occassionally his name is spelled Coxinga. The name Koxinga, frequently used in the west, comes from the pronunciation of the title Kuo Hsing-yeh (Guo Xingye in pinyin) given to him by the final emperor of the Ming Dynasty. As noted by John E. Wills, Jr. and Ralph Croizier, Koxinga is a figure enveloped in legends and myths which produce confusion as to his true origins and an authentic historical acocunt. John E. Wills, Jr., “The Seventeenth-Century Transformation: Taiwan Under the Dutch and the Cheng Regime,” from Murray Rubinstein, ed., Taiwan: A New History, (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2007). Ralph Croizier, Koxinga and : History, Myth and the Hero, (Cambridge: East Asian Research Center, Harvard University, 1977). Croizier notes that Taiwan wai ji is the source of many of the myths surrounding the figure of Koxinga. Jiang Risheng, Taiwan wai ji, (Taipei: Taiwan yin hang, 1960). 48 R. Croizier, 11. Other reliable biographies on this controversial figure are: Arthur Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, (1644-1912), (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1943-44); Charles Boxer, “The Rise and Fall of Nicholas Iquan,” Tian Xia Monthly, (November 5 Issue, 1941), 401-439. 49 J. Wills Jr., 94. 50 R. Croizier, 12. 25

With anti-Dutch sentiment rising throughout the island after a defeated rebellion,

He Bin, a Chinese individual in Taiwan who had worked as an interpreter for the Dutch, provided a Dutch map to Koxinga which aided in the defeat of the Western occupiers.

After several battles and many casualties, the Dutch surrendered Taiwan on February 12,

1662.51 Koxinga ruled in Taiwan for over a year before passing away and leaving control of his forces on the island to the command of his son, . Although the struggle against Western control of Taiwan was successful, the battle to ward off the Manchu rule in mainland China continued. After ten years in Taiwan, Zheng Jing led thousands of troops back to the mainland to aid Ming loyalists in their efforts against the incoming

Qing empire. Defeated in China, Zheng returned to Taiwan where he died in Tainan. His son, Zheng Kesang, was left to preside over the region, but as a result of inner conflict within the ruling body, he was killed and the Zheng regime weakened. By 1683, the Qing dynasty managed to take control of southeastern China and moved into Taiwan, declaring it a Qing state.

While the period of Zheng family rule was somewhat short-lived, it managed to have an impact on Taiwan. Much of the time was spent on military campaign and loyalist efforts for the Ming empire, but during Zheng Jing’s period of influence, the island went through some societal developments as well. Zheng Jing made endeavors to cultivate more land for agriculture and encouraged trade. It was also during his reign that policies governing the education in the official examination system were established.

51 During this thirty-eight year period of Dutch colonial rule on Taiwan, thirteen Dutch governors presided in Taiwan. 26

Japanese Occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945) The preceding sections of this chapter provide a glimpse into the history of

Taiwan up through the colonization of Taiwan. While the different foreign ruling impacted Taiwan and her history, the Japanese occupation is the longest and most transformative of the outside forces entering the island. Naturally, there is a great deal of controversy in how to assess this period of Taiwan’s history and, up until now, there have been two main frames of reference in understanding this era.52 One viewpoint has been a positive perspective on the accomplishments of the Japanese government and its colonial conquest. The second perspective has been to focus on the harsh Japanese rule, highlighting the suffering of the Taiwanese during this time. What I hope this segment of the dissertation will provide, is a factual portrayal of the Japanese occupation that will work to depict both the stark reality of the colonization of Taiwan, and also demonstrate the advancements that occurred on this small island.

As Japan’s first colony, the island of Taiwan began a fifty-year era filled with a strong Japanese influence and an accelerated move towards modernity. This half century of Japanese rule produced fundamental transformations in every sense. The period of occupation began with military control and was followed by a focus on economic development. In the 1920s, cultural initiatives were launched and events like the official art exhibitions commenced. The year the official exhibitions were inaugurated in 1927

52 Harry Lamley, in his article “Taiwan Under Japanese Rule, 1895-1945”, notes that up until recently, two contrasting perspectives on the Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan prevailed. Western authors writing during the colonization tended to support a positive, pro-Japanese view on the occupation. In addition, many western writers writing after the end of the occupation “commended the material accomplishments by the Japanese and noted Japan’s success in managing Taiwan’s resources for its own interests…” p. 248, Rubinstein, Murray ed., Taiwan A New History. 27

also marks the shift towards civilian governor-generals, with a large population of

Japanese residing in Taiwan as educators, officials, and businessmen.53 Japanese education and the assimilation of the Japanese culture overall, developed into the final years of the colonization with the kominka movement.54 This was a gradual yet vigorous incorporation of Japanese culture.

Signs of unrest in Taiwan emerged as early as March of 1895, as the first Sino-

Japanese War (August 1894-April 1895) was coming to a close. The Japanese were defeating the Chinese, and the Penghu islands off the west coast of Taiwan had been captured that March. On , 1895, the Treaty of was signed, ending the Sino-Japanese war and recognizing the Qing Empire’s defeat by Japanese forces.

Within this treaty, China surrendered the Penghu islands, the island of Taiwan, and the

Liaodong peninsula to the Japanese. The formal transference of Taiwan occurred off the northern coast of Taiwan near Keelung, on June 2 and Japanese troops entered Taipei on

June 7.55 As the transferal occurred off the coast, many bandit-rebel groups gathered, armed and ready to protest the Japanese takeover. The Japanese troops encountered constant resistance as they moved onto the island and traveled south. During this five- month war of resistance, diseases raged, and an estimated six thousand Taiwanese were killed.

53 Wang Hsiu-hsiung, “The Development of Official Art Exhibitions in Taiwan during the Japanese Occupation,” in War, Occupation, and Creativity, pp 92-120. 54 The Kominka movement refers to the imperialization policy introduced in April of 1938 by Governor-General Kobayashi. It was a more extreme measure in the process of assimilation pressuring Taiwanese to assume Japanese names and abolishing Chinese language in newspapers and education in schools. Harry Lamley, “Taiwan Under Japanese Rule, 1895-1945, the Vicissitudes of Colonialism,” in Taiwan a New History, edited by Murray Rubinstein, pp. 238-244 55 Lamley, p. 205. 28

This leads to a discussion of the planning and methods that the Japanese implemented in their new colony. Acquiring Taiwan was an immense gain to Japan. It provided a means to boost Japan’s economy and have a new trade center, while also providing a strategic border defense.56 Although it may not have been in the initial plans for Japan, Taiwan’s location would prove an invaluable entrance into the empire’s eventual conquest of Southeast Asia, and ultimately its move towards Pearl Harbor in

1941. But beyond any tactical plans, Japan’s colonization of Taiwan not only signaled a victory over China, but also gaining the status as a colonial power. Harry Lamley writes in his article “Taiwan Under Japanese Rule, 1895-1945,” “The acquisition of Taiwan marked an historic occasion for Japan…. In East Asia, at least, Japan now seemed to have almost gained parity with the Western powers that it would continue to emulate…”.57 This emulation of the West will be a recurring concept in the following pages, recognizing the uniqueness of an East Asian power employing Western modes on another East Asian region.

For all its “achievements” in colonizing Taiwan, Japan had no experience as a colonial power and wrestled with how to govern this new territory of theirs. In gaining parity with Western powers, as Lamley puts it, Japan looked to Western models of colonization and considered the examples of and Britain as colonizers. The choice to be made was to either follow “the French assimilationist convention by which colonial

Taiwan might be fused with metropolitan Japan and the Taiwanese readily assimilated”, or “the British model whereby the new island colony would be governed separately and

56 Ibid., p. 203. 57 Ibid., p. 203. 29

its people allowed… to retain their own culture and society.”58 While assimilation of the

Taiwanese into the Japanese culture seemed to be an objective for the colonial government, the assimilation process proved complicated and problematic.

One valuable way to assess the effects of Japanese rule over the and culture, and the progression of the assimilation process in particular, is to approach the period chronologically. Since assimilation59 was often a declared policy of the governing body over Taiwan, it is imperative to understand its prominence in the decisions made over time as Japan worked to modernize their first colony. In order to have effective rule over the island, the government in Tokyo created a position of governor-general,60 which eventually was a position that granted almost supreme legislative power over colonial rule in Taiwan.61 The governor-general’s role, along with his chief of civil administration, was to implement measures to enhance the assimilation of the Taiwanese into a Japanese state. With the recurring change of governor-generals ruling over Taiwan, the policies and outcomes also underwent regular shifts of purpose.

Examining these various changes in policy and goals over time, highlights the foci of each short administration and how it affected every part of Taiwanese society, including the art world.

58 Ibid., p. 204. 59 The term and concept was referred to as dōka in Japanese. 60 Taiwan sōtokufu 61 This extraordinary measure was issued through a controversial ruling entitled “Law 63”. This separation of governance had some characteristics of the British model of colonization. For more information on “Law 63”, see Edward I-te Chen, “The Attempt to Integrate the Empire: Legal Perspectives,” in The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-1945, ed. Ramon H. Myers and Mark R. Peattie (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), pp. 248-250. 30

In the colonial context of Taiwan, assimilation expressed the concept that the

Japanese were the superior culture imparting this more advanced way of life to the colonized, the Taiwanese. The impact of this idea, and ultimately its governing model, reached every part of the Taiwanese way of life, including issues of identity, which will be covered in a following chapter. Naturally, there was resistance to the change from the beginning, and the first three governors-general62 relied on military force to suppress the constant armed resistance of Taiwan’s residents. It is estimated that over 10,000 “rebels” were killed during the first three years of the occupation.63

In 1898, the fourth governor-general, Kodama Gentarō, took office and appointed

Gotō Shimpei as his chief of civil administration. It was under this administration that the island of Taiwan saw its first fundamental changes in modernization. Gotō Shimpei launched various projects that led to extensive economic, educational, and health developments. Besides completing major transportation improvements in railway and roadways, communication advancements through postal, telegraph, and telephone services were instituted as well as having the first modern newspapers established on the island. Western operations, as those mentioned earlier in this chapter were pushed out, except for those in tea exports, thus the population of European and American merchants was very small. In addition to these changes, because of Gotō’s own Western medical training, he introduced reforms in public health, opening the first public hospital and medical college in Taipei.

62 Kabayama Sukenori, Katsura Tarō, and Nogi Maresuke. 63 Davidson, The Island of Formosa, pp. 365-370. 31

In education, Gotō Shimpei established a system of elementary schools which taught and culture, some classical Chinese and Confucian ethics, but also subjects such as science. While some Taiwanese students were admitted to secondary level schooling and even fewer attended college in these formative years of the occupation, the education system remained discriminatory with the majority of the schools filled with Japanese residing in Taiwan. Those Taiwanese who could afford private schooling, enrolled in those institutions developed during the Qing period. Some students, both male and female, received an education in the few religious schools run by

Dominican and Presbyterian missions. This aligned with Gotō’s policy of discrimination with respect to educational opportunities. He fostered moral and scientific training for

Taiwanese who had the financial means to pay for their education and enabled those that advanced at high levels to continue on in fields of teaching or medicine, creating a selective admissions process. The goal of this education system was to have a generation of “upright and enlightened Taiwanese leaders responsive to reform and modernization”.64

The various Governors-Generals continued to introduce efforts to pacify resistance and assimilate the colony of Taiwan. With no prior experience of colonization, and with the commencement of modernization reform still developing in the “homeland”,

Japan’s governance of Taiwan was a mixture of provisional methods. Kodama and Gotō carried on the hokō system rooted in imperial China, to enforce state control over the

64 Lamley, p. 211. For more information on Education policy during the occupation, see Patricia Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial , 1895-1945, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977). 32

Taiwanese communities.65 They also maintained the practice of awarding a “gentleman’s award” (shinshō) to Taiwanese who were considered outstanding because of their

“wealth, social status, or community service.”66

Kodama went as far as staging a conference for the elite, in order to “uplift culture” (Jpn. yōbun, Chs. yangwen).67 The conference participants were introduced to the modernizing efforts of the Japanese government in various areas of Taiwanese society. To the disappointment of Kodama and Gotō, this older group of Taiwanese gentry still supported the traditional approach to schooling and showed antipathy towards any blending of the established Chinese methods of education with the modern Japanese conventions of schooling.68

The younger generation and those Taiwanese living in cities, however, were more welcoming of what the colonizing government considered a cultural advancement. The

Reverend D. Ferguson, in his account of his time in Taiwan, observes the changes he saw in Taiwan in 1909.69 Recording the move towards modernization, Ferguson writes about the Taiwanese adjustment to using modern developments like the telephone, bicycles, and public post offices. He even comments on these changes in style where instead of having the traditional Chinese , men began to have “short haircuts and appeared in

65 For more information on the hokō system and its immense impact on Taiwanese society and culture during the Japanese colonization, please see Hui-yu Caroline Tsai’s book, Taiwan in Japan’s Empire Building, An Institutional Approach to Colonial Engineering. 66 Lamley, p. 215. 67 Ibid., p. 216. 68 Ibid., p. 218. 69 Reverend D. Ferguson. “Formosan Chinese,” Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, 40, no. 9 (September 1909): 494-496. Lamley, p. 218 and p. 252. 33

Western dress, but with prominent cuffs and collars popular among the Japanese.”70 Even the Taiwanese language, he notes, became enriched with “new expressions derived from combinations of Japanese and foreign words.” He describes all of this as “fast becoming

Japanned.”71 These examples, as observed by a Western individual in Taiwan, demonstrate the type of assimilation and fusion of cultures the Taiwanese experienced during this period of occupation.72

Having been raised and educated for most of their life in the Japanese system, the younger generation, who welcomed this turn towards modernization, was focused on the need for a modern education for all Taiwanese. The discrimination found in gaining entrance to the government schools persuaded many Taiwanese who could afford it, to send their children to Japan for a better education. This along with specific instances of outright inequity, spurred outspoken resistance against the occupying government.

In an effort to maintain peace within the island and parity with other Western colonial powers it compared itself to, the Japanese government appointed an eminent politician, Itagaki Taisuke to the task of assimilation procedures. He traveled to Taiwan and established the Taiwan Dōkakai, an assimilation society. Interestingly, many young

Taiwanese welcomed this development of “becoming Japanese”, viewing it as a means to institute equality between the resident Japanese and the Taiwanese. This, along with the contrast of the older generation of Taiwanese resisting modernization provide the various perspectives on the occupation, as well as what it meant to be Taiwanese and how they identified themselves during this turbulent period.

70 Ibid., p. 218. 71 Ibid., p. 218. 72 D. Ferguson. 494-496. Lamley, p. 218 and p. 252. 34

The Taiwan Dōkakai began in 1914 and quickly gained popularity with more than three thousand members from the Taiwanese community and forty-five from the

Japanese community joining within a few weeks of its inception. “…Enthusiastic

Taiwanese at these public gatherings seemed to fancy the idea of “becoming Japanese” so as to gain equal treatment with the resident naichijin and acquire the full constitutional rights enjoyed by Japanese citizens in the home country.”73 Fearing a disruption in their authority over the governance of the island, Governor-General Sakuma disbanded the group in 1915. Although the society was short-lived, this example of the eagerness behind some of the Taiwanese joining the society demonstrates the desire to have equality, and the sacrifices of their own cultural identity that some Taiwanese were willing to undergo for this equality. In addition, it can also attest to the complexity of the

Taiwanese interest in identifying themselves culturally.

The cultural climate of East Asia underwent great change during these several years. Japan itself transitioned from the Meiji Period (1868-1912)74 to the Taishō era

(1912-1926)75 during this time and gained influence in the region of East Asia. Not only had it colonized Taiwan and Korea76, but it had defeated both China, in the first Sino-

Japanese War (1894-1895), and Russia in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Japan was added to the Allied Powers during World War One, and considered themselves one of the dominating imperialist powers within East Asia, and particularly over China,

73 Lamley, p. 219. 74 The Meiji Period is particularly distinguished as the time when Japan transitioned from a feudalistic society to a modern society. 75 The Taishō Period saw the transition from the older traditional governance to the establishment of the Diet of Japan. This shift in governance moved the nation of Japan from ruling by statesman to a more democratic structure. 76 The Japanese occupation of Korea began in 1910 and lasted until 1945. 35

rendering them equals to Western counterparts in the region. Japan developed the

Twenty-one Demands in order to establish their control over different areas of China.

This rise in power, along with the May Fourth Movement in 1919, which promoted radical trends that became a cause for concern for the Japanese government in Taiwan, resulted in some stricter enforcement on the colonized island.

Perhaps as a result of this tumultuous environment within the region, uprisings against the colonial government continued, and under Governor-General Andō

Sadayoshi’s reign, the island experienced violent suppressions of these rebellions. The following two Governors-General, Akashi Motojirō (1918-1919) and Den Kenjirō (1919-

1923), worked to maintain the process of developing a peaceful assimilation of the

Taiwanese despite the changing atmosphere of East Asia. With the concern that Japan was losing its power over the colony of Taiwan, these Governors-General advanced their assimilation strategies, but with different methods.

Akashi Motojirō supported a segregated society within the colony, where there were the “dominant” Japanese separated from the “subordinate,” colonized Taiwanese.

He viewed assimilation of the Taiwanese as a way to integrate those who were suitable to be trained into Japanese national interests into the Japanized individuals, but not fully assimilated into being Japanese. He maintained segregation within the school system, and overall, had a very limited view of the assimilation of the colonized into the Japanese society.77

Den Kenjirō, the first civilian Governor-General of Taiwan, was not as limited in his understanding and policy development of assimilation as Akashi. Den concentrated

77 Lamley, p. 220. 36

his efforts on the “Japanization” of Taiwan. He attempted to overcome the prejudiced policies of some of his predecessors because he felt that they hindered the process of assimilation. He worked to integrate the school system and made all government schools accessible to both Taiwanese and Japanese. The criteria for entry to these schools was not determined by race, but by the ability to speak Japanese. Naturally, this still excluded many Taiwanese from education in these government schools. Patricia Tsurumi notes that this actually reduced the number of Taiwanese who received higher training in the colony.78 While this may have decreased the number of Taiwanese into higher education, this can also be seen as an impetus for Taiwanese to learn the Japanese language. This aspect of changing the requirements for a better education from race, to developing the language of the colonizers is an incredible assimilation tool. It also factors into the

Taiwanese sacrificing their own language learning to literally speak the language of the colonizers. Individuals born into this period, such as Chen Cheng-po, grew up with

Japanese as the language replacing Chinese, and using it as the language of education.

With assimilation of the Taiwanese at the forefront of his governance of the colonial state of Taiwan, Governor-General Den Kenjirō focused on the critical role of education in the integration of Taiwanese into the Japanese nation. Believing that the

Taiwanese needed “to be trained properly in order to become Japanese”,79 Den declared that acculturation (kyōka) would take place within the schools as well as beyond formal education.

In the hands of the colonial authorities, kyōka amounted to a form of political and cultural indoctrination whereby Taiwanese of all ages were to

78 Tsurumi, p. 51. 79 Ibid., p. 221. 37

be imbued with the sacred Japanese spirit and inspired to change their life- style and learn Japanese, the national language.80

Essentially, the Taiwanese were to learn, from a very early age, that they were to hold

Japan as their national homeland and to a certain extent, identify themselves as Japanese.

As different Governors-General governed the colony, this assimilation objective of acculturation remained the same throughout the rest of the occupation. Naturally, they developed differing regulations to promote this goal, but the ideal of assimilation continued, with an overarching aim to maintain Japanese supremacy.

Increasingly, rulings in metropolitan Japan were carried out in Taiwan as well, but the Governor-General’s power in the colony remained the most significant. More supervisory power came from Japan’s home government, and as a result made the eventual merge of the two regions, with Taiwan as an “extension of the Japanese homeland”,81 a more realistic possibility. The sovereignty of the Governor-General’s position highlights the differences between what Taiwanese lived through under Japanese rule and what their “fellow citizens” of Japan experienced during this period. For example, because Taiwan was not bound by the same constitution as Japan, as time passed, the Governor-General gained the ability to appoint all judges, control executive ordinances, and manage the colonial judiciary. As one might presume, this led to rulings rooted in assimilationist policies and practices.

The progressively strict policies and surveillance of the colonial government applied not only to the Taiwanese, but extended to the foreign resident population. Those

80 Ibid., p. 221. Also see, Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial Education, pp. 93, 146. 81 Ibid., p. 222. 38

who were not already forced off of the island, were highly restricted. Of the handful of

Western merchants who were permitted to continue with trade, they encountered steep regulations in working out of the principal ports. Foreign missionaries were also under strict surveillance. Several Presbyterian and Dominican schools that were established before the occupation began, were permitted to continue, but were constantly investigated. Throughout the colonization, these schools tended to be discriminated against in comparison to the government schools, which promoted the assimilation objectives of the colonial government. Particularly as Japan’s vigorous move towards expansion increased, nationalistic tendencies saturated the course of action of the colonial regime and tighter control over foreign organizations occurred. Chen’s depictions of some of these Western established schools may demonstrate not only the awareness the

Taiwanese had of the strict colonial actions, but also the similarity in discrimination, and goal of exterminating, of anything non-Japanese.

Surveillance by the colonial government was not contained only within the island, but also stretched overseas to Taiwanese living in Chinese regions, as well as to those who traveled to Southeast Asia. As well as creating a very controlled community of individuals, this close supervision generated an additional complexity in the Taiwanese communities outside of their home island. Living or conducting business overseas,

Taiwanese were considered sekimin, or Taiwanese of Japanese registry. As such, they were considered Japanese citizens and were awarded the same protection and privileges as those of Japanese from Japan. While this had its benefits, it also produced some challenges for these . In some areas in China, for example, animosity towards these individuals who may have shared the same heritage, but now possessed

39

advantages that the locals came to resent, was intense. Certainly, when anti-Japanese demonstrations occurred, the Taiwanese became targets of the hostility right along with the Japanese in the area. In fact, Lamley notes that “in order not to be associated with the sekimin stigma, as well as to avoid Japanese surveillance, many Taiwanese students and intellectuals stayed away from the treaty-port communities while in China and attempted to pass as Chinese nationals.”82 In addition, while possessing privileges, Taiwanese businesses were still under strict regulation by the colonial government. That individuals who had the privileges that some Chinese wished to attain, would readily renounce and instead take on another national identity reveals the challenges some Taiwanese faced while overseas. This mixture of opportunity and restriction along with identifying oneself with a people group was highly complex. As Li Su-chu has discovered in her research, on one of Chen Cheng-po’s resumes from his period living in Shanghai, he writes that he is of Chinese ancestry. Caught in the mix of understanding his own cultural heritage despite his Japanese education and language, Chen foregoes associating his identity with a

Japanese upbringing.

The complexity of the Taiwanese to understand themselves within the colonial context of Taiwan was already enigmatic enough, and those living outside of their home island experienced even further challenges. As mentioned above, Taiwanese living within

Chinese regions, or even other regions under Japanese influence, were confronted with the question of nationality and its multifaceted nature. During this same period when the occupation was already well established in Taiwan, but before the war with China began, this was also an equally difficult encounter for those Taiwanese living in Japan. Formally

82 Lamley. p. 230. 40

considered Japanese citizens, Taiwanese could travel to, and within, Japan without passports or visas. Not under such direct supervision as when abroad in China, or even in their homeland of Taiwan, Taiwanese were able to assemble together, as well as associate with Japanese more easily. Interestingly, “well-acculturated Taiwanese, on the contrary, seem to have become acutely aware of their own distinctive traits and island background while living in Japan, and some evidenced strong feelings of being a different people and of a separate nationality.”83 This awareness of a difference between the background of these two people groups inadvertently remained a means of working against the assimilationist intentions of the colonial power while also further defining the unique nature of the colonial experience. For example, at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, Chen and other Taiwanese students were housed in a separate dormitory for Taiwanese, and not included in the Japanese student dormitories.84 This type of segregation highlighted the dissimilarity between the Japanese subjects.

While many of the rulings in metropolitan Japan were also carried out in the regions under Japanese colonial rule, in Taiwan, certain efforts to organize groups and create publications remained determined by the governor-generals’ rulings. With the educated class of the Taiwanese increasing, and the clarity of the differences between the citizenship experience within, and outside of, Taiwan, there was an increase in the development of associations exploring these discrepancies between the colonial subjects and native citizens of Japan. The growth of the intelligentsia in the metropolitan areas of

Japan, witnessed the parallel cultivation of political ideas that stretched into Taiwan. As

83 Ibid. (Lamley), p. 230. 84 Lai Renyi, 97. 41

early as 1920, associations, such as the New People’s Society (Shinminaki), were established along with periodicals promoting the issues of reform and peaceful resistance to the colonial occupation. These organizations and publications and the center of their activism slowly shifted from Tokyo to Taiwan. Edward I-te Chen notes that it was the

Taiwan Cultural Association (Taiwan bunka kyōkai), which was established in the

Taiwanese colony in 1921, that was “one organization most responsible for the development of Formosan nationalism.”85

The establishment of many of these societies that offered alternative governance to the colonial system came and went. Many began with Taiwanese abroad in major cities like Tokyo and spread from there back to their home island of Taiwan. One example is the Taiwanese Communist Party which according to research by Edward I-te Chen, was created in Shanghai in 1928, influenced by the communist movement in China, but was essentially an extension of the Japanese communist Party.86

In comparison to the often violent protests that marked the beginning of the

Japanese occupation, the Taiwanese intelligentsia worked to resist the what they felt were unfair assimilationist policies, through permitted publications, and by petitioning for better Taiwanese representation in the colonial government. With the issue of, the controversial, Law 63’s extension by the Imperial government, the educated Taiwanese protested this power it gave the Governor-General to create law, by requesting the

85 Chen, Edward I-te. “Formosan Political Movements Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1914-1937,” in Journal of Asian Studies, 31, no. 3 (May 1972): 489. Lamley, p. 255. 86 Chen, p. 491. More on the Taiwanese Communist movement can be found in Lien Wen-ch’ing, T’ai-wan cheng-chih yun-tung shih, pp. 213-220, and Lu Hsiu-I, Jih-chu shih-tai T’ai-wan Kung-chan-tang shih (1928-1932), [A history of the Taiwan Communist Party during the Japanese period, 1928-32] (Taipei: Ch’ien-wei, 1992, 3d printing. Lamley, p. 256. 42

establishment of a parliament in Taiwan. Groups such as the Taiwan Cultural

Association, which proclaimed it was an organization focused not on political movements but on the “advancement of Taiwanese culture,”87 maintained the need for home rule instead of the complete integration of Taiwanese society into a Japanese one. Using petitions and peaceful demonstrations, groups including the League for the Establishment of a Taiwan Parliament continued, through 1934, to demand favorable legislation.88

Even the non-violent efforts of the Taiwanese intelligentsia was met with opposition by every Governor-General it was presented to, beginning with Governor-

General Den Kenjirō. Particularly as ultranationalist tendencies from the Imperial state escalated, the colonial government in Taiwan and the Imperial Diet restricted organizations’ activities and even condoned police retaliation towards radical supporters of the parliament movement. Leading up to the outbreak of Japan’s war with China in

1937, the Taiwanese continued to have no suffrage rights in the colonial government and preferential treatment towards Japanese residents on the island continued. Two important developments are notable from this period and Taiwanese activity. The first, I believe, is a desire for a peaceful resistance of the Taiwanese to the assimilationist movement. The second, is a deepening concern to have Taiwanese within the government instead of foreign governance, something that did not become a reality until 1988. Some of Chen

Cheng-po’s artwork may fall into the category of peaceful resistance.

In September of 1936, a retired navy admiral, Kobayashi Seizō, became Taiwan’s seventeenth governor-general. Although, technically speaking, Kobayashi was a civilian

87 Lamley, p. 232. 88 Ibid., p. 233 43

general, his governance over the island was fairly militaristic. As Governor-General of

Taiwan for four years, he perhaps is most recognized for his concentration of Taiwan as a staging area for the nanshin policy of the ‘southward advance’. It was during this time that Taiwan began a massive transformation into an industrial center focused on the

Japanese war effort. The last decade of the occupation can be viewed as focused on war efforts and was, from 1936 onwards, a wartime period for Taiwan. The shift from Taiwan as merely an agricultural appendage to the main islands of Japan, to an industrial state processing the raw materials from Southeast Asia to be sent to the homeland, began in

1935.

This era, from 1936 through the end of the occupation, is also characterized by an extreme form of assimilation. Although assimilation was always a part of the colonial government’s plans in Taiwan from the very start, this period beginning with the appointment of Kobayashi as Governor-General, was marked by rapid transformation of the island and her people. Chou notes that “Japanese colonizers in Taiwan… were guided by a vaguely defined policy of assimilation from the very outset of their rule…. Yet, this policy was never intended to extend constitutional rights to the colonized.”89 The term kōminka, meaning “to transform [the colonial peoples] into imperial subjects,”90 was introduced in late 1936 to refer to this new policy of accelerated assimilation that guided much of the decision-making in these years preparing for, and in executing, the Japanese war effort.

89 Chou, Wan-yao, “The Kōminka Movement in Taiwan and Korea: Comparisons and Interpretations,” pp. 40-68, in The Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931-1945, eds. Peter Duus, Ramon H. Myers, and Mark R. Peattie., Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, p. 41. 90 Ibid., p. 41. 44

After over four decades since the First Sino-Japanese war ended with the and the handing over of Taiwan to Japan for the beginning of the occupation, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident91 occurred on July 7, 1937, spurring the

Second Sino-Japanese War. The commencement of this war certainly served as a catalyst for the advancement of the kōminka campaign.

The kōminka movement was driven by an ultranationalist enthusiasm which was the foundation for much of the war effort throughout the Japanese wartime empire. What this meant for Taiwan, is that every aspect of life that was not already Japanese was to become Japanese, and anything Taiwanese was to be expunged. The movement had four major programs: religious reform, a national language movement (kokugo undō), name- changing campaign (kaiseimei), the recruitment of military volunteers (shiganhei seido).92 Although these programs were clearly decided upon, the start of the kōminka movement was not obviously marked as it was in Korea, where the colonial subjects began taking the “Oath as Subjects of the Imperial Nation” on October 2, 1937. In

Taiwan, the term kōminka surfaced in late 1936 with the beginning of Kobayashi Seizō’s term as Governor-General in Taiwan.

Wan-yao Chou provides a comparison of the kōminka movements in Taiwan and

Korea as well as providing a thorough exploration of the four major programs stated

91 The Marco Polo Bridge Incident is known by different names. At the time of the event, in the colonies, it was referred to as the “Recent Incident” (konji jihen) or “The Incident” (jihen). In Chinese it is goes by the name of the bridge in Chinese, the Lugouqiao Shibian (), or the July 7 Incident (七七). 92 Chou, p. 45. 45

above.93 Religious reform in Taiwan consisted of replacing any indigenous religions practiced on the island, which were a mixture of , , and folk beliefs, with Shinto practices and worship. Similar to all of these reforms, the goal was to replace what was Taiwanese with that which would connect the colonial subjects to a nationalism towards the Japanese empire. Thus, having Shinto religion, and its link between the heritage of the Imperial family and Shintoism, as a part of Taiwanese life, was a direct relation to the foundation of the imperial nation.

During the kōminka movement, the number of Japanese shrines (jinja) almost doubled and the public were strongly encouraged to visit and worship at these shrines.

Besides this construction of public shrines as well as directing Taiwanese households to have domestic altars or personal Ise shrine amulets, there was also an effort by the government to eradicate the local religion. Under Kobayashi Seizō’s reign, demolition of shrines occurred which incited fervent protest by Taiwanese, and eventually criticism from the Imperial government. By the time Kobayashi was replaced by Hasegawa

Kiyoshi, who held the Governor-General position from 1940 to 1944, one third of the native temples in Taiwan had been destroyed.94 Of the different reform measures, this program focusing on religious reform received the most negative reception. Why was this the case for the religious reform? How closely were the Taiwanese tied to the religious aspect of their culture and life; what was the connection between religious practices and

Taiwaneseness? These are questions to consider in exploring the art and culture of

Taiwan and the individuals expressing the issues of the average Taiwanese. Artists from

93 Chou, pp. 40-68. The following is taken from Chou’s assessment and research of this time period in Taiwan’s history. 94 Ibid., p. 48. 46

this era, including Chen, frequently chose Taiwanese temples as subject matter for their work.

The national language reform serves as another example of the drive to eradicate a Taiwanese sensibility and replace it with “becoming Japanese.” In 1895, when the colonial government began their occupation, their native language was referred to as

Nihongo, the Japanese language. By 1896, this same language was referred to in the colony as kokugo, the national language. What is a simple term change, truly works as a device of assimilating the concept of a collective language belonging to oneself, even if the concept is only in word. “As [a colonizer and] an educator and promoter of the

Japanese language in Taiwan put it, ‘the national language is the womb that nurtures patriotism.’”95

Implementing the national language movement was carried out in a number of different ways by the colonial government in Taiwan. The most evident was in education reforms. One such instance was the change in classical Chinese teaching. In an effort to diminish the connection between Taiwanese and any heritage with China, the time spent in learning classical Chinese, which was generally read in Taiwanese dialects and taught in elementary schools, was decreased during the first few decades of the occupation, and completely vanished from schools in 1937 at the beginning of the kōminka movement. To further the shift away from the usage of the Chinese language in particular, the colonial leaders established National Language Study Programs and programs to recognize

National Language Families. The study programs were to ensure that those who were

95 Ibid., p. 50, cited from Yamazaki Mutsuo, Kokugo mondai no kaiketsu (privately published: Taipei, 1939), p. 53. 47

unable to attend school were still learning the national language/Japanese. The National

Language Families program was directed at the educated Taiwanese and designed as an honor for those families who were able to prove that all family members within the household could speak Japanese and did so at home. After applying and being accepted for this “honor,” the families were given a plaque for their door. This reward for having a

Japanese speaking family did come with the benefits of better educational and job opportunities. Because the local dialects like Taiwanese were discouraged but never officially banned, these languages continued to be spoken, but on occasion, Taiwanese might find that the speaking of the local dialect would be forbidden in certain public spheres such as on the bus, or in city hall.96

The colonial government also established a newspaper that became the mouthpiece of the Imperial government, titled the Taiwan Daily Newspaper (Taiwan nichinichi shimpo). This paper was printed in Japanese with one section dedicated to

Chinese language material. In 1937, with the beginning of the kōminka period, all

Chinese language publications were banned, and the Chinese language section was removed from the Taiwan Daily Newspaper. The overall expectation was for fifty percent of Taiwanese who could understand the national language/Japanese by 1943.

The national language reform is a particulary interesting one in Taiwan because of the reliance on local dialects and that was not necessarily the language spoken within households. This is, of course, partially due to the fact that Chinese was the language used by those who emigrated to Taiwan prior to the occupation. Thus, there was no cohesive quality to a language that linked them to a

96 Chou, p. 51. 48

particular nationalism outside of being Taiwanese. However, the vigor with which the colonial government implemented the language reform during the kōminka movement, which followed the gradual transition of the ‘national language’, can be considered successful in integrating the Japanese language. Many educated Taiwanese of the generation schooled and raised during the occupation, still speak Japanese fluently, along with Taiwanese. Interestingly, churches established by foreigners continued to use

Taiwanese, with hymnbooks written and hymns sung in Taiwanese. This will be further explored in an examination of Chen’s depictions of some schools associated with these churches.

A third program put in place during the kōminka period was the name changing campaign. Two purposes behind this movement were clearly acknowledged by the colonial government, both of which appear to be more along the lines of promoting the assimilation policies of the government. The first was simply to assimilate the Taiwanese into the Japanese culture. Meant as a consideration of the colonial subjects, the ruling government stated that “the Taiwanese had demonstrated the ‘spirit’ of imperial subjects during Japan’s war in China and that, in testimony to this loyalty, many of them wished to bear names similar to those of ethnic Japanese.”97 With these goals in mind, having been granted the ability to change one’s name could almost be considered an achievement in the eyes of the colonizers, and therefore necessitated certain regulations. Similar to the rules of being recognized as a National Language

Family, in order to be granted a name-change, all family members must be Japanese

97 This was declared in the Taiwan Daily News (Taiwan nichi nichi shimpō) on February 11, 1940, p. 3. Quoted from Chou, p. 55. 49

speakers at home. In addition to this, all within the family must “endeavor to cultivate a disposition appropriate for imperial subjects and be full of ‘public spirit’”.98 Although a rather subjective means of determining eligibility for this “privilege”, it demonstrates the

‘national spirit’ and loyalty to the Imperial homeland that the colonial government was determined to invest with the Taiwanese colonial subjects. To further distance Taiwanese from any association with China or Han heritage, the colonial government also restricted the choice of names for Taiwanese. The restriction consisted of not being allowed to choose a name that was associated with a geographical area linking Taiwanese to China.

Wan-yao Chou provides the example of Yingchuan in province, which is considered the ancestral home of those with the family name of Chen. In Japanese these characters would be pronounced as Eigawa, a Japanese surname. This, however, was on the list of names prohibited for Taiwanese to use in the name-change program. In this way, the colonial government was quite clear in their focus of assimilating the Taiwanese into Japanese, and a disavowal of any connection to a Chinese heritage.99

The recruitment of military volunteers as a part of the kōminka movement is an interesting one in Taiwanese history. One might assume that finding volunteers to fight for the Imperial Military of Japan would be difficult in the colonies. Interestingly, the

Imperial military was inundated by the number of youth applying for both the Navy and

Army Volunteer Systems. It is unclear whether this is a result of the success of the kōminka movement with Taiwanese youth, in particular, truly feeling a loyalty to Japan, or, if it is simply an example of coercion or some sort of pressure, to apply to the

98 Chou, p. 56. From Mamiya Sadakichi, Taiwan kaiseimei sōdan (kaiseimei ni tomonau: meigi kakukae shoshiki), (privately published: Tainan, 1941), pp. 7-9. 99 Ibid., p. 57. 50

program. What is clear, is that by the end of the war in 1945, Taiwanese who had been recruited totaled 207,183 and of those individuals, 30,304 Taiwanese died in service.100

Every civilian, Taiwanese or the Japanese living on Taiwan, was encouraged to make an effort in the war. Although the volunteer corps composed a large part of the

Taiwanese fighting on behalf of the colonial government, military recruitment was introduced as the conflict wore on and increased in scale. Interpreters were conscripted for short-term work, and women were enlisted as nursing assistants. The young were taught that “the highest honor for Japanese subjects was to fight and die for the emperor.”101 In conversations with the generation of Taiwanese that were youth during this period, I have heard of drills where they were taught to run out and hide in the man- made ditches that lined the shores of the coast, armed with sticks to fight off the enemy.

As adults, these Taiwanese recognize the weakness of their weaponry, but as youth, they took the task very seriously. Regardless, children from this era naturally would have had mixed understandings of where to place their allegiance.

Besides these four major programs of the kōminka movement, other less structured efforts were made to eradicate Taiwanese traditions and cultural characteristics. For instance, marriages were arranged in the Japanese manner where the wedding ceremony would be held at a Shinto shrine.102 Where Taiwanese funeral practices were concerned, they were replaced with Japanese services and traditions.

Cremation, instead of Taiwanese burial, was encouraged, along with the abolishment of the ceremony for preparing the body, the formalistic loud crying, on-road funeral

100 Ibid., p. 65. 101 Lamley, p. 241. 102 Ibid., p. 242 51

processions, and the funeral costumes for non-family members.103 Even traditional

Taiwanese operas and puppet plays were banned during this period. Details such as

“betel-nut chewing” were prohibited by law, noting the attention to the daily life-style of the Taiwanese and the differences from the Japanese culture. Thus, every aspect of daily life was expected to be Japanese, down to the core, issuing regulations on such significant familial rites of personal bearing like the burial of the dead and weddings.104

It was also during the kōminka period, in April 1941, when the Kōmin hōkōkai was established. Translated as the Imperial Subjects’ Public Service Association, it “was the most extensive organization formed in the Taiwan during the war.”105 The purpose behind this association was to guide the kōminka movement forward, instituting operations at every level of the colonial government in Taiwan, even extending into schools. As such, it furthered the propaganda of the war effort into every area of life in

Taiwan. Overall, the kōminka period was efficacious in varied ways during the occupation period. Similar to the rest of the assimilations policies throughout the colonial period, those implemented during this accelerated transformation kōminka period, worked to further complicate the understanding of identity of the Taiwanese.

In 1943, the future of Taiwan was again being decided upon by outside powers, and in this instance, jointly by those from within and outside of Asia. In late November, with World War Two coming to a close, the United States President, Franklin Roosevelt,

103 Chou—dissertation, p. 46. These reform proposals were listed for Taichu () in the April 16, 1940 newspaper, the Taiwan Nichinichi Shimpō. 104 Interestingly, these practices are still held in Taiwan today. In some ways, it is a fascinating remark on the lack of true assimilation that occurred during this period, as well as seeing Taiwan as a repository of some traditions that were passed down through Chinese heritage but abolished in China during Communist rule. 105 Lamley, p. 238. 52

along with the Prime Minister of the , Winston Churchill, and

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China, met in Cairo to determine the post-war outcomes on the regions that came under the control of Japan. On December 1,

1943, the participants issued the Cairo Declaration stating that, among other decisions,

Taiwan would be transferred from Japan’s control, to the Republic of China. It is probable that most within Taiwan did not know of the Cairo Declaration, let alone the asserted demands on Japan.

In an effort to retain control, and perhaps to not concede to the inevitable, the Diet passed an enactment in 1945 to have a number of Taiwanese selected for the upper house.

The colonial government continued to consider other concessions and benefits for

Taiwanese as it continued on with the (insignificant, considering the situation) debate of whether Taiwan would be a colony or prefecture. Thus, it was an incredible shock for those in Taiwan to learn that Japan was to surrender the island. The news was a shock for all, and incited mixed reactions. Lamley points out that, “The naichijin and local inhabitants alike were stunned to learn that the “decisive war” had ended so abruptly and that Taiwan would soon pass out of Japanese hands.” It is recorded that a group of young officers threatened a revolt on the basis of not believing that the would surrender in the war. However, there were also some Taiwanese who attacked those who had collaborated with the colonial government. These varied responses were the result of the confusion, which was natural due to being tossed back and forth under governance.

This confusion was not only within the island of Taiwan, but this stretched into an association of identity even for those Taiwanese who were abroad. In areas like Hainan island, which had the largest number of Taiwanese servicemen, and other regions in

53

China and Southeast Asia, many were killed by Chinese troops or died from disease or starvation. Those serving in the military overseas that did return to Taiwan, were not welcomed back with the fanfare that might normally come with a homecoming. In many ways they were not returning to the home that they had come to know. Naturally, this regard for how these individuals would identify themselves and how they would be identified by those who were not Taiwanese is complicated and problematic.

Kuomintang Governance In accordance with the Potsdam Proclamation of 1945, as drafted by the United

States of America, Great Britain, and the , without consultation of

Taiwanese leaders, the decision was made to transfer Taiwan to the in Mainland China. During the weeks and months following the change in power from the Japanese colonial government to Chinese, Kuomintang (KMT), rule, violence decreased as many Taiwanese keenly awaited the departure of the Japanese colonial power. It is recorded that many Taiwanese enthusiastically gathered to welcome the Chinese Nationalist troops who began arriving in October of 1945. The painting

Celebration Day (Fig. 4), by Chen Cheng-po is an apt recording of the anticipation of the

Nationalist arrival and Taiwanese welcome. This painting will be discussed in more detail in a subsequent chapter, but it serves as an example of not only the remembrance of the occasion, but the genuine expectation of celebration over this momentous event and the meaning of the experience for the Taiwanese people.

In speaking with some Taiwanese who remember the occasion, they have mentioned their surprise for what they encountered that day. Expecting their heroes who freed them from the rule of Japanese colonization, they were startled by the small and

54

frail soldiers that entered the island. In A Taste of Freedom: Memoirs of a Formosan

Independence Leader, Peng Ming-min, recollects the experience of waiting to welcome the Mainland troops,

The ship docked, the gangways were lowered, and off came the troops of China, the victors. The first man to appear was a bedraggled fellow who looked and behaved more like a coolie than a soldier, walking off with a carrying pole across his shoulder, from which was suspended his umbrella, sleeping mat, cooking pot, and cup. Others like him followed, some with shoes, some without. Few had guns. With no attempt to maintain order or discipline, they pushed off the ship, glad to be on firm land, but hesitant to face the Japanese lined up and saluting smartly on both sides.106

Although the Taiwanese imagined the great heritage that they shared with those coming from the mainland with the Nationalist army, they soon found that the differences were also quite conspicuous.

We all took up flags and went to welcome [the Nationalist troops]…. President Chiang has come to take over Taiwan! That was really how we felt—entering the embrace of our fatherland. But although we genuinely accepted the mainland takeover, we immediately began to sense the conflict of culture. Moreover, that conflict of culture was extremely intense. It was discovered that the Japanese culture which we had originally loathed was, as compared to the culture of our fatherland, a strong culture, a superior culture. And the culture of the rulers [the KMT] is a worthless, inferior—an inferior kind of barbaric culture…. That kind of conflict was extremely intense and transformed us from the heights of identification to the heights of hostility.107

Perhaps because of the concern with the Japanese colonial effect on the

Taiwanese, along with the general acrimony against things Japanese, the Nationalist government implemented firm control over the Taiwanese. Somewhat similar to the

106 Peng, Ming-min, A Taste of Freedom: Memoirs of a Formosan Independence Leader, New York: Hold, Rinehart and Winston, 1972, pp. 51-52. 107This is a quote of Chang Chun-hung, from an interview the author completed in Taipei in 1991. From, Alan Wachman, “Competing Identities in Taiwan,” in The Other Taiwan 1945 to the Present, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1994, p.45. 55

Japanese colonial goal of assimilation of the Taiwanese into Japanese citizens, the

Nationalist government was concerned with removing the ‘Japaneseness’ from the

Taiwanese people and culture. In fact, Chen Yi, the Nationalist governor of Taiwan is recorded as stating that “the Taiwanese had been ‘slaves’ of the Japanese, and would therefore have to complete resinification [re-Sinicization] before exercising full political- cultural rights.”108 One clear example of the eradication strategy is in the language policy of the Nationalist government. In 1946, it was prohibited to speak Japanese in public.

And “in schools, if a student was caught speaking Taiwanese, he or she would be given a

“dog tag” or ribbon. It was then his or her dty to pass on the tag to the next student who was caught speaking Taiwanese.”109 As a result of this emphasis on “resinification,” many Taiwanese worked to legitimize their loyalty to China and distance themselves from the Japanese assimilation they underwent. The complexity of this, in terms of affecting the identity and identity construction of Taiwanese who lived through this period, cannot be understated. Chen Cheng-po was not spared this challenge as he worked through understanding his own identity as an individual raised during the occupation with Japanese as his main language, having studied in Japan and teaching in

China with Japanese citizenship, just prior to the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Despite the eager anticipation and excitement at the inception of the reconnection with China, once the Nationalist regime began their governance, many Taiwanese had reservations about the implementations enacted within Taiwan. In many ways, the

108 Jason Kuo, Art and Cultural Politics in Postwar Taiwan, Bethesda: University of Washington Press, 2000. From Edwin A. Winckler, “Cultural Policy on Postwar Taiwan,” in Stevan Harrell and Chun-chieh Huang, eds., Cultural Changes in Postwar Taiwan, Boulder: Westview Press, 1994, pp. 22-46, at p. 30. 109 Jason Kuo, p. 66. 56

Taiwanese had become accustomed to the constructive elements that the Japanese colonial experience provided, such as economic and medical developments, among other aspects of modernization. The strict control that this new government held and, similar to the previous colonial government, the fact that the provincial administration was comprised almost entirely of mainland immigrants to the island, frustrated the relationship between the local population and their new administration. Steven Phillips notes in his article, “Between Assimilation and Independence,” that the Taiwanese wrestled with the “process of decolonization, consciously and unconsciously [recalling]

Japanese rule as they navigated their way through this extraordinarily difficult period.”110

Phillips also mentions the grappling with the question of where Taiwan fit in the nation of China, and even in the Nationalist state. This reflection on the differences between themselves and the Chinese Nationalists, along with the crushed expectations of their reunion with a heritage they once envisioned, Taiwanese were more at a loss for understanding their identity

Dissatisfied with the Nationalist governance, many Taiwanese considered it a new, less capable, colonial government. Tensions increased between the Taiwanese society at large, and the Nationalist government who sought control over the society by means of force instead of through organizational infrastructure. For Taiwanese, it became natural to compare this new regime’s dysfunctional governance with that of the organized

Japanese colonial administration. From the perspective of the Nationalist leadership, they had a limited understanding of Taiwan, and because of the Sino-Japanese war, the

110 Steven Phillips, “Between Assimilation and Independence: Taiwanese Political Aspirations Under Nationalist Chinese Rule, 1945-1948,” in Rubinstein, Murray ed., Taiwan A New History, p. 276. 57

Nationalists reserved enmity against anything Japanese, and had used military control to manage the constant struggle against communism and impending war. The challenges the

Taiwanese faced with “foreign” rule, and the general lack of self-governance, along with the factors the Nationalist regime had witnessed in China, led to the next chapter of

Taiwan’s history.111

In early 1947, an eruption of the building tension occurred that changed the face of Taiwan’s history, and continues to be a complex, and even emotional, issue to this day.

Widespread economic crises, fear of industrial collapse, corruption, shortages in food, among other problems, all led to Taiwanese taking control of the island from the ill- equipped provincial government. This also initiated the beginning of tense negotiations with the Taiwanese intentions of changing the administration’s authority and increasing the inclusion of Taiwanese in the government.112

On February 27, 1947, in the evening, a street peddler was injured and a bystander shot and killed by a Monopoly Bureau113 agent. This set off a mass protest driven by the inequality that Taiwanese felt they were experiencing under what many of them considered another colonial power. Mainlanders were attacked, and officials and the government’s police force sought refuge together from the ongoing protests. Some of the younger Taiwanese trained in the military under Japanese colonialist rule, regrouped in their original divisions to resist the KMT misrule of the island. As these events took place, some of the elite gathered, organizing a committee to obtain justice for the incident

111 Ibid., p. 289. 112 Heping ribao, February 14, 1947, p.3. S. Phillips, p. 293. 113 This was a government agency that monopolized the sale of alcohol and tobacco. A. Wachman, p. 46-47. 58

on February 27, which sparked the mounting protests. A group of Taiwanese gathered to demand justice as well as a reworking of the Nationalist government in Taiwan, in order to improve standards across the island. This faction of the elite formed a committee to end the violence and negotiate with the KMT appointed Nationalist’s Taiwan Provincial

Administrative Executive (Taiwansheng xingzheng zhangguan), Chen Yi (1883-1950).

Negotiations were amiable and Chen Yi agreed to reprimand the guilty individuals in the police department. Similar committees formed in the larger cities throughout Taiwan, seeking to reinstate a functioning police force, and transportation and communication systems. In the subsequent weeks following the protests that developed on February 28,

1947, a budding self-government propagated among the Taiwanese. As these meetings and negotiations went forward, military reinforcements to deal with the Taiwanese protesters came from the mainland, entered Taiwan, killing thousands of unarmed

Taiwanese with the purpose of suppressing the opposition.

On Saturday, March 8, rumors began to circulate about a convoy of troop ships approaching Taiwan’s shores. The KMT army arrived the following day and strafed the docks with gunfire before disembarking. The weeks of bloody chaos that followed destroyed any progress that had been made through the settlement committees, whose members, as well as the student police force, were now specifically targeted for execution.114

114 Robert Edmondson, “The February 28 Incident and National Identity,” in Stephane Corcuff, ed., Memories of the Future: National Identity Issues and the Search for a New Taiwan, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2002, p. 29. Kerr, George H., Formosa Betrayed, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965, pp. 299-300. 59

Estimates of the total number killed in this range from 3,000 to 20,000. Because this immense massacre began on February 28 (2-28), it has come to be referred to as the 228

Incident.115

The exact details of this traumatic tragedy in Taiwan’s history may never be known, since perspectives on what transpired, vary between what was reported by the

Nationalist government and the memories of the Taiwanese. What is known, is pieced together through foreign journalists in Taiwan at the time, eyewitness accounts from

Taiwanese and mainlanders on the island, and documents are left behind either by the government or civilians living in Taiwan. Tillman Durin, a New York Times reporter at the time, published a column about these events on March 29, 1947,

Foreigners who have just returned to China from Formosa corroborate reports of wholesale slaughter by Chinese troops and police during anti-Government demonstrations a month ago. These witnesses estimate that 10,000 Formosans were killed by the Chinese armed forces…. The anti-Government demonstrations were said to have been by unarmed persons whose intentions were peaceful. Every foreign report to Nanking denies charges that Communists or Japanese inspired or organized the parades…. An American who has just arrived in China from Taihoku said that troops from the mainland arrived there March 7 and indulged in three days of indiscriminate killing and looting. For a time everyone seen on the streets was shot at, homes were broken into and occupants killed…. Two foreign women… called the actions of the Chinese soldiers there a “massacre.” They said unarmed Formosans took over the administration of the town peacefully on March 4 and

115 Terms used to discuss the events that ensued beginning on February 28, 1947, have many political implications. Referring to it as the “2-28 Incident” is possibly the most neutral approach, instead of the 2-28 Massacre, or 2-28 Uprising/Rebellion. For more information on the 2-28 Incident, please see, Lai Tse-han, Ramon H. Myers, Wei Wou, A Tragic Beginning: The Taiwan Uprising of February 28, 1947, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991; Kerr, George H. Formosa Betrayed, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965. Also see Hou, K’un-hung, “2-28 shijian yuguan shiliao yu yanjiu zhi fenxi,” [An Analysis of historical materials and research related to the February 28 Incident]. Zhongguo xiandaishi zhongti yanjiu baogao, 16, 1994, pp. 332-336. 60

used the local radio station to caution against violence. Chinese were well received and invited to lunch with the Formosan leaders. Later a bigger group of soldiers came and launched a sweep through the streets. The people were machine-gunned. Groups were rounded up and executed. The man who had served as the town’s spokesman was killed. His body was left for a day in a park and no one was permitted to remove it…. The foreign witnesses reported that leaflets signed with the name of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, promising leniency, and urging all who had fled to return, were dropped from airplanes. As a result many came back to be imprisoned or executed. ‘There seemed to be a policy of killing off all the best people,’ one foreigner asserted. The foreigners’ stories are fully supported by reports to every important foreign embassy or legation in Nanking.116

While the most damage was done at the beginning of this immense atrocity, it continued on for weeks, with continuous killing, executions, torture, and “silencing” in other ways. One particular measure that was especially effective in suppressing any future uprisings, was what the foreign witnesses in Durin’s article describes. This was the rounding up of the various individuals, mainly the elite, who were involved in the committees to organize local government, in order to execute them. Chen Cheng-po falls into this category of individuals in Chiayi, where he was taken with several others, and executed publicly in front of his family and townspeople. Similar to the foreign witness accounts in the New York Times, Chen’s body was left out and not allowed to be collected by his family.

What began on February 28, 1947 in Taiwan, shaped not only the politics of the next decade, but the mindset and political governance that continues to this day. The belief of the government and many of the Nationalist mainlanders before and during the violence, was that any discord between the Taiwanese and the mainlanders was due to a

116 “Formosa Killings are Put at 10,000,” in The New York Times, Saturday, March 29, 1947, by Tillman Durdin. 61

misunderstanding of the motherland along with an indoctrination of the Taiwanese during the Japanese occupation. In fact, the blame for the uprisings was directed towards

Communists and the Japanese legacy.117 In directing blame, one leader within the

Nationalist regime, Yang Liang-kung, called attention to “’evil politicians’ and former members of Japan’s Imperial Loyalty groups—a clear reference to many members of the

Taiwanese political elite.”118 Taiwanese similar to Chen Cheng-po, and those individuals with whom he would have associated, would have been targeted and in need of living cautiously in the Nationalist era. Thus, the elite, those who had actively worked for progress for a Taiwanese voice throughout the Japanese colonial period, and then in the first years of the post-colonial period, were essentially silenced.

Post-1947 The following is a brief account of the era that followed the 2-28 Incident.

Although Chen Cheng-po was no longer living during this period, the general history surrounding this time shaped how he has been recorded since his death. This historical backdrop elucidates the rise and fall of his legacy, and even the more recent revealing of his personal documents.

The decades that followed the violence of 1947 were full of suppression and a deliberate domination over every aspect of life in Taiwan. A clampdown on information

117 While these statements that Communists and individuals loyal to the Japanese government caused the uprisings were speculative, it is logical for the Nationalists to come to this sort of conclusion. Up to this point, the Nationalists had been battling both Communists and Japanese military on Mainland China. This does not suggest that the violent response of the Nationalist government against the Taiwanese is in any way acceptable, but it does demonstrate their innate concerns of the period and the product of the developing fears in history. 118 S. Phillips, p. 296. 62

occurred, with the government controlling education, scholarship, etc. The 2-28 Incident was forbidden to be mentioned, utterly overlooked as merely the government dealing with dissidents. Since no one dared to voice opposition towards the government, rulings were easily instituted. The language requirement changed yet again, with slogans such as

“promote Chinese, prohibit Japanese, reduce the use of dialects.” Mandarin Chinese was required in schools with some penalties if Japanese or Taiwanese was spoken, and tests were instituted for staff making sure they could speak Chinese.

A period of martial law was instated in March of 1947 and was not lifted until

1987.119 Strict control over publishing, press, political opposition, and assembling groups, limited the information about this postwar period until after martial law ended. In 1949, after a failing struggle against the Communist forces in China, Chiang Kai-shek and the administrative and military operations of the Nationalist regime made a mass exodus to

Taiwan. By 1950, this new KMT government in Taiwan announced that all investigations into the 2-28 Incident were finalized, and public discussion of the incident was prohibited. The era between the commencement of martial law and its conclusion in

1987,120 is known as the “White Terror.”121 During this time, the forced silence and the looming recent events of 1947, bolstered an incessant terror amongst the Taiwanese.

Thousands of Taiwanese and recently arrived mainlanders were killed, imprisoned for decades, or simply “disappeared,” as the Nationalist government, somewhat indiscriminately, held alleged charges against individuals. Naturally, association with

119 Martial law was temporarily lifted, but was reinstated in 1949. 120 The Period of National Mobilization for the Suppression of Communist Rebellion ended in 1991. R. Edmonson, p. 29. 121 Baise kongbu 63

anything that had any appearance of being anti-government, things Japanese, or involvement with Communist activity in particular, was avoided. This included individuals suspected during the 2-28 Incident, persons such as Chen Cheng-po.

The plan of the government to repress that which was associated with the

Japanese occupation or 2-28 Incident, led to a reframing of scholarship and an attempt to control public perception. Publications after 1947 concerning Chen Cheng-po demonstrate the nature of suppression on scholarship in general, and the message that the

KMT government intended to advance. In the two decades following the turbulent transition in power, the absence of information on Chen and others associated with the 2-

28 Incident, corresponds with the overall oppression of a confrontation with the past and the difficult transition. It also reflects the government’s concentration on the growth of

Taiwan’s economy over other matters.

Any semblance of Japanese colonial characteristics within society was to be erased or ignored and a connection to the “motherland” of China was to be accentuated.

In the art world, artists trained in what was the Japanese art system of painting in

“Eastern-style,” or toyōga, found themselves defending what was a Japanese colonial- developed art form in Taiwan, as having its foundations in Chinese painting traditions.

Thus, the government allowed for it to continue as a style in the national exhibitions.

Similarly, scholarship emphasized examples that legitimized and associated with the mainland, and the connection between Taiwan and its roots with the mainland.

With aid from the United States and a revision of the infrastructure, the

Nationalist government worked to rebuild Taiwan. The concentration on the economy proved advantageous and Taiwan experienced its ‘economic miracle’ in the 1960s.

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During this period, an influx of Western culture and trends developed and influenced artists. It also saw the rise of the what became known as the Nativist Movement.

Originally, this was introduced as a means to connect with contemporary China, a return to native roots, but it reappropriated in literature and art as a means to return to native

Taiwanese roots. The Nativist Movement further developed in the 1970s. However, the period of White Terror continued, and killings and disappearances persisted. As a result, while those involved in the 2-28 Incident were allowed to be mentioned, it was with great sensitivity to the political climate and potential dangers that authors wrote and artists created. In the 1970s, Xie Lifa, an artist and art critic, wrote a number of articles in

Yishujia on several different artists. This was compiled into book format and published in

1979,122 and includes a section on Chen Cheng-po. It serves as a clear demonstration of the controlled political conditions of the time. Xie provides a general biographical sketch, where Chen’s Japanese education and time in China are mentioned. In contrast with Xie’s coverage of other artists that do not have the same background as Chen, and perhaps because of Chen’s direct connection with the 2-28 Incident and his success under the

Japanese occupation, Chen is described as a “naïve” painter. Other figures with similar 2-

28 or Japanese colonial associations fall under similar scrutiny in publications from this time.

During the 1980s, Taiwan developed politically and grew to become an economic powerhouse in Asia. In 1986, Taiwan witnessed the formation of the Democratic

Progressive party (DPP), as well as other political parties opposing the KMT. Martial law

122 Rijushidai Taiwan meishu yundong shi (History of Taiwanese Art Movements of the Japanese Occupation Period, 1978. Taipei, Yishujia 1992. 65

finally came to an end in 1987, after thirty-eight continuous years of suppression, trepidation, and uncertainty. 1988 was an unprecedented year, in that following the death of Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek, Lee Teng-hui became the first

Taiwan-born president. With this progression away from the strict period of suppression, we begin to see the aspirations of the Taiwanese involvement in their government, which was firmly developed during the Japanese occupation, slowly coming to fruition.

The developing freedom the Taiwanese were experiencing during the eighties was reflected in scholarship on the history of the Japanese occupation and the decades that followed. A development of a “Taiwanese consciousness” in the 1980s, led scholars to reflect on Taiwan’s art and culture that demonstrated an awareness of the distinct character of Taiwan. This advancement in the discretion of the scholarly research on

Taiwan, including the history of the Japanese occupation, led to the openness that began a discourse about the events surrounding the 2-28 Incident.

By the nineties, President Lee Teng-hui addressed the issue publicly and apologized on behalf of the KMT, for the atrocities of the 2-28 Incident. This led to a flurry of scholarship concerning the massacre, and publications regarding the era commenced. It was during this time that publications were written on individuals, like

Chen Cheng-po, who had been killed during that fateful era. For Chen, much of the research, centered on him as a martyr and did not examine him as a painter in any detail.

Instead of researching the facts surrounding his paintings, Chen’s works, painted long before the 1947 events, were often connected to the martyrdom and despairing nature of the end of his life, and to the 2-28 Incident as a whole. This focus on the massacre, is similar for many of the individuals who died during that period, regardless of their other

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accomplishments. It is clear that the politics shaped the publications of the sixty years following the 1947 incident.

Although the 2-28 Incident was officially addressed by the KMT party in the nineties, and it was no longer forbidden subject matter, and the younger generation feels the freedom that has finally arrived, the difficult history is still very much alive in the hearts and minds of Taiwanese who lived through these periods. A chilling reminder that this history remains a reality in the lives of those Taiwanese who lived through the last century of massive transitions, is an encounter I had on a research trip in the Fall of 2011.

I was invited to present my research at a conference in Chiayi, Taiwan, which is the hometown of the artist Chen Cheng-po. There was a coinciding exhibition and on display was Chen Cheng-po’s journal. I was excited to see the journal because on previous field research trips to Taiwan, I had interviewed the son of the artist and had asked about the location of this journal that I had read about, and was told that it was missing. After the conference concluded, I drove back with Chen Cheng-po’s grandson, Chen Li-po, to the

Chen home to study some of the artist’s paintings. I mentioned how glad I was that the journal had been found. I inquired about where it was found, and smiling, he said that it was under his father’s (Chen Tsung-kuang’s) bed, and that his father showed it to him for the first time just a few weeks before. Somewhat surprised, I commented that it was good that his father had protected it these many decades, insuring that nothing happened to it.

His response shocked me. Chen Li-po said that it was not the journal that his father was protecting, but instead, that he had been concerned about the individuals mentioned in the journal that might need protection. At the beginning of the violence of the 228 Incident, not knowing what the future would hold, Chen Cheng-po told his eldest son, Chen

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Tsung-kwang, that whatever happened, to be certain to care for some specific family friends. Soon after, Chen Tsung-kwang witnessed the public execution of his father. The families that his father had been concerned about fled the area, along with many others.

After Chen Cheng-po’s public execution, his eldest son diligently hid the journal in order to protect the families it mentioned from government persecution. It was only in

September of 2011 that he finally felt it was safe to release the journal. This modest yet heroic act to prevent others from meeting the same fate as his father underscores the violent and dramatic changes that Taiwan has experienced over the past century.

This is only one example, but demonstrates the pressing need for continued research in this area of study as more documents and evidence of the past century continue to materialize. This deep void in scholarship, and subsequent disappearance and reappearance of primary documents, also illustrates the effects of the political climate on studies focusing on the Japanese occupation of Taiwan which occurred during the decades following the Japanese colonization. In addition, it has laid the groundwork from which current scholarship on this period must develops and continues to affect by political actions of the last half century.

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Chapter 2: The Development of the Taiwanese Art World During the Japanese

Occupation

Similar to every part of society during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the art world underwent an abrupt shift in style and purpose. As the history of Taiwan demonstrates, the era preceding the colonization by Japan included ties to the mainland and the traditions founded during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This was echoed in the world of art, and as a result, the move towards the modernization of Taiwan presented a disruption of the creation of traditional art forms. This chapter provides, first, a brief overview of the art world of Taiwan prior to the Japanese occupation. This leads to an examination of the transformation of the art world during the colonial period and the development of what is termed “local color.”123 Then, a brief glimpse at a few of the artists from this period will provide the environment of the impact of the Japanese art education in Taiwan. Understanding this overall shift, transformation, and artistic climate will provide a basis for a more complete recognition of the understanding of Taiwanese artists and their identity, but especially that of Chen Cheng-po’s struggles and successes as an artist during this time.

Prior to the Japanese occupation, Taiwan’s artistic sphere was limited to local elites, and government officials. The art world of Taiwan prior to the Japanese occupation was centered around the traditional styles that also persisted in mainland

123  (difang secai) 69

China. This Taiwanese ink-and- painting style was a part of the literati tradition established on the mainland, and continued from the time of the Zheng regime.124

Individuals trained as scholars and officials during the Ming and Qing dynasties dominated the art scene with their bird-and-flower paintings and landscapes.125 A local style of artistic practice developed that was referred to as the “Fujian School” of painting.126 This Taiwanese local style is described as an ink and wash painting that contained wild and broad applications of ink.127 The painting method was known for its

“unrestrained audacity” and acquired its name from the Fujian artists who brought the style with them as they resettled in Taiwan from Fujian Province on the southeast coast of China.128

124 Huang Dong-Fu, “The Development of the Oriental Painting Style in Taiwan During the Japanese Colonial Period,” in The Development of Taiwanese Art, (Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2007), 1-29. http://taiwaneseart.ntmofa.gov.tw/chiindex.html 125 Lai Jen-yi, 69. 126 Huang Dong-Fu, 3. 127 Wang Yao-Ting. “From Fujian School to Sketching – The First Phase of Aesthetic Awareness of Taiwan Ink and Wash Painting Development.” Essays from the Eastern Aesthetics and Modern Arts Conference. Taipei: Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, Aug. 1992, pp. 123-153. Much of Fujianese painting is associated with the painter (1687-1768). As a result of his travels to and elsewhere, and the regular influence of the burgeoning Yangzhou artistic community, many stylistic characteristics survive in Fujian style painting. Ellen Johnston Laing, “Two-in-one: Introducing Five Recent Acquisitions of Chinese and Painting,” in Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Vol. 56, No. 3 (1978), 177-184. Xiao Qiongrui. “The Fujian School and the Taiwanese style – Another Look at the Aesthetics of Ming and Qing Dynasty Taiwan Painting Styles.” Southern Taiwan Painting Research and Digital Project (1) Ming and Qing Dynasties. Chiayi: National Chung Cheng University Center for Humanities Research, 2007. 128 Huang, 4. Xiao Qiongrui. “The Fujian School and the Taiwanese style – Another Look at the Aesthetics of Ming and Qing Dynasty Taiwan Painting Styles.” Southern Taiwan Painting Research and Digital Project (1) Ming and Qing Dynasties. (Chiayi: National Chung Cheng University Center for Humanities Research, 2007), 27. 70

The art education system in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Japan was driven by a desire to modernize the nation. After the Meiji restoration, which marks the beginning of modernization in Japan, Japanese artists found themselves abandoning the traditional style and becoming increasingly interested in the techniques of western painting. As art education developed in Japan, parallel reforms arose in the colonial state of Taiwan during the twentieth century. Taiwanese students found themselves learning western techniques of drawing and sketching outdoors. Patricia Tsurumi notes in her book on Japanese colonial education that the education system developed by Japan in

Taiwan was influential in changing Taiwan from a part of traditional China to a part of modern Japan.129

In the education system instituted in the new colony, Taiwanese and Japanese attended different schools that had different standards. The modifications in the art education system, in particular, worked to create an entirely new artistic style and artists with a modernized perspective. The result is individuals leaving behind the traditional practices of ink painting and “stepping forward” into western methods and the use of western materials. This created an interesting transformation in Taiwan’s artistic practice, producing new styles that can distinctly be recognized as a Taiwanese colonized style.

Interestingly, art schools were never established in Taiwan. Instead, western art techniques of drawing was taught in elementary schools, high schools, and colleges.

Because of the absence of art schools, artists learning in teacher-training schools relied on dedicated teachers such as Ishikawa Kinichirō (1871-1945) and Shiozuki (1885-

129 E. Patricia Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895-1945, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. 71

1954). Both Ishikawa and Shiozuki were western-style painters who fully supported the western-style of painting ()130 as a modernizing factor in pulling away from the traditional painting styles of brush and ink on silk. Ishikawa, a Japanese watercolorist who worked in the British academic style, introduced the idea of drawing en plein air131 and the development of exhibitions. Using western techniques of perspective, light and shadow, and realism, he encouraged his students in this same manner, to look to the future of art and put the traditions of the past behind.

Although an official art school was never established on the island during the occupation, school curricula and art exhibitions provided the Taiwanese and Japanese on

Taiwan with an education in the arts. Over time, the school curriculum progressed from teaching drawing and handicrafts for fostering basic skills, to life drawing and sketching.

These implementations of modern techniques resulted in the formation of a new circle of western-style, or yōga, painters.

As early as 1897, art courses were included in the curriculum at primary schools for Japanese students. However, it was not until 1902 that a course on drawing was developed to be taught in schools for Taiwanese students. Even then, it was generally taught along with calligraphy or handicrafts. In 1910, drawing was finally offered as an independent course for Taiwanese, but as a one hour per week class.132

Another way of implementing the new education reforms was through the appointing of Japanese instructors who taught class in western-style painting. These

130  131 Translated as “in the open air,” this refers to painting or sketching outdoors. 132 Lai Jen-yi, p. 70. From Lin Manli, “Rizhi shiqi de shehui wenhua jizhi yu Taiwan meishu jiaoyu jindaihua guocheng zhi yangjiu,” pp. 168-9. 72

Japanese instructors also encouraged their students to study abroad. The most influential of these teachers in Taiwan was Ishikawa Kinichirō. This prominent art educator lived in

Taiwan for almost twenty years and taught in various schools. He was the first Western- style painter to come to Taiwan and teach. Ishikawa taught many of the first-generation

Taiwanese artists including Chen Cheng-po. In fact, Ishikawa and Chen had a long- standing student-teacher relationship that continued to impact Chen as he established himself as a painter. Ishikawa also started small-scale exhibitions in Taiwan with his students and fellow teachers even before the official exhibitions were established, and is commonly referred to as the one who introduced western painting techniques to Taiwan.

The process of implementing the art education system in Taiwan seems interlocked with the colonization process that the Japanese government planned to implement. While the Taiwanese art world was being “modernized” it was simultaneously being assimilated into a Japanese state. Within fifty years the Japanese colonization managed to virtually replace the traditional painting in Taiwan while also changing the understanding of what it meant to be a Taiwanese artist.

Official Art Exhibitions on Taiwan In place of art schools in Taiwan, teachers such as Ishikawa Kinichirō worked to develop group exhibits and art societies on the island. Ishikawa served as an advisor to two Taiwanese painting art societies, the Seven Stars Society and Taiwan’s Watercolor

Painting Society.133 Some scholars record that Ishikawa, along with another art educator and art supporters, was responsible for taking the small-scale exhibitions to the next level

133 Shichuan qinyilang shisheng zuopinzhan (Early Twenty Century Watercolors of Ishikawa Kinichiro and His Students), Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 1986, p. 9. 73

in recommending a large-scale official exhibition to the colonial government.134 These official exhibitions were a fundamental influence on the painting style of Taiwanese artists. This chapter will exemplify how these exhibitions not only were the foremost means by which to exhibit on the island, but that they also served as the way artists gained exposure and publicity.

In 1927, the first official art exhibition in Taiwan commenced. Entitled Taiwan

Bijutsu Tenrankai (Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition), or more commonly known as the

Taiten, this exhibit ran from 1927 through 1936, when the second Sino-Japanese War disrupted life on the island for about one year. Following this interruption, the exhibitions restarted in 1938 with the new name, Taiwan Sotokufu Bijutsu Tenrankai (Fine Arts

Exhibition of the Taiwan Government-General), also known as the Futen. This new title reflected the direct supervision of the exhibit by the colonial government that was ruled again by military governors after the war. The Futen lasted for six years from 1938 to

1943.135

The Taiten was directly modeled after the Teiten, the Imperial Exhibition of

Japan, which was adapted from the salon exhibitions from France. While similar to its

Japanese counterpart, the Taiwanese exhibitions only contained two sections: nihonga136

134 Wang Hsiu-Hsiung on p. 94 states that the Japanese government in Taiwan took the initiative on its own in opening such an official exhibition, and that it is only suggested by some that it was the work of Ishikawa Kinichirō, Shiozuki Toho, Gohara Koto, and Kinoshita Seigai. 135 Ibid., 95. Renwen bainian huacheng tianxia: zhonghua minguo bainian renwen chuancheng dazhan (How Humanities Transformed the World: The Development of Scholarship on the Humanities Over the Last Hundred Years), (: Guoli qinghua daxue, 2011). 136  74

and yōga.137 The term is a complex term within the context of painting in East

Asia overall, but even more so in Taiwan. Nihonga translates as “Japanese-style painting,” and defines itself in contrast with yōga, or “western-style painting.” This in itself is an interesting development within the art world of East Asia, and furthers the identity shift for Taiwanese artists as they chose to express themselves within one of these two styles of painting. This was further complicated by the replacement of the term nihonga with toyōga,138 or “Eastern-style painting.” It was decided to rename this method of painting in order to keep from offending Taiwanese sensibilities. This Eastern-style painting grew out of the nihonga tradition of Japan, but developed its own stylistic characteristics that were distinctly Taiwanese, such as a brilliant use of color mixed with detailed depictions based on thorough observation.139

Although toyōga, as a more traditional method of painting with ink or gouache on silk, was developed in Taiwan by the Japanese, traditional Chinese ink painting on silk was discouraged. No prohibition was directly placed on painting in this established literati practice, but at the first Taiten, almost all paintings in this manner were declined by the jurors. The exceptions to this were works by Chen Chin, LinYushan, and Kuo

Hsueh-hu, who were designated as the “Three Talented Youths.”140 Interestingly, Cai

Xueqi, who was one among many of the older and famous traditional Taiwanese painting artists who did not have an entry accepted into the exhibit, was Kuo Hsueh-hu’s painting

137  138  139 Ellen Conant, Steven Owyoung, J. Thomas Rimer., Nihonga: Transcending the Past: Japanese-style Painting, 1868-1968, St. Louis: St. Louis Art Museum, Japan Foundation, 1995. 140 Wang Hsiu-Hsiung, pp. 92-120. 75

teacher. These three artists were allowed acceptance because they were in the process of training in the new Japanese styles. Professional Taiwanese painters who had developed the literati style had to change their practice if they wished to compete in the Taiten or

Futen.141 Thus, the official exhibitions were a means of abandoning older traditions to move towards a more modernized and westernized approach to painting.

As a further example of the focused efforts in revolutionizing the Taiwanese art world, the Governor-General’s office held an exhibition of Japanese artists’ works. This show was organized for a Taipei viewing in late August 1927, right before the Taiten was scheduled to open in October. With around eight hundred pieces included, this was designed to familiarize the general public with modern , as well as to publicize the upcoming Taiten. The Japanese-controlled newspaper, to be discussed below, published interviews concurrent with the show, for further publicizing of the events.142 During the Taiten, works by seven nihonga artists and ten seiyōga Japanese artists were on view, for reference as models for aspiring Taiwanese artists.143

The Taiten and the Futen144 were also used to promote the move into ‘modern’ styles and a ‘modern’ society. Since these exhibits were the only opportunity for artists to present their works in a large-scale format, gaining acceptance to these shows became a formidable accomplishment and something to strive towards. Designed by the Japanese, modeled after the official exhibitions in Japan, and adjudicated by Japanese artists and art

141 Wang Hsiu-Hsiung cites Cai Xuexi (1884-?) as an example of changing his style in order to exhibit. Cai was Guo Xuehu’s teacher. p. 118. 142 Taiwan nichnichi shimpo (), 1927, September 6-30. Jason Kuo, p. 40. 143 Jason Kuo, p. 41. 144 The Taiten was begun in 1927 and lasted until 1936—with a one-year disruption in 1937 because of the Sino-Japanese War. The Futen began in 1938 and ran through 1943. 76

educators, these exhibitions shaped the Taiwanese art style in line with the colonizers’ interests which were focused on westernizing and modernizing. Because the toyōga section was very small in comparison to the yōga section, in order to qualify for entrance into what came to be the foremost presentation for artists, painting in the western style became the main approach to follow. In essence, the exhibits worked to move Taiwanese painters away from Chinese literati painting and towards Japanese, or, Japanese- interpreted-European styles.

The Role of the Taiwan Daily Newspaper The Taiwan nichinichi shinpō (Taiwan Daily Newspaper) was a fundamental supplement to the success of the exhibitions for Taiwanese. Designed, written, and published by Japanese, this newspaper functioned, in some regards, as a mouthpiece disseminating information to the colonized state.145 With particular sections addressing art, the newspaper managed to foster a public interest in the developing modern art world of Taiwan.

Special reports published in both Japanese and Chinese featured critiques of the exhibits, exclusive interviews with awarded artists, and remarks by jurors of the shows.

Naturally, these articles spurred interest in art for the literate public, while simultaneously providing a framework in developing tastes for artistic styles and establishing certain artists as exemplars. In fact, prior to each Taiten and Futen opening in late October, the newspaper contained features on participants and their studios. Each opening day a special issue was published solely about the exhibition with reviews and juror comments.

145 Wang Hsiu-Hsiung, pp. 95-6. 77

Following the opening, one painting was highlighted each day and accompanied by a poem that was to reflect the spirit of the painting.

If attendance at the first show is any indication of engaging public interest in the arts at the time, then the Taiwan nichinichi shinpo’s pieces promoting the exhibit were a success. Held in an auditorium of an elementary school in its inaugural year on October

22, it is recorded that there were ten thousand in attendance at the first show.146 This resounding response to the exhibit in its first year, despite the costly entrance fee of twenty , speaks to the efforts of cultivating the official exhibitions as a significant component of this modernized state.

What then, was the purpose of developing such a large-scale official exhibition system in colonized Taiwan? This is a worthwhile question to address when analyzing the influence the exhibitions had on Taiwanese artists. There are many possible reasons and outcomes behind the establishment of the official exhibitions. In some respects, the purpose may seem obvious, but some deeper goals are also evident and the results of the exhibits are even more indicative of the objectives of these shows.

Perhaps most apparent is that a central aim of the colonization was assimilation, to create a Japanese state with Japanese citizens. Kawamura Takeji (1871-1955) writes in the late twenties about making Taiwanese into imperial subjects who “dress, eat, and live as Japanese do, speak the Japanese tongue as their own and guard our national spirit in the same ways as do Japanese born in Japan.”147 Essentially, the Taiten and the Futen, run entirely by Japanese artists, educators, and adjudicators, were creating modern

146 Ibid., p. 96. 147 Wang, p. 94; E. Patricia Tsurumi, Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895-1945, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1977, pp. 108-109, 278-279. 78

Japanese paintings by “Japanese citizens,” regardless of ethnicity. Painters who gained acceptance to these exhibits were striving to create works that Japanese adjudicators would approve, and that would then be reported in the Japanese run newspapers. Wang

Hsiu-Hsiung in his essay on the official exhibitions notes that “the development of these exhibitions mirrored, sometimes closely, certain contemporary political measures.”148

Certainly, the westernization and modernization process of the society as a whole, as mentioned in the previous chapter, was evidently implemented in the art world as well.

In general, the official exhibitions as a part of the art education reform during the occupation changed the course of Taiwanese painting forever. Providing western-style oil painting as the predominant section of the exhibits, it produced a thorough transformation from the time prior to the occupation and the establishment of the official exhibitions.

The extent of the influence of these official exhibits for the development and shaping of

Taiwanese art during the occupation is immeasurable.

The Development of Local Color in Taiwanese Painting

The term “local color,” or chiho shikisai, or nangoku shikisai149 (color of the

South country) is an interesting phrase that plays a significant role in Taiwanese painting during the Japanese occupation. It was a phrase that was used in Western art history prior to the twentieth century. But in the modern Japanese artistic context, the term was redefined to refer to the character of natural colors of a particular region.150 It came to be a focus in painting for Japanese artists in the early twentieth century in Japan, and moved

148 Wang, p. 92. 149  150 This definition is given in the translation of an essay entitled “A Green Sun” in Takamura Kōtarō, “A Green Sun,” in A Brief History of Imbecility: Poetry and Prose of Takamura Kōtarō, Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 1992, p. 181. 79

with them as they expanded their empire to Taiwan. Japanese artists such as Takamura

Kōtarō (1883-1956), a renowned poet and sculptor, write about the application of local color in Japanese artistic practice during his time. In certain cases, as in his article “A

Green Sun” from April 1910, Takamura berates the idea of the use of local color as forcing certain elements into artists’ work. Many debates among modern Japanese painters followed in response to Takamura’s essay. This term of local color could be found in popular journalism and tourism in during the occupation period and were even included in dialogues about artistic practice in Taiwan.

It is fascinating, then, to see how the concept of local color is developed and used in Taiwan. One could argue that the encouragement of the use of local color by the

Japanese in Taiwan is one example of the pursuit of reforming the style of Taiwanese artists. On the island, both Japanese and Taiwanese depicted local color in their works but in different contexts and with different aims. In Taiwan, this phrase references the use of

“preferred” topics of the time. Matsubayashi Keigetsu writes of Taiwan in 1928, “This island has much excellent subject matter, and from now on it would be best to develop art having Taiwan’s unique color and heat.”151 The colors and topics mentioned here were to cultivate themes and coloring within painting that were specific to the island of Taiwan.

Scenes of daily life in Taiwan, or depictions of the indigenous peoples and flora of the island were acceptable topics and were expected to be painted in the bright and rich colors of the tropical region. For resident Japanese artists in Taiwan, the use of local color was portraying the ‘exotic’ nature of this newly acquired ‘southern territory’ or

151 Translated by Yen Chuan-ying on p 89-90 from “The Demise of Oriental-style Painting in Taiwan,” from Refracted Modernity. 80

nangoku. Painting works such as Water Lamps in Keelung, Murakami Hideo captures a festival in Taiwan that is specific to the island. The works by these Japanese artists do not necessarily exemplify the objectification of Taiwan, but serve as a facet of the colonizers’ perspective of the region and its people. It is possible that the Japanese detachment from the area would even have aided in recognizing the so-called ‘color’ of Taiwan.152

Jurors and art critics alike… were in general agreement that painters in Taiwan should not blindly follow the direction of the Imperial Exhibitions in Japan but rather develop their own local themes and subjects and so reflect the cultural context of contemporary life in Taiwan. Only in this way could the spirit of the subject be fully and vividly grasped, explored, and expressed. Critics further believed that in pursuing local color, painters should focus on natural scenes and daily customs particular to Taiwan, which the painter would then develop through individual interpretation and style. Subject matter would then be imbued with the feelings and sensibilities of the Taiwanese people. 153

Japanese artists and art educators promoted the use of the bright and rich colors of the island of Taiwan as well as the depiction of the unique flora, landscape, and aboriginals of the “Southern Country”. In Taiwan, local color refers to the preferred subject matter of the time, dealing with topics within art that express the daily life in Taiwan. Through this, both Japanese artists living on the island, as well as Taiwanese artists, captured the local flavor of Japan’s newly occupied region. Japanese painters visiting from Japan along with Japanese jurors of the Taiwan Exhibition, advocated the use of local color from the

152 In Art and Cultural Politics in Postwar Taiwan, Jason Kuo notes that “Japanese nihonga artists in Taiwan preferred to portray exotic subjects” citing works like Akiyama Shunshui’s Hunting for Human Sacrifice, while “Taiwanese toyōga artists depicted tropical fauna,” 56. 153 Wang Hsiu-hsiung “Development of Official Art Exhibitions in Taiwan” in Marlene J. Mayo and J. Thomas Rimer with H. Eleanor Kerkham, War, Occupation, and Creativity: Japan and East Asia, 1920-1960, (Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2001), 96-7. 81

Taiwanese environment.154 Ishiguro Hidehiko, director of the Cultural and Educational

Bureau in the colony, pronounced at the opening ceremony of the first Taiten in 1927, that the objective of Taiwanese artists was to create works “taking material from

Taiwanese characteristics.”155 This portrayal of “local color” and its promotion by adjudicators became so widespread in its practice that the similarities over the sixteen years of the exhibit are alarming. In examining the paintings from the almost two-decade period, one would assume no time had passed and no development occurred.

Although this dissertation concentrates on the western-style painting of Chen

Cheng-po, it is worth noting that local color was depicted in both toyōga and seiyōga. An excellent example of a toyōga style artist is Chen Chin (1907-1997). Chen Chin, along with Kuo Hsueh-hu and Lin Yu-shan, was selected by the colonial government as one of the “Three Talented Youth.” Chen Chin studied with Gōhara Kotō (1892-1965), a founding juror in the Taiten in the Eastern-style painting division. As encouraged by

Japanese art instructors, Chen Chin studied in Japan, at the Tokyo Women’s Art School.

She became the first Taiwanese female artist to exhibit in both the Taiten (in Taiwan) and the Teiten (in Japan). A further example of her recognition within the colonial art world is that, along with Liao Chi-chun (1902-1976) and Yan Shuilong (1903-1997), she was a juror in the sixth, seventh, and eighth Taiten exhibitions (1932-34). This was the only time in the entire Japanese colonial period that Taiwanese served as jurors in the colonial art exhibits. These three young artists were all trained in art schools in Japan.156

154 Wang Hsiu-hsiung “Development of Official Art Exhibitions in Taiwan” p103. 155 In Yen Chuan-ying, “Yingzao naguo meishu diantang: Taiwanzhan chuanqi,” in Fenjing xinjing, 6-8. 156 Wang Hsiu-hsiung, 102; Lai Jen-yi, 105. 82

This detail from Chen Chin’s painting, Singing While Pounding the Pestle (Fig. 5) exemplifies several characteristics of local color. The theme of Taiwanese aboriginals was considered by the colonizers to represent the “exotic flavor” of the island and thus appropriately demonstrate regional and artistic characteristics. These indigenous women, dressed in their traditional garments, represent something unique to the colonized island that was not a part of Japanese culture, and therefore represented something native to the

Taiwanese people. In addition, the colors used, the bright red in their attire, along with the bright greens and reds in the flora surrounding the group of figures served as further evidence of the attractive and exotic features of tropical Taiwan. Yen Chuan-ying in her essay “The Demise of Oriental-style Painting in Taiwan,” writes, “because [Chen Chin’s] works stuck closely to the rules and achieved their effects through detail and bright colors, they were well received by judges of the Taiten.”157 Chen Chin’s works were regularly selected for the Taiten and she was honored with three “special selection” awards from 1928-1930.158

Kuo Hsueh-hu is another toyōga style artist whose works were regularly accepted to the colonial exhibitions. As one of the “Three Talented Youth,” Kuo had a less conventional beginning to his artistic career. When he was young, his skills at handicrafts and painting at school were recognized, and he began studying with the Taiwanese traditional-style painter, Tsai Hsueh-Shi. As already stated, Tsai’s works would later be rejected when his young student’s paintings would be accepted and praised. It was during

157 Yen Chuan-ying, “The Demise of Oriental-style Painting in Taiwan,” in Yuko Kikuchi, ed., Refracted Modernity: Visual Culture and Identity in Colonial Taiwan, (Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2007), 89. 158 Ibid., 103. 83

this tutoring that Kuo learned the basics of traditional Taiwanese painting methods such as mounting paintings as scrolls and creating depictions of Buddhist deities.159

Kuo Hsueh-hu’s work, Scenery Near Mt. Yuan (Fig. 6), was accepted into the second Taiten in 1928. This work has clear renderings of ‘local color’ in its depiction of lush greenery and the mountainous terrain of Taiwan. A small figure of a Taiwanese farmer is included, illustrating the abundance of agricultural product of this tropical island. The delicacy of the painting demonstrates Kuo’s skills, while the style and subject matter contribute to the ‘local color’ aspect so desired by the colonial government.

Although Kuo was already a success from his Taiten painting the year before, this painting brought him even more acclaim. Scenery Near Mt. Yuan (Fig. 6) was honored with a “Special Selection” award, and in addition was purchased at a high price by the colonial Governor-General.160 This certainly indicates the type of work that the colonial government sought.

To see the tremendous influence that the concept of ‘local color’ had on western- style painting during this era, it is valuable to examine works accepted into the official exhibitions. As previously mentioned, those paintings in the Taiten and Futen demonstrate elements that the shows’ adjudicators approved, and as a result there was a great similarity between the works over the sixteen exhibits. The most popular form of local color in the western-style section came in landscape paintings. Since an emphasis in art education was placed on sketching and recording outdoor scenery, many works had been produced using this technique and were lauded for the efforts of documenting the

159 Jason Kuo, 49. 160 Ibid., 51. 84

scenery of the new southern region. The majority of the paintings gaining entrance to the government-sponsored shows fell into the category of landscapes, as well as depictions of the countryside, temples, town squares, or backstreets of Taiwan.

One western-style painter who exhibited regularly at the national exhibitions is

Liao Chi-Chun (1902-1976). Liao gained early success in the exhibits and is considered to be one of the finest of the first-generation of Taiwanese oil painters. Also encouraged to study in Japan, Liao traveled to the Tokyo School of Fine Arts the same year as Chen

Cheng-po, and studied there from 1924-27. Exhibiting consistently at the Taiten and

Futen, he won prizes for his works in the early thirties and continued to have works accepted in Taiwan as well as Japan throughout the occupation. One of only three

Taiwanese artists to ever serve as jurors in the official exhibitions in Taiwan, Liao, along with Chen Chin, and Yan Shuilong (1903-1997), served on the jury for the sixth, seventh, and eighth Taiten.

Many of Liao’s early works depict local color. His painting, Courtyard with

Banana Trees (Fig. 7), is an excellent example of this as it demonstrates the tropical qualities of Taiwan while also depicting a daily scene on the island. The banana tree in the foreground certainly expresses a more distinctive characteristic of the “Southern

Country.” The green of the tree as well as the lush plant life peering over the buildings in the background along with the red tones in the ground and buildings further demonstrate the features of local color found in many of Taiwanese paintings of accepted into the

Taiten and Futen. Another example of portrayal of local color is Ichipa (Fig. 8) from the third Taiten. In this work, Liao depicts an outdoor scene containing many characteristics of the island in the foliage and town center with Taiwanese gathering. The trees and flora

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are painted in a bright green with the browns of the road and background buildings rounding out the scene. Two other paintings from the sixth Taiten Shade (Fig. 9), and

Kaohsiung Scenery (Fig. 10), continue these same features. Within both works there is a mix of buildings in the background mixed with the tropical scenery of green trees. The structures in all three of the works have the typical white stucco walls with traditional red roofs that are common in Taiwan. In the painting of Kaohsiung, the characteristic view from above looking down on rooftops is a frequent theme in many of the paintings accepted into the Taiten and Futen.

Another regular contributor to the Taiten until his early death in 1931, Chen Chi- ch’i (1906-1931) exhibited the ‘local color’ of Taiwan in his paintings as well. His oil painting entitled Danshui Landscape (Fig. 11) is an excellent example of this. Depicting the picturesque environment of Danshui on the northern coast of the island, Chen captures the traditional style red roofs intermingled with the richness of the foliage. In the background lies a mountainous landscape sectioned off from the town in the foreground with an expanse of water. Scenes like this one were often illustrated in the works of

Taiwanese painters of this period. In fact, in an essay entitled “Beauty of the Untamed,”

Liao Hsin-tien comments on how Ishikawa Kinichirō, one of the best known Japanese art educators in Taiwan during the occupation, “repeatedly stated that bright colors were the most attractive features in tropical Taiwan. The bright greenness of plants, the shining redness of roofs, and the straight lines of the mountains formed the natural characteristics of nangoku (the Southern Country).”161 Chen Chi-ch’i’s painting Banana Plantation (Fig.

12), from the third Taiten is another good example of an indigenous scene of Taiwan. As

161 Liao, Hsin-tien. “The Beauty of the Untamed,” in Refracted Modernity. 86

a tropical island, Taiwan boasted luscious fields of fruits such as pineapples and bananas which were recurring topics in many paintings of “local color.” Banana Plantation, certainly shares many stylistic qualities with other artworks by Taiwanese artists of this era in composition, brushwork, and subject matter.

When serving as a juror for the third Taiten in 1929, Matsubayashi Keigetsu remarked that, “It is quite pleasant to see that most of the works exhibited have taken their subject matter from the Taiwanese environment.” This emphasis and depiction of

‘local color’ in Taiwanese paintings of the time became a common style for artists throughout the island, but particularly for Taiwanese artists given acceptance to the national exhibitions in Taiwan. Furthermore, with Japanese adjudicators, and only a few hand-selected Taiwanese adjudicators for a short time, the Taiten and Futen were exhibits that often included paintings by Taiwanese artists that not only depicted local color in subject matter and palette, but also similar formal qualities such as brushstroke and compositional layout. The local color characteristics became so pervasive in Taiten and

Futen entries that in reviewing these few examples (Fig. 13, Fig. 14),162 each painted by a separate yōga artist, one can hardly distinguish individual characteristics of an artist.

While local color became almost ubiquitous in the official exhibitions, there were those who opposed how pervasive it had become. The art critic N. Sei argued that “the expression of the spirit of the times should take precedence over that of local color. The universal outlook and characteristic of the age should be acknowledged before a vivid

162 In Wang Kun-nan’s painting entitled Fountain Between Trees (Fig. 13), he signs his name “KONNAN.” Many Taiwanese artists from this colonial period signed their names based off of Japanese names or romanizations that reflected the pronunciation used during that time, whether Japanese or Taiwanese. 87

representation of local color was to be achieved….”163 Other adjudicators such as

Shiotsuki Toho agreed with this sentiment suggesting that it was difficult to base local color purely on subject matter, but that “with the dwindling of distance between Taiwan and the outside world, it seemed impractical to delimit the local artists’ thematic scope to

Taiwanese subjects only.” These art critics’ comments reiterate the underlying notion that the official exhibitions and many of the art educators and adjudicators promoted the painting of local colors to the point where it transformed the painting style of Taiwanese artists and created an entirely new manner of artistic practice on the island. Yen Chuan- ying and Andrew Shih-Ming Pai note that it was not until the 1940s that some of the younger artists began to finally abandon the mainstream “local color” style of Taiwan.164

It is of interest to note that this term “local,” prescribed by the Japanese and essentially used as a colonial tool in subjugation and identification of particular characteristics of a conquered land, evolved to have a different meaning to the

Taiwanese. Stephen Phillips notes that, “…Taiwanese often used the adjective “local” (

 chs. difang; jpn. chiho) to describe the type of self-government they sought. To islanders, “local” included greater autonomy at the island wide level and below.”165 This reappropriation of the term signifies a Taiwanese use of a colonial government-given concept, but turns its discriminatory purpose back against the governing power from which it was conceived.

163Yen Chuanying’s translation in “Yingzao naguo meishu diantang: Taiwanzhan chuanqi,” in Fenjing xinjing, 92. 164 Yen Chuan-ying, Guankan de yanjing yu sisuo de xinling (    The seeing eye and the searching mind), in , no. 3:33-42. 165 S. Phillips, 307. 88

Conclusion The colonial conquest of Taiwan dramatically transformed the art world on the island. Taiwanese artists were required to make a shift from a traditional style of painting to westernized methods of artistic practice in order to survive as an artist in the colonial- controlled art world of the day. The modifications in the art education system, in particular, worked to create an entirely new artistic style and artists with a ‘modernized’ perspective. The result is individuals leaving behind the traditional practices of ink painting and whole-heartedly embracing Western methods and the use of Western materials.

This massive upheaval within the artistic realm of colonial rule brought about the

“modern” art form of oil painting, but still within a carefully controlled environment. The colonial government judiciously provided the means for artists to develop within the confines of specific mediums and subject matter. Local color came to dominate the subject matter for both toyōga and yōga artists, and essentially became a somewhat

“colonized style” in Taiwan. Similar to other circumstances where restrictions are applied, these limitations give way to both the creation of a uniform style, but also the impetus for creatively working within these constraints.

The following sections will explore Chen Cheng-po’s venture into this paradoxical realm of opportunity and restriction. Having this chapter hopefully sets up the context from which Chen Cheng-po emerged and worked within. It also will help to emphasize his creativity in thought and artistic practice as he worked within the colonial context to create works that, I believe, reveal dual perspectives on the colonial

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situation—a Japanese colonial perspective and a Taiwanese colonial understanding of the occupation for Taiwanese readership.

What is interesting about Chen’s overall style is that it conforms to the regions in which he lived and to the exhibitions in which his paintings were accepted. A look at his paintings in the next several chapters will help to establish his style as well as the accepted style for Taiwanese artists during the colonization. I would like to suggest that

Chen’s ability to align his works with the dictating ideas for the exhibitions in Japan and

Taiwan in particular gained him acceptance into these exhibitions. This also suggests that his painting style in China veered from this standard as he was painting outside of his

‘home region.’ Chen’s style varied from place to place as he traveled, his characteristic methods of practice are an excellent example of Taiwanese painting during the Japanese colonization of Taiwan. Many Taiwanese artists, regardless of working in the Japanese termed ‘Eastern-style’ of painting or in the western-style of painting, followed the characteristics of local color in order to have their works accepted into the official exhibitions. Chen Cheng-po was no exception to this transformation of style in his homeland. However, what is important to be aware of is that painting ‘local color’ was not the only ‘style’ in which Taiwanese artists worked. Focusing many of their pieces on subjects that represented their Taiwan does not belittle their efforts, but demonstrates their ability to work in different modes in order to exhibit their pieces. Chen makes evidence of this as a prime example of a colonial subject who found success in his homeland, in the region of the colonizers, and even abroad in China. The adaptability of

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these artists attests to their abilities to adjust as well as express themselves within a controlled environment.

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Chapter 3: The Development of Identity, Modernity, and Hybridity: The Formative Years

and the Tokyo School of Fine Arts

As mentioned in earlier chapters, Chen Cheng-po serves as an excellent example of the transitions taking place during the occupation. Similar to the contemporaneous

Taiwanese artists working during this same period mentioned in Chapter Two, Japanese colonization presented Chen with many opportunities for developing his artistic abilities but also challenged him as a Taiwanese individual and colonial subject. The historical context of Chen’s life shaped where he travelled, when he moved, the materials he used for his artwork, and the subject matter of his paintings.

Generally speaking, examining Chen’s works, where he lived and traveled, in addition to his success as an artist, should provide a better understanding of the modernity of East Asia and the effects of Japanese colonization on Taiwan. Chapters

Three, Four, and Five introduce Chen Cheng-po’s life in a more detailed manner as well as provide a thorough analysis of his paintings. Since his oil painting oeuvre alone includes over two hundred works, these sections will examine a portion of Chen’s paintings selected as a representative of his overall style and subject matter. These paintings provide a glimpse into particular aspects of his life and the cultural environment during which he lived.

In investigating Chen’s paintings as illustrations of his time and life, these three chapters will explore his stylistic characteristics as well as subject matter. This will lead

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to a consideration of any connections between these factors of style and subject matter, and issues of the occupation like identity and hybridity.166 Thus, any links between his style and subject matter, and the regions and time in which he lived will become more apparent. Attempting to understand Chen’s works stylistically and regionally naturally lends itself to the necessity of looking at his paintings chronologically, since his images stylistically evolve over the years as he studies and travels. This can be divided into three active periods, beginning after his formative years in Taiwan, in his studies at the Tokyo

School of Fine Arts (1924-1929), his time working and exhibiting in China (1929-1933), and his return to Taiwan where he was eventually killed by the Kuomintang government

(1933-1947).

It is also important to consider how the Taiwanese responded to the pluralism of cultures and ideologies while examining Chen Cheng-po’s paintings. How did this inform

166 In an essay entitled “Signs Taken for Wonders,” Bhabha introduces the concept of cultural hybridity resulting from forms of colonization. He describes the idea that the disassociation between the colonial power and the colonized is not repressed, but “repeated as something different—a mutation, a hybrid.” Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture, “Signs Taken for Wonders: Questions of ambivalence and authority under a tree outside Delhi, May 1817”, 102-122. He continues by writing, Hybridity is the revaluation of the assumption of colonial identity through the repetition of discriminatory identity effects. It displays the necessary deformation and displacement of all sites of discrimination and domination. It unsettles the mimetic or narcissistic demands of colonial power but reimplicates its identifications in strategies of subversion that turn the gaze of the discriminated back upon the eye of power…. colonial specularity, doubly inscribed, does not produce a where the self apprehends itself; it is always the split screen of the self and its doubling, the hybrid. In other words, Bhabha describes how hybridity within the colonized demonstrates a resistance to the power of the colonizer. This is accomplished by the fact that the colonized are not simply reformulated citizens of the occupiers, but instead, as they reevaluate the standards placed on them they are an entirely hybridized form, something entirely their own. Thus, instead of simply resisting or repressing the constructs of the colonialist foreign body, the conquered country takes on those constructs in a way that is not repeated, but different. How can Chen’s paintings be analyzed within this theoretical context? His works may serve as examples of this hybridization and the displacement of the domination of the colonial power. 93

the Taiwanese identity, or the Taiwanese understanding of themselves? Liao Ping-Hui summarizes it well when he states,

When negotiating from the margin and with multiple heritages, Taiwanese intellectuals under Japanese rule often became bricoleurs in mixing transnational codes and forces to their own advantage, especially in the case of overseas students in Tokyo between 1915 and 1935, who seemed to have no difficulty in accepting both the Chinese and the Japanese modernization experiences.167 Edward Said’s book Orientalism may seem an unusual source to draw from when examining the context of Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule and paintings of Chen

Cheng-po, but it corresponds remarkably well with the situation of Taiwan during this period. Said’s work addresses the history of “Orientalism” as a discourse and how this concept has been utilized over the centuries. In his treatise on this, sometimes contentious, topic, Said centers on the Orientalist view of Europe towards the Arab world. Said’s question is about how we understand people that are different from us by the color or nature of their skin. He notes that often, we have a preconceived notion of who they are or what they are like even though we have never met them. The way we acquire this

167 Liao Ping-Hui, “Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory,” in Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 1-34. p. 5. “[The Bricoleur’s] first practical step is retrospective. He has to turn back to an already existent set made up of tools and materials, to consider or reconsider what it contains and, finally and above all, to engage in a sort of dialogue with it and, before choosing between them, to index the possible answers which the whole set can offer to his problem.” Claude Lévi-Strauss defined the term “bricoleur” in comparison to the “engineer” in his book The Savage Mind. In this text he describes the bricoleur as having the ability to bring together in a new way, things that already exist. The bricoleur creates without the use of new tools, but instead, turns to existing tools and materials. Within this understanding, the concept of bricolage refers to the act of assembling something with a variety of available objects or styles. Lévi-Strauss applies this term to the context of artists and their stylistic characteristics as well. In doing so, Lévi-Strauss raises the idea of interlocutors, and the dialogue with the materials and means of execution by which he defines bricolage. Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Savage Mind, 20. 94

knowledge is highly motivated. According to Said, There is a lens that distorts these people and places and this lens is Orientalism. It serves as a framework we use to understand the unfamiliar and the strange.

He identifies Orientalism as a “…western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.”168 Said uses examples of colonizing forces entering regions, not only with military force, but with scholars, scientists, etc., who record the region as information and return this ‘knowledge’ to the home country. The Orient was typically represented in very exotic or romantic terms. In paintings like those by the nineteenth century French artist Jean-Leon Gerome, we see this exotic depiction of the

Middle East, not a realistic scene, but a patchwork of ideas of what the ‘Orient’ is. The painting entitled The Snake Charmer, serves as an example of an artist not traveling to the land but visually greating the preconceived notions of the conquered land. The documents encompassed in the Description de l’Egypte certainly serves as examples of documenting the land of Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte’s request.

In Orientalism, Edward Said addresses the issue of how the Orient, or the “East”, is viewed by the Occident, or the “West”, by redefining the term “orientalism”. He positions this discussion around how Western cultures have viewed the Middle East in particular. Said views this development of the concept of orientalism as a European exoticism of the Orient as these Western powers colonize lesser developed countries of the East. Thus, in viewing these civilizations of the East as the "Other", the Europeans used these divisions of "us" and "them" to define themselves.

168 Edward Said. Orientalism, p. 3. 95

The obvious irony in the Taiwanese colonial situation is that Japan is an Eastern power, using westernization as a means of civilizing another Eastern region. It is through this acquisition and purposeful shaping of Taiwan that Japan constructs its own identity, and as a result, the construction of the identity of Taiwan.

The construction of identity – for identity, whether of Orient or Occident, France or Britain, while obviously a repository of distinct collective experiences, is finally a construction – involves establishing opposites and “others” whose actuality is always subject to the continuous interpretation and re-interpretation of their differences from “us”. Each age and society re-creates its “Others”. Far from a static thing then, identity of self or of “other” is a much worked-over historical, social, intellectual, and political process that takes place as a contest involving individuals and institutions in all societies…. In short, the construction of identity is bound up with the disposition of power and powerlessness in each society, and is therefore anything but mere academic wool-gathering…. What makes all these fluid and extraordinarily rich actualities difficult to accept is that most people resist the underlying notion: that human identity is not only not natural and stable, but constructed, and occasionally even invented out-right.169

Said's discussion of identity here raises two interesting points. The first is that identity is entirely constructed and, essentially, is an active, transitional notion shaped by history, society, intellect, and politics. The second point is the consideration of identity as

"a repository of distinct collective experiences". Within the context of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the identity that the colonial government invents for Taiwan is just that, an invented identity. Taiwan becomes the "Other" that Said discusses as requiring, according to the colonizer, "civilizing" or, westernizing. Particularly in the process of westernizing the island, the Taiwanese receive a translated form of westernization through the eye of their Eastern, or Oriental colonizer. In addition, that constructed

169 Edward Said, Orientalism, New York: Vintage, 1979, p. 332. 96

identity actively changes for the colonized Taiwanese as their construction of how to identify themselves shifts with transitions in policy, culture, and language.

The subjugation of the land and its culture that Said writes about is certainly something we see in the Japanese colonization of Taiwan. Ishikawa Kinichiro was sent to

Taiwan originally to record Taiwan in watercolors for the purpose of sending home illustrations of the luscious and exotic island. Liao Ping-Hui notes that “…for Ishikawa… art was an ideal agency for domination and redemption.”170 What Said points out in his writings is that the recording of the exotic in the Orient records those features dissimilar to the colonizing power and those that point out characteristics that may depict a need for civility.

How this transfers to the Japan-Taiwan relationship during the occupation is intriguing. The Japanese government certainly made efforts to record and portray the

“exotic” peoples and landscape of the tropical island of Taiwan. In so doing, they implemented their power over Taiwan and in “enforcing”171 the depiction of local color in art work, they orientalized Taiwan by having Taiwanese and Japanese artists depicting this exoticized land using Western artistic techniques.

170 Liao, Ping-Hui (), “Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory” in Ping-Hui Liao and David Der-wei Wang eds., Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945, New York Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press, 2006, p. 8. 171 By enforcement, I am not referring to a specific regulation as much as an indirect implementation of this subject matter. By using the national exhibits (Taiten and Futen) the Japanese adjudicators and organizers essentially had control of the art production and who was recognized as artists to the public. See Wang Hsiu-Hsiung’s article entitled “Development of Official Art Exhibitions in Taiwan,” in Mayo, Marlene, J. Thomas Rimer, H. Eleanor Kerkham, eds., War, Occupation, and Creativity, Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2001, pp 92-120. 97

According to an article by Wang Hsiu-Hsiung,172 paintings in the traditional

Chinese style and material were not eligible in these exhibitions and the toyōga173 section was very small in comparison to the yōga174 section. Thus we see another aspect of the

“Orientalizing” characteristics of “civilizing” the Taiwanese by westernizing and modernizing their art world. This is exactly where Said’s theory of Orientalism becomes more complicated within the context of Taiwan. This is because the “Orientalizing” comes from within the “Orient” but transfers “Occidental” or “non-Oriental” methods of practice. Edward Said felt the strong disparity between what he felt as an Arab and the depiction of Arabs and so he decided to write the history of it. The query in regards to this paper is whether Chen, can be understood as seeing the disparity and wanting, like

Said, to write the history of this disparity, or describe it accurately in his works.

In addition, the idea of identity as a repository of experiences can be examined particularly well in the context of the individual. Certainly Chen has a very unique repository of distinct collective experiences. Not only does he have the set of experiences from within Taiwan as a colonial individual, but also those of an art student in Japan and a teacher and active artist in China. Chen's paintings reflect this construction of his identity in a distinctive manner. As this next section elucidates, Chen was born into this

“Orientalizing” culture and was informed by it even before he left to study abroad.

172 Wang Hsiu-Hsiung’s article entitled “Development of Official Art Exhibitions in Taiwan,” in Mayo, Marlene, J. Thomas Rimer, H. Eleanor Kerkham, eds., War, Occupation, and Creativity, Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2001, pp 92-120. 173 Toyōga () translates as “eastern style” painting and differs from nihonga ( ), or “Japanese style” painting mostly in name. It generally connotes paintings of ink or gouache (or both) on silk in the more “traditional” way of painting in regions like Taiwan, Japan, and China. 174 Yōga () translates as “western style” painting and generally refers to oil paint on canvas, contrasting it with the “eastern style” or “Japanese style” of painting. 98

Chen Cheng-po’s Formative Years Chen Cheng-po was born in February, 1895, just two months before the Treaty of

Shimonseki was signed and Taiwan was ceded to Japan to begin fifty years of colonial rule.175 Although Chen’s life was dominated by the Japanese occupation and shaped by the evolution of its history, he managed to traverse its confines, constantly aware of his roots before the colonization began. It was much later in life when Chen stated, “I was born during the Qing empire and I will die under Qing rule.”176 Similar to many

Taiwanese during this period, understanding one’s identity, whether born before or during the Japanese colonial era, was an issue Chen faced as an individual and artist throughout his career.

Shortly after his birth, Chen’s mother passed away, leaving his father and grandmother to raise him.177 Perhaps because of this loss early in his life, or even the complexity and transition in education during the initial stages of colonization, Chen began school later in life, enrolling into Chiayi Public Elementary178 in April of 1907.

Two years later, Chen’s father, Chen Shou-yu, passes away. With these losses, Chen

Cheng-po went to live first with his uncle, and later his grandmother cared for him. After

175 Yan Chuan-ying. Chen Cheng-po, Taiwan Fine Arts Series, (Taipei: Yishujia chuban she, 1993). Li Su-Chu,   Something     , M.A. Thesis, Ph.D. Dissertation. 176 Yan Chuan-ying. Chen Cheng-po, Taiwan Fine Arts Series. Since Chen was born during the Qing Dynasty, he claims a heritage in what was a non-Japanese ruled period. This statement he makes refers to being born during a non-Japanese ruled time and the desire to have a non-Japanese government, preferably a Chinese state, ruling again during his lifetime. 177 Lin Yu-Chun, Youcai, reqing, Chen Cheng-po, 1994. 178 Chiayi Public Elementary is currently Chiayi Chung-Wen Elementary ( ). 99

graduating from Chiayi Public school179 in 1913, Chen enrolled into the Department of

Normal Education180 at the Taiwan Governor-General’s National Language School. As one of the colonial government’s established schools, these “Normal” schools trained students to be teachers in various disciplines.

It is at the National Language School that Chen came under the tutelage of

Ishikawa Kin’ichirō. Ishikawa is recognized as the most renowned of the Japanese art instructors in Taiwan during the colonial period, acknowledged most notably for his introduction and promotion of western art to Taiwan. Chen’s relationship as Ishikawa’s student developed into a lifelong friendship where the two artists kept in regular communication even after Chen’s graduation in 1917, exchanging ideas on painting, exhibiting, and the art world of East Asia.

This regular artistic guidance of Ishikawa Kin’ichirō towards Chen Cheng-po is seen in written letters and postcards such as the letter written by Ishikawa on August sixteenth, 1934 (Fig. 15). Similar to other dialogues between the two, in this letter,

Chen’s teacher encourages him to look to French artists for artistic ideas, as well as responding to Chen’s desire to study in France by suggesting he stay within Asia to continue his artistic practice because of the high cost of traveling to and living in France.

Ishikawa also encourages his former pupil to continue to submit works to the Imperial

Exhibition in Tokyo, the Teiten, and mentions his discontent with the standards and level of painting presented at the Taiwan exhibition. Even more specific advice would be

179 Chiayi Gong xuexiao ( ) 180 Taiwan zongdufu guoyu xuexiao gong xue shifan (    ), now known as Taipei Municipal University of Education, Taipei shili jiaoshi daxue (  ) 100

shared by Ishikawa. Another postcard (Fig. 16) sent by the Japanese instructor shows his advice for Chen to use more purple in his paintings.

The relationship between Ishikawa Kin’ichirō and Chen Cheng-po serves to demonstrate Chen’s openness to learning various artistic practices and stylistic ideas as well as provide Chen’s chief exposure, at this time, to western art as promoted by the colonial government. It is at the National Language School with Ishikawa that Chen and his classmates mastered the use of Western techniques to inform their drawing and painting. One main western teaching method Ishikawa fervently encouraged is the practice of painting en plein air,181 or painting outdoors. As the accepted mode of painting taught by Japanese art instructors, this western training method became the means by which future Taiwanese students were taught to draw and paint.

In a recently published essay, Pai Shih-Ming explores the early watercolors of

Chen from this early period at the National Language School.182 These paintings from

Chen’s years studying with Ishikawa were only newly released in 2012. In Pai Shih-

Ming’s research, he notes the focus Chen Cheng-po takes on sketching from life. In fact, in one of the earliest watercolors from this body of work, Watershed (Fig. 17), from

1915, Chen writes into the area of his signature the characters for “sketching from life”

(Jp. shasei, Chs. xiesheng).183 Ishikawa trained his Taiwanese and Japanese students in

181 En plein air is a French expression which translates as “in the open air”. It was an accepted painting practice where artists would paint outdoors depicting what was before them in what was in natural light. 182 Pai Shih-Ming, “’Sketching from Life,’ Modern Scenery, and Chen Cheng-po During His Study at the National Language School—Revelations from Newly Disclosed Watercolors,” in Under the Searing Sun—A Solo Exhibition by Chen Cheng-po (Yanyang xia de Chen Cheng-po), Taipei: Qin xuan wenjioa ji jin hui, 2012, pp. 20-33. 183 Ibid., p. 28. 101

this “modern” practice, taking them on field trips to paint en plein air and establishing a

“Sketching Society.” Chen spends the rest of his artistic career sketching from life, as documented in his many sketchbooks that still survive today, and even makes it standard practice when it comes time for him to have students in China.

After Chen graduates from the department of Normal Education in 1917, he accepts a teaching position at Chiayi Public Elementary School in his hometown. A year later he marries Chang Chieh, also from Chiayi. Their first daughter Tsu-wei is born in

1919 while Chen is still teaching at Chiayi Public Elementary. But one year later Chen is transferred to the Huzinei Campus of Shuikutou Public Elementary School.184 This photograph (Fig. 18) of Chen teaching students from Shuikutou Public Elementary school to draw en plein air demonstrates his acceptance of this western artistic practice as well as a continuation of these western methods passing on to the next generation in Taiwan.

Very few examples of Chen’s artworks from this early period have survived, but these few examples of his watercolors (Tropic of Cancer Post (1921), Lumber Factory

(1921), A Stroll in the Countryside (1916), and Mother and Daughter on an Outing

(1916), (Fig. 19, Fig. 20, Fig. 21, Fig. 22, respectively) illustrate the start of his painting development, and a few of his emerging characteristics. Samples of painting en plein air, these simple paintings display a number of influences of the colonial governance on art.

Within these works is a focus on painting naturalistic portrayals of scenes outdoors with a development of western techniques such as one-point perspective in order to depict visual accuracy and depth. These works illustrate not only the modernization of artistic style as

184 Lin Yu-chun, Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest (Xing guo Jiangnan: Chen Cheng-po yishu tansuo licheng), (Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2012), Timeline. 102

employed by Japanese art instructors in Taiwan, but also the modernization of the island overall.

Lumber Factory (Fig. 20) depicts an industrial side of Chiayi developed by the colonial government as its main subject. Particularly prominent is the smoke stack on the right, and the electric tower on the left with wires stretching across the image. The subject matter of the factory and the Tropic of Cancer (Fig. 19) marker reappear in later works, amidst the lush greenness of Taiwan’s scenery. Another recurring element that is fascinating to find in early paintings as these, is the adult figure with a parasol accompanying a child. As a characteristic of Chen’s, many writers speculate the meaning of this recurring set of figures. Most authors point to the lost relationship with his parents after being orphaned at such a young age. Li Su-Chu makes the point that, figure pairings of an adult with parasol, hand-in-hand with a young child is depicted in many

Impressionist works. Li goes on to note that since Chen is later quoted in an interview in

1933 stating that in one’s painting an artist must portray “  

(Something).” These figures hand-in-hand, she argues, represent many things to Chen— himself and his upbringing and grandmother figure; himself and his father; himself and his family members.185

185 Li Su-Chu,   Something    , M.A. Thesis (2000), Ph.D. Dissertation (2005), 83-87. Li Su-Chu, “Xieyi and Sketch: On “A Figure with Parasol” by Chen Cheng-Po and ,” in Taiwan meishu, (Taichung: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, October, 2009), No. 78, 4-27. 103

Chen Cheng-po in Japan In order to gain a complete understanding of these five years in Tokyo, this section begins with a brief exploration of the cultural climate in the burgeoning city of

Tokyo. Characteristics of the education at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and the educational climate in which Chen Cheng-po was immersed will be addressed through an examination of primary source materials, such as letters, notebooks, and other documents from Chen Cheng-po’s collection. Examining these materials alongside his works created in Tokyo provides an understanding of the opportunities afforded him as a result of his time in Japan. What this section considers is that the context in which Chen developed while in Tokyo led to his development as a modern painter that was the foundation for further exploration of his identity while in China and in his return to Taiwan. This implies, then, that as an artist in this avant-garde time and place, Chen began the transformation from being merely “influenced” by artistic methods, to “appropriating” styles to create new and original works of art.

Tokyo a Cosmopolitan City (Modernization and Westernization) In March of 1924, Chen Cheng-po leaves his position at Shuikutou Public

Elementary School and the next month enrolls into the Normal Education Division at the

Tokyo School of Fine Arts.186 This same month, his daughter Pi-nu is born. Although away from his family who stay in Chiayi during his education in Tokyo, postcards written to his children show his constant communication with them despite this shift in location. These postcards serve as useful documents providing an understanding of where

Chen was located and what type of works he saw.

186 Lin Yu-chun, Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, Timeline. 104

Traveling to Tokyo for further art education, Chen Cheng-po enters into a city and nation riveted with the concept of modernity. Although raised in a Japanese-governed territory with a Japanese education and the Japanese language, with the ability to pass freely into Tokyo as a colonial subject, Chen was essentially entering a “foreign country.” Since the colonial system in Taiwan was modeled after the Japanese

“homeland,”187 one could argue that the aspiration for modernity was even stronger in

Tokyo than in Taiwan.

Familiar with the “modernization” as it evidenced itself in Taiwan, Chen had experienced the “modernity” which was seemingly synonymous with “westernization.”

Continuing to be immersed in this modernity was not something foreign to Chen at this point. “This sense of modernity manifested itself in the appearance of a ‘Westernization.’

After World War I a second wave of Westernization swept over Japan, and by the mid-

1920s “modanizumu” became the catchword of the times.”188 The term “modan” was used regularly in newspaper and magazine articles and advertisements throughout Japan.

What is crucial to understand about the propensity for modernization, or westernization, in Japan at this time, is that it is not simply an acquisition of Western characteristics, nor a mere transfer of non-Japanese modernist forms, but that the artistic styles “were varied and developed by their articulation in Japan.”189 The goal was not to

187 E. Patricia Tsurumi, Japanese Colonial Education in Taiwan, 1895-1945, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977, p. 222. 188 Elise K. Tipton and John Clark, “Introduction,” in Being Modern in Japan: Culture and Society from the 1910s to the 1930s, Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2000, p. 7. 189 Ibid., p. 9. It is also imperative to note that the focus on modernization transformed from the time the was enthroned and the time Chen Cheng-po arrived in Tokyo. Gennifer Weisenfeld writes that “By the late 1910s and early 1920s, impulses to 105

create or imitate western art, but to glean from western art, styles and techniques to create modern art, an art that was not necessarily Taiwanese, or Chinese, or Japanese, but was a part of the canon of modern art. Chen Cheng-po himself stated, “It is ill-advised for us

Asians to aimlessly regurgitate the painting styles of Westerners.”190 Chen serves as a valuable example of articulating the integration of these varied forms.

Beyond mere stylistic influence, the materials of oil paint and canvas were one way of ‘modernizing’ or ‘Westernizing’ practices in the artistic realm. “Oil painting became an important factor in Japan’s understanding and reception of western culture, and conversely, in Japan’s search for its own identity in this formative phase of its interaction with global cultures.”191 In turn, using these materials became a part of the identity of Taiwanese artists like Chen Cheng-po, who received them as a “translation” of artistic form through the Japanese colonial perspective.

By the time Chen arrives in Tokyo, written works by eminent Western painters had been translated into Japanese in literary journals like Shirakaba.192 Vincent Van

Gogh’s Letters was published in 1911, ’s, Noa Noa, in 1912, and Henri

Matisse’s Notes of a Painter in 1913. Through various publications, photographic

Westernize, while still abundantly in evidence, were clearly less state-driven and less focused on national political goals.” Weisenfeld also argues that it is difficult to speak of a single Japanese experience of modernity. See, Weisenfeld, “The Expanding Arts of the Interwar Period,” in Since Meiji: Perspectives on the Japanese Visual Arts, 1868-2000, Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press, 2012, pp. 66-67. 190 “Studio Tour” in “New Taiwan People’s Newspaper” (Taiwan Xinmin Bao) Fall 1934. “     ” 191 Emiko Yamanshi, “Japanese Encounter with Western Painting in the Meiji and Taishō Eras,” Japan and : , Postimpressionism, and the Modern Era, Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2004, pp. 29-37, p. 29. 192 Alicia Volk, “A Unified Rhythm: Past and Present in Japanese Modern Art,” in Japan and Paris: Impressionism, Postimpressionism, and the Modern Era, Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2004, pp. 39-55, p. 45. 106

reproductions of Western works were widely available in the decades prior to Chen

Cheng-po’s arrival in Tokyo. The publications and photographic reproductions from

Chen’s collection from his time in Tokyo are numerous. The artistic and cultural inspiration originating from Europe, North America, and Russia was widespread in

Japan.193 In addition to this,

By the mid-1920s, occasions for viewing European art were so frequent as to be commonplace in Tokyo and Osaka and even to some extent in smaller regional cities… the 1920s were marked by a virtually continuous rotation of modern European works of art in a panoply of styles and by artists of various salon affiliations.194

Within Chen’s own collection, are a number of art exhibit catalogues of contemporary

French art. One from 1924 is an exhibit held in Tokyo and Osaka (Fig. 23). Based on several of the reproductions, stylistic influences are apparent. Another catalogue from

1927 is of the sixth exhibit of contemporary French art that was also on display in Tokyo and Osaka (Fig. 24). Chen Cheng-po’s exposure to art from all over the world began to flourish during his time in Tokyo. His paintings from this period reflect the beginning of this development.

In addition to the many exhibits of works that Chen Cheng-po was exposed to during his interim in Tokyo, his collection of books and documents reveals a portable compilation of reproductions from which to study. 195 “In the early decades of the twentieth century, the study of books, journals, and lithographs remained an effective and

193 G. Weisenfeld, p. 66. 194 A. Volk, p. 49. 195 Li Su-chu has completed extensive research on Chen Cheng-po’s image collection. Li Su-chu, “Chen Cheng-po tupian shoucang yu Chen Cheng-po huihua,” (“Chin To-ha’s Illustrative Plate Collection and His Paintings”), in Yishu xue yanjiu nianbao, Taipei: Yishujia chubanshe, 2010. No. 7, pp. 97-182. 107

recognized part of painting studies in Japan.”196 Certain texts, such as Shina no bijutsu

(Fig. 25),197 describes and depicts the artistic methods of Japan and Taiwan’s closer neighbor, China. Chen also retained a copy of a catalogue printed in 1916 of a show on

Belgian Art in Exile (Fig. 26), with text in French and English. Another book, on

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), printed in 1922 (Fig. 27), demonstrates the study of the works of the acclaimed Dutch painter and etcher. Such reproductions and text present a visual rendering of chiaroscuro, this bold contrast between light and shadow or darkness, for which Rembrandt is renowned. It also represents Western thought and religious beliefs, a focus of many of Rembrandt’s works. Both this text and a copy of a Shirakaba (White Birch) journal from March 1, 1924, Chen’s first year in

Tokyo, contain two of Rembrandt’s well-recognized self-portraits (Fig. 28), one from the

National Gallery, London, and the other in the Musée de Louvre, Paris. Kunitami Bijutsu, published in 1920, presents various examples of Western nudes, and may have served as an influence on Chen’s depictions of nudes.

Chen Cheng-po’s collection of publications on Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) and his work have been discussed in numerous essays covering this Taiwanese artist.

Reproductions of Van Gogh’s work as well as pages from a Japanese publication featuring self-portraits of Van Gogh and even Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), both accompanied by short descriptions of the artists (Fig. 30). A 1928 copy of みづえ contains images such as Maurice Utrillo’s work (Fig. 31), which was painted in 1924.

196 E. Yamanashi, p. 36. 197 This book was written by Kuwayama Masuji () and was printed in the third year of the Taisho era (1915). In the collection of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Chiayi City. 108

The influences from such artists as Utrillo, is undeniable. The availability to view such works within the time period that they were created, even in reproduction, accents the immersion of an art world that truly was part of a world art community. Chen also owned a volume set of World Art Collection (Sekai bijutsu zenshū, 術), written in

Japanese and published in 1929. All of these above mentioned documents serve as excellent examples of the transmission of artistic styles and methods from all over the world to artists living in a large city like Tokyo. It demonstrates Chen’s engagement in this convergence of international influences that was evidently a part of the city to which he moved.

In all of this, it is imperative to remember the translation of artistic perspective and understanding that occurs. In texts, the perspective of a Japanese author denotes the

Japanese experience of Western art, which Chen then absorbs, as a Taiwanese artist with a differing viewpoint and background on China. Chen, then, translates these various impacts into his artistic output.

The Tokyo School of Fine Arts The oil painter Liao Chi-chun, mentioned in a previous chapter, entered the

Tokyo School of Fine Arts (TSFA) along with Chen Cheng-po, in 1924. They joined other Taiwanese artists such as Huang Tushui, who was the first Taiwanese artist to have a work accepted into the Imperial Art Salon (Teiten) in Japan, to continue the Japanese artistic studies begun in Taiwan. Together they lived in the dormitory set apart for

Taiwanese, which was named Takasago-ryo. 198 Chen Cheng-po and Chen Zhiqi

198 “The word takasago is said to be derived from an expression that the early Japanese traders used to refer to an aboriginal tribe (Takoasa) in southern Taiwan. Yanaihara 109

attempted to organize a Taiwanese art student group at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, but because of opposition by Huang Tushui (1895-1930), the two students ended their efforts.199 This does, however, provide a glimpse of Chen Cheng-po’s early desire to gather a group of Taiwanese artists together, and his sense of a need for a common community of Taiwanese. Although this association was never realized in Tokyo, it demonstrates Chen’s awareness of a Taiwanese identity and the differences experienced while in Tokyo.

Having the vibrant and burgeoning artistic environment of Tokyo was an added stimulation to his five-year education. The TSFA itself aided in providing a foundation from which Chen and his fellow students could acquire the knowledge and skills to view and evaluate incoming artistic trends, and explore their own work in respect to artwork from other parts of the world. Originally founded in 1887, the TSFA was collaboratively established by the American art historian Ernest Fenellosa (1846-1908), and Okakura

Kakuzō (1862-1913), among other eminent scholars. 200 It was not until 1896, when

Tadao, Riben diguozhuyi xia zhi Taiwan (Taiwan under Japanese Imperialism) trans. Lin Mingde, (1929; Taipei: Wu Sanlian Taiwan Shiliao Jijinhui, 2004) 18, 26-27. Takasago became a term associated with Taiwanese aborigines (takasago zoku) in general, while Taiwan was sometimes referred to as “the country of takasago.” The Taiwanese students’ dormitory in Tokyo, which was built in 1912 with funding appropriated by Taiwanese Governor-General, was named Takasago-ryo.” Lai Jen-yi, Cultural Identity and the Making of Modern Taiwanese Painting During the Japanese Colonial Period (1895- 1945). Dissertation, The University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: ProQuest/UMI, 2008. (Publication No. AAT 3343126), 97. 199 Lai Jen-yi, 108. Ye Sifen, “Yingxiong chu shaonian: tiancai huajia Chen Zhiqi,” Taiwan meishu quanji: Chen Zhiqi, vol. 14 (Taipei: Yishujia, 1995), 31. Yen Chuan-ying, Taiwan jindai meishu dashi nianbiao 1895-1945, p. 76. 200 Influenced by the Western art institutes visited on Okakura Kakuzō’s ‘Enquiry tour,’ the Tokyo School of Fine Arts had many similarities to those of its Western counterparts and was modestly modeled after them. Interestingly, many of the courses and techniques developed according to Western institutes, yet the mediums were very different from 110

western-style, or yōga, painting was first taught with (1866-1924), who studied in Paris with Raphael Collin, as the first yōga department teacher at the TSFA.201

His students became celebrated artists, some of whom remained as teachers at the TSFA, overseeing students such as Chen Cheng-po. In the establishment of the Western division of the TSFA, Kuroda

advocated that art should reflect the artist’s thoughts and be a vehicle for self-expression…. He supported… the establishment of… government- sponsored art exhibitions modeled after the French salon…. These initiatives were all based on experience he gained when studying abroad. In large part due to Kuroda’s efforts, the Japanese art world developed an interest in the modern art movements of France and was inclined to adopt French practices as models for arts education and arts policies in Japan. 202

Thus, Kuroda’s initial efforts provided a foundation for many of the European influences that Chen experienced during his time at the TSFA.

The TSFA was the only academy for the teaching of fine arts at the time of its establishment, and for the first half of the twentieth century, remained as one of the most eminent art schools in all of East Asia. It was founded in 1887, with Okakura

Kakuzo as a major proponent. Classes began on February 1 of 1889 in the Educational

Museum in Ueno Park. According to Victoria Weston’s research, it had “Hamao Arata as director, Okakura Kakuzo as manager, Imaizumi Yusaku as administrator, and a faculty including for aesthetics, Imaizumi for history, and Kano Hogai, Kano

Tomonobu and Yuki Masaaki for painting.”203 It was an all male school offering a five-

non-Asian institutes. Victoria Weston, Japanese Painting and National Identity: Okakura Tenshin and His Circle, Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2004, pp. 71-82. 201 E. Yamanashi, p. 32. 202 Ibid., p. 33. 203 V. Weston. p. 77. 111

year curriculum with the first two years focusing on general courses and the last three years on specialized studies. According to Okakura and Fenollosa’s plans, the school was to inform their students of Western ideas in art, yet holding to the foundations of traditional Japan.

With the goal of instilling the students with the notion of their “roles as creative artists and as inheritors of the Japanese artistic tradition,” the faculty was to encourage creativity, while also promoting the understanding of the national responsibility of these artists as students at this school. The art and the teaching was to reflect these standards in all mediums of art taught at the school. The mediums taught at this early stage were painting, sculpture, lacquer, metalwork, and in the second year of the school’s establishment, the applied arts.

Up through 1929, the entrance requirements for Taiwanese were less rigorous than those for native Japanese students gaining enrollment to the institution.204 Along with this, however, is the disadvantage that the foreign students were not given certification to become teachers upon graduation.

Jessica Tsaiji Lyu-hada notes that after the Meiji Restoration, Japan “pursued a policy of distancing itself from the rest of Asia and forging stronger ties with Europe moving to exclude traditional Chinese (Han) culture in the process.” Lyu-hada goes on to state that a movement in the Japanese art world to reevaluate traditional Han was at its height when Chen Cheng-po went to study in Japan.205 Thus, during this

204 According to Lai Jen-yi and Yoshida Chizuko, in this period before 1929, foreign students were only required to pass the drawing test. Chizuko, p. 143. 205 Jessica Tsaiji Lyu-hada, “A Pivotal Moment in Taiwanese Modern Art: Chen Cheng- po’s Shanghai Period in Historical Perspective,” in Journey Through Jiangnan—A 112

period, Chen is in the midst of a shift in the understanding of traditional Chinese art and culture. This certainly produces an effect on Chen and his paintings, self-identity, and artistic perspective.

A number of documents belonging to Chen that survive today reveal a glimpse into his education at the TSFA, and the influx of philosophies from outside of East Asia.

Undoubtedly, Chen’s early understanding of Chinese art was affected by the text Shina kaigashi (The History of Chinese Painting) (Fig. 32, Fig. 33), and Shina no bijutsu, The

Art of China, found in his collection.206 Listing this here, calls attention not as much to the topic of the text, although that is important, but to perspective—that is the author’s perspective. Nakamura Fusetsu, Kojika Seiun, and Kuwayama Masuji, are Japanese authors, writing on the history of Chinese Painting. Revisiting the notion of “translation,” this is a reminder of Chen’s understanding as a colonial individual, reading through and looking at the Chinese works, chosen by Japanese authors, gaining an understanding of these works through this lens.

Textbooks from Chen’s education in Tokyo offer further evidence of the modernity offered in the use of Western artistic practices. In his four-volume set, the pages are filled with examples of Western drawing and painting methods, such as modeling and shading, the use of light and shadow, and simple line and color drawing

(Fig. 34, Fig. 35).

Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2012, p. 17. 206 Nakamura Fusetsu and Kojika Seiun, Shina kaigashi (The History of Chinese Painting, ), Tōkyō: Genkōsha. Kuwayama, Masuji, Shina no bijutsu, (The Art of China, ), Tokyo: Akagi Shozo, 1914. 113

One document of interest in understanding Chen Cheng-po’s coursework is his journal of class notes from 1926. This notebook was just released in the Autumn of 2011

(Fig. 36). Within the journal are notes from at least two courses taken with the teacher

Takeda Shinichi () (1896-1963). Takeda was a graduate of Tokyo Imperial

University and worked as a lecturer at various universities throughout his career including the TSFA. His specialty area was in Ancient Greek philosophy.207 In these courses with Takeda, Chen Cheng-po recorded notes on Socrates, Plato, Sophists, cultural history and exchange, contemporaries like Karl Joël, the history of humanity, and various other topics. Some subjects worthy of note deal with the subconscious, and art based on philosophy. The notebook extends beyond philosophy courses to the subjects of psychology, also with the names of Western scholars listed, as well as notes on characteristics of Buddhist painting, and Judeo-Christian beliefs. It appears that Chen recorded notes on learning English grammar and pronunciation. Of particular significance, is found within an Education course. The lecture appears to be covering the purpose of education. According to Takeda’s class, there is a personal purpose and a social purpose. The personal purpose aids in cultivating oneself, learning regulations, and prescribing a sense of purpose. In so doing, one can contribute to society and fulfill a social purpose. With this document, Chen not only took notes on cultural history and exchange, this notebook can also serves as an example of the global exchange taking place in Tokyo and the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, where Chen studied the various

207 He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo). Takeda Shinichi published translations on Immanuel Kant’s works on beauty and the sublime. Nihon jinmei daijiten, gendai, Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1979, p. 411. Kindai Nihon tetsugaku shisōka jiten, Tokyo: Tōkyō Shoseki, 1982, p. 335. 114

languages—both in the literal sense of speech but also various artistic languages that he would later hybridize and process in his paintings.

The compilation of documents that Chen Cheng-po amassed during his time in

Tokyo demonstrates the globality of the artistic environment in this region during this era. Reproductions of works from all over the world reached Tokyo and engaged the global art scene in Tokyo, with exhibits of the original works quickly following. As a crossroads of modernity and world art, it provided Chen Cheng-po the opportunity to become a part of this larger sphere of world art. In fact, Japan had become a part of the modern art conversation prior to Chen’s arrival as European artists such as Vincent Van

Gogh and (1834-1917) had already been influenced by the art of Japan in their own painting. Hence, in Chen’s time, we experience the mutual inspiration come full circle between Europe and Japan.

Paintings and Drawings While in Tokyo How did Chen Cheng-po articulate these converging styles, philosophies, and cultures? His paintings reveal the absorption of these various influences and the hybrid output of an artist in the midst of converging global axes.

Some examples of Chen’s early works during his schooling at the TSFA reveal a developing style as well as some of the usual requirements for the students of this revered art school. Although Chen is known as an oil painter, his aptitude for painting in other mediums is apparent in Loquat Tree (Fig. 37), Deep Private Thoughts (Fig. 38), Lilies

(Fig. 39), A Woman (Fig. 40), and an untitled work (Fig. 41). Painted as part of his curriculum at the TSFA, these are excellent samples of his schoolwork and ability to paint in the nihonga style. Both Loquat Tree and Lilies display a skill for observation and

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depiction of detail in gouache on silk and paper. In a typical “Eastern” or toyoga fashion, harkening back even to Chinese painting tradition, Chen uses fine lines to outline the forms he portrays and fills in the rest with color.

His figure paintings in Deep Private Thoughts and A Woman, also depicts this use of fine line outlining the shapes, with color filling in the space between the lines. Even though these are not as naturalistic a rendering as his portrayals of floral still lifes already mentioned, they do contain a certain style to them. The figures themselves are distinctly

Japanese, dressed in their kimono and tabi socks and geta sandals. A further example of this evident Japanese style in his early schoolwork is Chen’s Untitled (Fig. 41) painting.

Horizontal in format, every feature of this painting recalls Japanese emaki/, or , pieces from feudal era Japan. For those familiar with emaki, the well-known

Tale of Genji handscroll will immediately come to mind at the first glance at this painting. The aerial view into the sleeping quarters of the building depicted here is typical of the onna-e style of Japanese painting from the Genji scroll, as well as the very stylized portrayal of the hills, mountains, and water, visible through a break in the emblematic clouds that drift across the top of the piece.

It is important to note that these works, clearly a part of the coursework requirements at the TSFA, demonstrate training in the Japanese painting style tradition.

While Japanese and Chinese painting traditions share some similarities, these paintings by Chen in his early years at the TSFA, exhibit characteristics distinct to Japanese painting tradition, both in subject matter and style. Even the materials used, gouache instead of ink or watercolor, identify with the modifications of the modernized Japanese artistic techniques.

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The effect of the incoming international artistic practices is most evident in Chen

Cheng-po’s oil paintings and sketches from this period. The basic principles of

“Western” artistic methods, perspective, modeling, shading, light and shadow are fully demonstrated in Chen’s early works. Having mastered these academic practices demonstrates his foundational capabilities, thus building a trained background from which he experiments later in his career. Paintings like Still Life, illustrate Chen’s developing use of modeling and shading in his depictions of simple objects. Thus, the western techniques, taught by Chen’s painting teachers at the TSFA, most of whom were trained in Europe, were passed on to him and other Taiwanese and Japanese students.

This “translation” of style adopted by Japanese artists in France and then taught in

Tokyo, Japan, becomes the mode of stylistic operation for students passing through the classrooms of the TSFA.

The still life, Jug, from 1929, demonstrates a mastering of the modeling technique on the jug, mixed with a layering of paint on the radishes and their leaves that depicts side-by-side strokes of contrasting pigments. Still-Life—Breakfast, takes the academic standards and explores perspective and depth in the portrayal of the various objects, a stylistic consideration that Chen revisits in later works.

Chen’s oil painting, Tropic of Cancer Landmark dated to August of 1924, although an early work, demonstrates his early development as an artist. There is a clear combination of artistic techniques from which Chen draws. Appearing somewhat awkwardly is the portrayal of the base, where it is depicted from the front, but the base is also turned so that the side shows as well. This interest in depicting a clear geometry is a characteristic of the artist Paul Cezanne. Cezanne also modeled by hue and not with

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value, as in the traditional way of modeling. Artists such as took on this principle of Cezanne’s while artists like drew from the interest in portraying geometry and geometric forms. Chen’s works display a mix of these qualities and others as he developed his style in the later period of his life.

Tropic of Cancer Landmark (Fig. 42) is also a good example of the depiction of

Japanese colonial influence while depicting an important site in Chiayi. The Tropic of

Cancer marker naturally demarcates where the Tropic of Cancer cuts across Taiwan, with this particular point painted by Chen, marking out this location in Chiayi .

Interestingly, the pillar depicted in Chen’s painting was erected during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan to commemorate the opening of the railway line established by the government. The railway line, the first of its kind in Taiwan, was begun before the colonization of Taiwan began. But during the occupation, the construction of the railway line was accelerated and the first point from the south that it reached was in Chiayi at the

Tropic of Cancer. Thus, the subject matter holds significant meaning besides existing as a geographical marker.

It is clear that the western techniques, taught by Chen’s teachers at the TSFA,

Kuroda Seiki and Okada Saburosuke, both trained in Europe, were passed on to him and other Taiwanese and Japanese students. This “translation” of style adopted by Japanese artists in France and then taught in Tokyo, Japan, becomes the mode of stylistic operation for students passing through the classrooms of the TSFA.

Chen Cheng-po remained extremely active and was very successful during his early years at the TSFA. In June of 1925, he was selected for the second Hakujitsukai

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Exhibition, a Japanese-sponsored show. 208 Chen continues his affiliation with that exhibition by exhibiting with them again the following year in July. In August, Chen

Cheng-po, along with Chen Chih-chi and others, found the Chi-Hsiung Painting Society in Taiwan and open with their first exhibition held at the Taipei Museum from August

28th through the 31st.

1926 proved to be an extraordinary year for Chen. It is in October of 1926, that

Chen Cheng-po becomes the first Taiwanese painter to gain entrance into the Imperial

Art Exhibition. This amazing feat is only the beginning of his eminent career with the

Imperial Art Exhibition of Japan, the Teiten. In this crowning achievement, Chen Cheng- po’s painting Chiayi Suburbs (Fig. 43) was accepted into the seventh Exhibition of the

Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Japan, the Teiten. This recognition made Chen the first

Taiwanese painter to have work accepted into this prestigious show. This amazing feat is only the beginning of his eminent career with the Teiten. This same year, Chen’s first son, Chen Tsung-Kuang,209 was born.

Unfortunately, the whereabouts of Chen’s painting Chiayi Suburbs, the first

Taiwanese painting in the Teiten, is unknown. It exists only in this black and white reproduction (Fig. 43). However, judging from other contemporaneous works of Chen’s such as Chiayi Street (Fig. 44) and Summer Streetscape (Fig. 45), both painted in 1927, one can assume that the palette of Chiayi Suburbs contained similar greens in foliage, and

208 Hakujitsukai is a renowned Japanese artist association that continues to hold exhibitions on an annual basis. 209 As the eldest son, Chen Tsung-Kuang, along with his mother, went through tremendous efforts to keep his father’s belongings and paintings safe over the past several decades, despite the oppressive political situation. It is because of Chen Tsung-Kuang’s earnestness that Chen Cheng-po’s paintings and documents survive today. 119

red and brown hues for the street and building. Characteristics of the colonial government’s promotion of ‘local color’ most likely permeated this painting, making its acceptance to the Teiten even more explicable. The trees and foliage that spread over the walls were likely the bright green encouraged by the colonial government to depict the tropical nature of Taiwan. Reds and browns must have made up the pathways, walls, and roofs, that fill the frame of this painting. The subject matter of all three works is Chen

Cheng-po’s hometown of Chiayi, a recurring focus of his paintings throughout his life.

Even without the known colors of the lost painting, one can imagine Chen’s depiction of his hometown, with its lush mix of farm areas, fertile plant life, and temple buildings and houses.

The very street illustrated in Chiayi Suburbs seems to be depicted in a number of

Chen’s paintings. This painting depicts a daily scene of a street in Chiayi, with individuals, such as the two figures in the right foreground strolling down the path. The taller figure appears to be holding a parasol to the side and both have their backs to the viewer. A figure in the left foreground wears a conical shaped douli hat while carrying a yoke with two buckets suspended at either end. While the foreground fills almost half of the painting, the eye is directed towards the pathway that leads down the middle of the painting and into the distance. This lane, along with the electric poles that line the street, disappear out of view with the use of one-point perspective. The right side of the street is silhouetted with foliage, while the left side of the street beyond the walls is composed of buildings. Between the tree in the left midground and the first electric pole, rises the upward rising roof eaves of what is most likely the Mazu Temple located not far from

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Chen Cheng-po’s home.210 To the right of the temple and receding into the distance are a number of buildings defined by the outlines of their rooflines layered behind one another.

With a closer glance at Chiayi Street, it is apparent that the street depicted in this work resembles the one portrayed in Chiayi Suburbs. The perspective has changed in this piece, painted a year later, by moving forward and allowing less of the foreground to be occupied by the shrubbery of the street. One-point perspective still pervades the rendering of the space, producing as naturalistic a representation as possible. Wenling

Mazu Temple, also painted in 1927, draws these two paintings together with a closer perspective of the street presented, along with similar depictions of figures. With much more detail, Chen presents the temple as the focus of this painting, as the title describes.

Another daily scene of the area where Chen lives, he depicts individuals at work in the temple area, an individual carrying a yoke with two baskets suspended from it, and individuals carrying parasols strolling down the pathway. The eaves of the roof of the temple portray with more clarity the dragon-like forms that decorate the pointed ends that were characteristically rendered in Chiayi Suburbs. The one-point perspective leads the eye down the pathway to the right, with the shadows of the electric poles and figures moving to the left. The tree in the upper left corner of the painting exhibits texture and movement in its branches, a feature that Chen works into his style throughout many of his paintings.

The signature in the bottom left corner contains an emblem of his creation which includes a “C” with an overlapping “T” and “H” painted within the curve of the “C” (Fig.

210 In a discussion of the subject matter, Chen Cheng-po’s eldest son, Chen Tsung-Kuang, as well as Taipei Fine Arts Museum associate curator, Lin Yu-Chun, notes that the building depicted behind the temple is in fact where Chen Cheng-po and his family lived. 121

46).211 This is a signature device that Chen uses in this early period of his career that denotes the Japanese pronunciation of his name “Chin To-Ha”.212 It appears that this monogram is used as Chen’s signature on paintings during these five years of study. The emblem is depicted as early as 1924 in the Tropic of Cancer Landmark painting and as late as 1929 in a work to be explored below, Clear Stream, although not all works from this period bear this signature device. Chen Cheng-po’s signature continues to evolve, but works from after 1929 do not have this particular “CTH,” the Japanese pronunciation of his name, on his paintings.

It seems that the use of this signature relates both to the inflow of artistic styles, as well as to issues of identity in a number of ways. Stylistically speaking, the use of Arabic letters would connote influence from the West. Li Su-Chu calls attention to the Albrecht

Dürer (1471-1528) reproduction in Chen’s collection where it includes the well- recognized signature of this German artist. Perhaps Dürer is the inspiration for such a rendering of Chen’s unique insignia.

This signature also provides some insight into the issues of identity faced by

Taiwanese artists at this time. The painting entitled Wenling Mazu Temple, provides a good example of the complexity involved for these artists. The text in the corner of the painting reads “1927. 夏作画. 陳” followed by the monogram. 213 Thus, the organization is Arabic numerals (versus Chinese or Japanese characters) transcribing the

211 Detail of the signature from Chiayi Suburbs. 212 Li Su-Chu indicates that the name in characters “” may otherwise be transcribed in his paintings as “CCH” as noted from the pronunciation transcribed onto his Curriculum Vitae from this period. M.A. Thesis, サアムシニーグ Something , (Kyoto: Kyoto University, 2000), 28. 213 The characters before Chen Cheng-po’s name can be translated as, “depicting (or illustrating) summer.” 122

date, followed by Japanese characters for the title, Chen’s name written in characters, and finally the use of his signature device created of Romanized letters. What might this signify? Certainly, the use of seals in painting is not uncommon in East Asian art.

However minor it may seem, there is significance in this combination of “languages” that not only further defines the complexity of the identity of Taiwanese artists, but also points to the type of modern artist Chen is—one who is acquiring stylistic devices, hybridizing forms, and transforming an artistic language to make it his own. Chen is using Roman letters to transcribe the initials of a name pronounced in Japanese, but a name that was given as a Taiwanese name. Such is the nature of the Taiwanese identity for Chen. Chen’s identity as a Taiwanese artist could be found even in the titles, signatures, and names he chose to imprint on the canvas.

Another important facet to note is within the subject matter of these paintings. As already noted, Chen painted this area as subject matter in his paintings various times, always including the temple in one way or another. Certainly, this depiction is a record of his home, where he lived and where his family lived. In the eyes of the colonizers, this subject matter and the way in which it was depicted was an achievement of the occupation—lush vegetation, exotic local temple and street life as an excellent example of local color, all in Western-style format, with one-point perspective, portraying the modernization of the region by depicting the electric poles.214 To the colonizers’ eye, the

214 Many Taiwanese art historians call attention to the electric poles as neatly arranged, and Chen’s representing the newly developed city landscape. Li Su-Chu, Expressing “Something” of this Era—An Examination of Chen Cheng-po’s Paintings, (Biaoxian chu shidai de “Something”—Chen Cheng-po huihua kao)   Something   , (Taipei: Diancang yishu jiating, 2012), 147. (Originally presented as the 123

symbols are successful. Undoubtedly, to a Taiwanese eye during the occupation, the

‘local color’ of having a Mazu Temple, memorializes the Taiwaneseness within the occupied state. This is particularly true as one of the assimilation movements, mentioned earlier, was to eradicate and replace indigenous religions with Shinto practices. Thus, a

Taiwanese temple surviving the occupation, particularly the kōminka movement, is a symbol of Taiwanese triumph amidst a challenging time of occupation.

Paintings such as Wu Fong Temple from 1925 (Fig. 47), Tokyo School of Fine

Arts, from 1926 (Fig. 48), Museum, from 1926 (Fig. 49), Outside Courtyard, from 1927

(Fig. 50), Summer Streetscape (Fig. 45), also from 1927 (Fig. 45), and Small Town

Scenery, from 1928 (Fig. 51), are a few examples from this period at the TSFA that make use of an open foreground space. Certainly, drawings from Chen Cheng-po’s sketchbook dated to 1926-27, display his thoughts and perspective on space and layout for his painting of his school (Fig. 52). This utilization of space is an artistic element found in many paintings by such artists as Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955) and

(1830-1903). As previously mentioned, included in Chen’s collections, is a reproduction of an Utrillo painting, suggesting Chen’s familiarity with this French artist’s work. The composition style of a predominately empty foreground, combined with the majority of the subject matter filling the mid-ground and background, is a device frequently employed by Utrillo and Pissarro.

Street Scene on a Summer Day, conveys clear similarities to Utrillo and Pissarro, with its open foreground space and pathway beginning in the foreground and leading into

author’s dissertation, Ph.D., Kyoto University.) Lin Yu-Chun, Youcai, reqing, Chen Cheng-po, 1994, 8. 124

the distance. Edgar Degas (1834-1917), was also known for his use of foreground planes.

What is fascinating about Chen’s painting is the utter contrast between the flatness in the way the foreground and pathway are depicted, in comparison to the texture of the leaves of the trees. The trees are thickly applied with short, wavy, textured brushwork. In publications on this piece, this has been likened to Van Gogh’s brushwork, and often cited as a characteristic of Chen’s paintings. Besides noting the electric poles mixed with the landscape, another common element to draw attention to is the figures within the painting. Very prominent in the mid-ground is a clear rendering of an adult, with a parasol, and a young child walking side-by-side. These features of depicting the electric poles, landscape scenery mixed with buildings, the pairing of figures, and a depiction of his hometown of Chiayi, become distinctively emblematic in Chen’s paintings. The pair of figures, as observed even in his very early watercolors, appear almost as ghosts even in a quick sketch on the inside cover of one of his books from his period in Tokyo (Fig. 53).

Several of Chen Cheng-po’s other works bear resemblances to Maurice Utrillo’s and Camille Pissarro’s paintings. Chen’s first Teiten-accepted piece Chiayi Suburbs, from

1926, Outside of Chiayi Street, from 1927, and Wenling Mazu Temple, also from 1927, are a few examples of an open pathway leading into a distant background. Certainly, the example found in Chen’s collection illustrates this composition layout.

These early motifs of empty space filling the foreground and pathways leading into the background in a one-point perspective are devices that consistently appear in works from Chen’s period at the TSFA. Not seen as frequently in works painted after this period, Chen develops a different way of utilizing the foreground in his works. Nostalgia, from 1941, and Chiayi Park—Pedestrian Path in Front of the Shrine, from 1939, are two

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of the very few works from Chen’s immense oeuvre that revisits this layout in later periods. This makes clear the development he undergoes as an artist. As he states later in his career, Chen is not simply “regurgitating Western styles” in his paintings, he is mastering techniques, and engaging various artistic devices to create a new hybridized form—ultimately, to drive the art community in which he is enveloped, forward.

This stylistic feature of the empty foreground may in fact have its origins in the

East. In taking a closer examination of the work Summer Streetscape (Fig. 45) in comparison to some Western artists’ works, one may find similarities that trace back to

Japan. Artists in the nineteenth century such as Edgar Degas, became fascinated with

Japanese styles as imported through woodcut prints, fans, kimonos, and other “oriental” objects.215 These European artistic trends of the time of creating a large void in the foreground is generally understood as coming from the Japan. In Chen Cheng-po’s

Summer Streetscape (Fig. 45), this empty foreground space creates a tension beteween the flat color and the solid picture plane that is also observed in European painting of the nineteenth century. Whether Chen is consciously designing this void into his compositions as a strategy, or whether he is selecting French works that are most familiar to him from which to quote, is noteworthy.

Also notable is the isolation and alienation that is created with the empty foreground. This is further emphasized in Chen’s works with his rendering of the human figures, that possess a solitariness that is significant. His figures, although often coupled together, ironically still portray a loneliness to them in their static poses, anonymity, and

215 Carol Armstrong, Odd Man Out: Readings of the Work and Reputation of Edgar Degas, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 107. 126

posturing of their bodies turned away from the viewer. This mood that is created through this solitary nature is seen not only in Summer Streetscape (Fig. 45), but in many of

Chen’s paintings throughout his career. In fact, the majority of paintings depicting a landscape with figures contains this isolated atmosphere, regardless of the number of figures which fill the space of the canvas.

Most authors writing about Chen Cheng-po mention the close similarity between the Taiwanese painter and the Dutch, Post-Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh.216

Another characteristic not pointed out by these Taiwanese writers that may draw a closer parallel is that loneliness and identifying with the desire for companionship. Chen was often cast as an outsider, in Japan, China, and even within his own home, as a colonized individual. A number of Van Gogh’s works depicting Alyscamps portray an empty foreground leading into a pathway, with solitary figures, backs turned to the viewer, walking away in a lonely manner. The resemblance is extraordinarily clear and toys with the connection between these two artists as well as the curious cycle of artistic trends moving from the East to the West and back to the East again. If Chen is not only conscious but purposeful in his decision to quote Van Gogh and other nineteenth century artists quoting Japan, then Chen is making a remarkable correlation. He could in essence be pointing out the direct copying of western artistic practices by the Japanese colonizers who are influencing the same individuals that are developing their styles based off of

Japanese designs.

Chen Cheng-po’s quotation of Western styles in his Self Portrait, from 1928, comes in various forms. Most likely used as his graduation portrait from the TSFA, this

216 Xie Lifa, Lin Yu-chun, Yen Chuan-ying, and others. 127

work is often recorded as an example influenced by Vincent Van Gogh’s works.217 Based on Chen’s collection of Van Gogh reproductions, particularly self-portraits painted by this Post-Impressionist artist, the resemblance is apparent. Certainly, the depiction of the hat and the background testify to a study of Van Gogh’s portraits. Similarities to Paul

Cézanne’s Self Portrait, also in Chen’s collection, has been recorded as well. One other comparison with Chen’s Self Portrait to highlight is with the self-portraits of Rembrandt

Van Rijn, of which Chen owned multiple reproductions. Comparable to Rembrandt’s works, Chen Cheng-po’s is more subdued in tonality, which contrasts the typical brighter colors characteristic of many of Van Gogh’s self-portraits. The flatness of the Taiwanese portrait bears more resemblance to Rembrandt’s work, than Van Gogh’s highly textured oil paints. As already mentioned, Rembrandt was also renowned for his chiaroscuro, or contrast between light and darkness, in the various genres he painted. In fact, Michael

Taylor writes that “A Rembrandt face is a face partially eclipsed; and the nose, bright and obvious, thrusting into the riddle of halftones, bring the viewer’s attention to the division between a flood of light and darkness.”218 Rembrandt portraits are known to have the sitter facing so that the ridge of the nose marks the dividing line between the “brightly illuminated and shadowy area.”219 This is evidenced in Chen’s 1928 Self Portrait.

Turning to a different genre of painting, Chen’s nudes are an important aspect in the consideration of the converging artistic perspectives for Chen in Tokyo. Although a standard part of artistic education today, painting nude figures was a practice that

217 Yen Chuan-ying, 14; Lin Yu-chun, 1994, 29. 218 Michael Taylor, Rembrandt’s Nose: Of Flesh and Spirit in the Master’s Portraits, (New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2007), 21. 219 Ibid., 21. 128

developed later in East Asia, and uncommon in Taiwan before Chen’s lifetime. Kuroda

Seiki “introduced painting from life, including the painting of nude models…”220 which he brought to the TSFA directly from his education in Paris. These several examples of

Chen’s nudes not only express Chen’s skills in portraying the human body, but also demonstrate the accepted standard in this art institution, as well as Chen’s development in depicting the human figure over time. The fact that Chen aided the advancement of this standard artistic practice in Taiwan as well, indicates his sense of responsibility to the progression of Taiwanese art. In 1933, Chen comments on this transition in the artistic community of Taiwan. “A certain Taiwanese woman living in Taichung volunteered to act as a model for painting. This signifies that the also understand and appreciate art. I am extremely grateful for their willingness to join our cause.”221

It is clear from these early works in Japan that Chen was regularly exploring the use of motifs and styles he saw while studying at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. A simple example is found in two separate paintings of nudes from 1926 (Fig. 54, Fig. 55), that matches several of his sketches from the same year. A basic composition for this subject matter, the style of painting the model is common, with the female figures either lying across the ground, or seated in a chair, with a decorative wallpaper in the background. The wallpaper in this case also weaves a small painting of a bird into the decorative elements. Where did such a motif come from? In some of the documents and objects housed in and cared for by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Chia-Yi City, we find this motif on the covers of Chen’s textbooks at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (Fig. 56,

220 E. Yamanashi, 33. 221 Taiwan Xinmin Bao. (1933). 129

Fig. 57). This is just one small illustration of Chen Cheng-po’s borrowing of motifs as he studies and paints, but an early example of combining forms and inserting unconventional elements into his paintings.

Chen Cheng-po had continued success in 1927, with works accepted to the

Twenty-third Taiheiyo Painting Society Exhibition,222 Eighth Central Art Exhibition,

Fourth Kaijusha Exhibition,223 Fourth Hakujitsukai Exhibition,224 Eighth Imperial Art

Exhibition of Japan (Teiten), and the First Taiten, in Taipei. In addition to these shows,

Chen had a solo exhibition of sixty-one of his works in his hometown of Chiayi. Together with Liao Chi-chun and others, Chen also established the Zhiyang Western Painting

Society.225 In this same year, Chen completes the program at the Tokyo School of Fine

Arts and continues on in graduate studies in the Western Painting Division.226

In January of 1928, Chen travels to Danshui and Beitou, near Taipei, for focused time spent painting en plein air. In addition to what became a consistent showing in the

Taiten in Taiwan, Chen’s work was accepted in various other Japanese shows, and he even had a solo exhibition in Amoy (Xiamen), displaying forty of his works.227 Traveling through Shanghai on his route back to Tokyo, this Amoy exhibit demonstrates the development of his artistic connections to China, eventually leading Chen to the

222  23  223   224  225   226 Yen Chuanying, Taipei Fine Arts Series, 11; Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, (Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2012), Chronology Insert; Nostalgia in the Vast Universe: Commemorative Exhibition of Chen Cheng-po, (Kaohsiung: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, 2012), 231. 227 Chen Cheng-po’s exhibit was held at Xuying College in Xiamen (Amoy) July 28-30, 1928. Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, (Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2012), Chronology Insert. 130

mainland for work. According to an interview with Chen in the Taiwan Daily News from

August 3, 1928, when Chen travelled to Amoy for the exhibit, he passed out due to health problems. He recovered at the home of Wang Yiyun (雲), who was dean at the

Xiamen Academy of Painting. 228 Similar to his other connections that led him to work in

Shanghai, Chen and Wang knew each other from Tokyo. Photos show Wang and Chen in front of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, and postcards also demonstrate their continued interaction from that time forward.

Also from the interview in the August third newspaper article, we can gather that he planned to enter a few works from this exhibit at Xuying College to the Teiten. The subject matter of these works up for entry to the Teiten was West Lake in ,

China.229 Since Chen’s works are paintings completed en plein air, this denotes a trip to

Hangzhou prior to this exhibit. No sketchbooks survive from this period in his life, so it is difficult to trace when exactly his travels to Hangzhou took place.230

According to an interview with Chen Cheng-po’s son, Chen Tsung-kwang, it was during these years of his graduate work at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, when finances were a bit more scarse. Chen Tsung-kwang remembers his mother supporting the family and their dad during his studies. But finding it difficult to maintain this, Chen Cheng-po’s wife stopped sending money to Chen in Tokyo. As stated by Chen Tsung-kuang, after

228 “Tuneless Flute” column, in Taiwan Daily News, August 3, 1928, Chinese edition, p. 4. 229 Ibid., p. 4. Chiu, Han-ni, “Reappraising Chen Cheng-po’s ‘Shanghai Period’”, in Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 2012, pp. 32-49, p. 37. 230 There is an almost three year gap in Chen Cheng-po’s consistent recording of his travels and work. No sketchbooks seem to have survived between his September 26, 1927 and November 16, 1930 sketchbooks. 131

hearing that Chen Cheng-po was falling ill because he was spending what funds he had not on medicine or food, but on his art supplies for completing his works for school and exhibitions, Chen’s wife sent more finances along to help support him as he finished his degree.

Chen continued to travel and develop professionally as a painter in his final year attending the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. From Tokyo, Chen travelled back to Taiwan, participating in the Chih-Yang Society Exhibition in Tainan.231 While in Taiwan, Chen is selected for another exhibition in China, the Fujian Provincial Art Exhibition. Chen completes other works on this trip before returning to Tokyo for a short while.

1929 was a year of transition for Chen Cheng-po, and commenced a new era in his artistic career. Besides continuing to gain acceptance to Japanese exhibits like the

Hongou Art Exhibition and the Kaijusha Exhibition, Chen completed his graduate studies at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Upon graduation from the TSFA, Chen moved to

Shanghai, China. Chen had begun his interest in traditional Chinese painting even while in Japan. Besides having the Japanese authored texts on Chinese art (Shina no bijutsu and

Shina Kaigashi) mentioned above, Chen also owned a copy of an exhibition catalogue for a show entitled, Masterpieces of the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties.232

Conclusion Chen Cheng-po continued on to have a substantial artistic career following his time of education at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. This period in Tokyo, however, is substantial in laying the groundwork for Chen’s later paintings. The inspiration from

231 Journey Through Jiangnan, chronology chart. 232 Masterpieces of the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties (Tang Song Yuan Ming ming huazhan hao), Tokyo, Osaka: Asahi Shimbun, 1928. 132

global artistic approaches Chen experienced as a Taiwanese painter in Tokyo during this period was significant for his creative practice. Studying at the TSFA provided him with the opportunity to master the foundational devices taught, and combined with the innovative atmosphere filled with stimulants from all over the world, encouraged a creative exploration of the foundational elements.

Chen Cheng-po and his work from this period demonstrate the transition from being influenced to appropriating and creating original works of art. Chen transcends a one-way transmission of influences from outside of East Asia to become part of a complex process of exchange. In doing so, he became part of a worldwide art community resolved to create work that would move this world of art forward.

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Chapter 4: The Development of Identity, Modernity, and Hybridity: Chen in China

Although Taiwan and China shared artistic backgrounds, during the twentieth century, the differences between Taiwanese and Chinese artistic circles were distinct.

Where Taiwanese artists were shaped by the colonial government to conform to

“western” artistic practices with “western” materials, Chinese artists were wrestling with what it meant to create a national painting style. Entering into this environment, Chen

Cheng-po encountered discussions and art circles that were unique to China, and different from his experiences in colonial Taiwan and as a colonial subject in Japan. As defined by the national boundaries of the day, by stepping into China, Chen was entering a ‘foreign’ country for the first time. However, because of his colonial situation, he may have found a connection with this ‘foreign’ land to be more closely tied to himself than what he experienced in Japan. Having this unique opportunity to enter an artistic environment unlike what he had before, possibly accentuated his own artistic background and his differences in training. I believe that it is in this context where Chen Cheng-po, continues to develop a unique hybrid identity of being a colonial Taiwanese, and a means of expression of this distinctiveness. Lai Jen-yi in her dissertation states that “The great diversity of pictorial representations created by Taiwanese artists reveals the coexistence—or collision—in their consciousnesses of multiple identities—as an aspiring

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modern artist, as an educated “modern man,” as a Taiwanese, as a Han Chinese or, in some instances, as a Japanese subject.”233

Prior to discussing the artistic and cultural climate into which Chen Chengpo entered, it is imperative to understand his association to China professionally and personally. After his graduation from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, Chen was invited to teach at Xinhua University of Fine Arts (known as Xinhua Academy of Art after

1930).234 Xinhua was established in Shanghai in 1926 and survived until 1937, when its campus was destroyed by Japanese bombing. After the destruction of the physical buildings, the school carried on for a few more years, relocating to the French

Concession.235 However, as a result of the bombing very little of the school records remain. Michael Sullivan writes that Xinhua was one of “the three chief centers for the development of Western art in China before the Second World War.”236 The fact that

Chen becomes part of the faculty at this institution is impressive and ranks him among

Chinese artists that continued on to lead and shape the modern Chinese art world.

How is it that Chen Cheng-po, an artist from Taiwan, received a teaching position at one of the leading art schools in Shanghai, as his first job out of graduate school?

Certainly, his education, skills, and exhibition reputation were factors in his hiring for this position. However, because of the lack of official school documents, it is important

233 Lai Jen-yi, Cultural Identity and the Making of Modern Taiwanese Painting During the Japanese Colonial Period (1895-1945). Dissertation, The University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: ProQuest/UMI, 2008. (Publication No. AAT 3343126.) p. 13. 234 Xinhua yishu daxue (), and after 1930 Xinhua yizhuan (). 235 Zhu and Chen, Zhongguo xihua wushinian, 1898-1949, (Beijing: Renmin meishu chuban she, 1989), 93-95. Li Chao, 1995, pp 56, 284. Michael Sullivan, Art and Artists of Twentieth-Century China, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 46-7. 236 M. Sullivan, 30-31. 135

to seek answers from documents that Chen himself saved. Although no official invitation letter has been found, most Taiwanese scholars have presumed that the request to teach at

Xinhua was extended by Wang Jiyuan, who had also traveled to Tokyo and whose time in Japan overlapped with Chen’s.237 Wang Jiyuan served as director at the Xinhua

University of Fine Arts. It is likely that Wang and Chen had connected in Tokyo, and remained in contact with one another since their first encounter, as evidenced by a painting sent from Wang and correspondance through letters. Because of Wang Jiyuan’s affiiliation as a professor and eventually director of Xinhua, it is natural to make the connection of Wang Jiyuan extending the teaching invitation to Chen.

Li Su-chu also questions if Wang Yiting may have been involved in the hiring of

Chen Cheng-po at Xinhua. This consideration is based on a newspaper article from the

Chinese section of the Taiwan Daily News.238 Where it states that Chen Cheng-po, a man from Chiayi, is hired at Shanghai meida (), recruited by Wang Yiting.239 Li surmises that Wang Yiting was familiar with Wang Jiyuan and his work through the

Heavenly Horse Society, or Tianmahui (), a very prominent art society known for its promotion of Western-style art.240 However, in Chen’s collection, he has a number of catalogues of Wang Jiyuan’s work (Fig. 58), including one from a watercolor show in

237 Although the official invitation letter has not surfaced, the evidence of Chen Cheng-po and Wang Jiyuan’s initial and continued communication leads to the plausible conclusion that it was Wang who brought Chen to the Xinhua University of Fine Arts. 238 “Yishu liang zhi” (Two Art Notes), Taiwan nichi nichi shimpo, April 4, 1930, 4th edition. 239 Li Su-chu. 2012, 18. 240 Julia F. Andrews. “The Heavenly Horse Society (Tianmahui) and Chinese ,” in Ershi shiji shansuihua yanjiu wenji (Studies on Twentieth-century shanshuihua), (Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chuban she, 2006), 556-591, 557. 136

1926.241 Judging from this evidence, it is likely that some sort of relationship began prior to Chen’s move to Shanghai, either in Wang Jiyuan’s 1926 visit, or on one of Chen’s visits to Shanghai.242

To further complicate the matter, in a journal entry from 1945, 243 Chen writes that the Japanese government recommended him for the position at Xinhua. Chen does not provide more detail than this, so it is unclear to know what this means exactly.

However, it does provide some insight into the understanding that there were more contacts to Xinhua, and other art communities in China, then Wang Jiyuan.

Previous to Chen’s settling in Shanghai as a teacher, he had made several contacts within mainland China that afforded him opportunities. His schooling in Tokyo not only provided him the occasion to meet artists coming from China to study at the preeminent art school of the time, but also presented him with a highly sought after artistic education.

Thus, Chen’s colonial status proved a benefit, but with mounting tension between Japan and China, it generated challenges as well.

241 Li Su-chu. 2012, 21. 242 Although research detailing Wang Jiyuan’s travels to Tokyo is yet to be explored, Chen Cheng-po definitely met with this artist in Tokyo as exhibited by a photo picturing the two of them together with other artists. It is possible that Chen visited the exhibitions of Chinese painting for which Wang traveled to Tokyo to exhibit. Ibid., 22. According to research compeleted by Professor Julia F. Andrews, Wang Jiyuan visited Japan in 1925 and 1926 when he was an administrator and professor at Shanghai Meizhuan. Newspapers record Wang Jiyuan’s activity at Shanghai Meizhuan.Wang Jiyuan was a key figure in Shanghai art activities, including Yiyuan and the Tianmahui (Heavenly Horse Society). On the catalogue covers from Wang Jiyuan’s exhibitions that Chen kept in his collection, Wang’s named is romanized as “Wang Chi Yung.” 243 This journal from 1945 is the document that had been kept private for concerns about individuals mentioned within the journal. It was released for the first time in 2011, sixty- four years after Chen Cheng-po was killed. On the cover, Chen records the title, Reflections, Looking Back on Society and Art. 137

Shanghai Modern Chen Cheng-po entered into an increasingly modern and cosmopolitan environment when he moved to Shanghai. During the first decades of the twentieth century, Shanghai in particular became a gateway for the import of modern western art for China. The Japanese trained artist Ni Yide, and co-founder of the Juelanshe, or Storm

Society, stated that:

Shanghai is a place that we all admire. Although we are not given a chance to live in Paris, which is a city of art, at least, in China, we have to be in Shanghai, which is the hub of the newly emerging art. It has a vibrant spirit, and one can easily experience all kinds of new excitement. 244 Chen Cheng-po is in a remarkable position as he enters China, as an individual with impressive skills and education for enhancing the modernization of China’s art world, but also caught in an environment that is wrestling with the ideas of modernization. Chen is presented with the opportunity of creative exchange, to offer his background and education while also absorbing the emergent artistic environment of

Shanghai. Achieving a great deal in his first year in China (1929) exhibiting and adjudicating at the first National Exhibition and accepting his position at Xinhua

University, Chen’s influence on the artistic world and its affect on him is immeasurable.

The National Exhibition The year that Chen enters Shanghai for his teaching position not only is the year of the National Exhibition, but also is when the well-known debate, instigated by works in the exhibition, occurred. This deliberation voiced opinions on what the best direction

244 ‘Contemporary Artists’, originally published in Touring the Art Community; see Collected Essays of Ni Yide on Art, Lin Wenxia (ed.), (Hangzhou: Art Press, 1993), 265. 138

for Chinese art would be, either a move towards modernist styles or those of academic and realistic characteristics. The most representative of the discussions on this topic was published in the Art Exhibition Newsletter, printed during the National Exhibition, between Xu Zhimo and . This dialogue is embodied within the artistic community of China during this time not just in words, but within the works of artists in

China and the establishment of art institutions and art societies. In addition to the advancement of art that these lively debates precipitated, teaching at Xinhua University of Fine Art in its early years, as well as Yiyuan245 College and Changming Art School,

Chen witnessed the early establishment of Art Schools throughout China. Numerous surviving documents from Chen Cheng-po’s personal possessions that his family carefully preserved,246 including postcards, letters, paintings, and exhibition catalogues reveal his connection and close relationship to leading figures in China’s rising modern art world, such as Pan Tianshou and Wang Jiyuan, both members of the art society promoting China’s true art, the Tianmahui, and planning committees for the 1929

National Exhibition of China.

Chen Cheng-po’s works entered into the National Exhibition of 1929 and his brief involvement in the Juelanshe towards the end of his period in China frame his time in

Shanghai and provide some examples of identity, bricolage,247 and hybridity. The

245 No research has been published on Chen Cheng-po’s work and activities associated with Yiyuan College. 246 It is important to note that the majority of information on Chen Cheng-po would not exist today for the research of this outstanding artist if it were not for the Chen family who carefully preserved the documents that are now housed at the Chiayi Cultural Center. 247 In painting, Chen Cheng-po exhibits characteristics of Lévi-Strauss’ bricoleur, an individual who engages in bricolage by creating through a borrowing from a variety of 139

National Exhibition of 1929 “can be seen as the seedbed for a host of more specialized activities conducted in the 1930s….” It was “a manifestation of the hopes and dreams of the most talented of China’s artists of the period.”248 It is into this exhibition that Chen enters with a significant role as a major contributor to this national event. Not only were there works of Chen’s contemporaries, but according to the Ershi shiji shanghai meishu nianbiao249 the show also exhibited paintings from the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties including works by Shitao and Bada Shanren. Thus, the National Exhibition displayed modern, traditional, and works of China’s historical masters.

According to one of three of Chen Cheng-po’s curriculum vitae that still exists today, Chen was given a teaching post in the Western Painting Department at Xinhua

University of Fine Art on January 1, 1929. Whether this means that he began his teaching post on that date, before he completed his degree at Tokyo is unknown. Most likely, this was either an offer or acceptance date for the teaching position and Chen remained in

Tokyo to finish his degree.

objects or experiences. This bricolage in Chen’s paintings can be understood as a result of the give and take, or exchange, of how Chen influences the art worlds of China and Taiwan, and also what he absorbed from these creative and complex environments. Another notion that parallels this concept of bricolage, lies within the term “grabbism.” According to an essay written by Joanne Birnie-Danzker, this term “grabbism” or nalai zhuyi, was coined by in his 1925 essay Upon Seeing a Mirror. In it, Lu defines grabbism as “borrowing with confidence, like a master who chooses freely according to his needs and not like a neurotic who fears the loss of indigenous tradition or enslavement by what is borrowed.”247 This ‘master’ that Lu Xun writes about, resonates with Lévi-Strauss’ bricoleur, who borrows “tools” in order to create, choosing freely. Chen Cheng-po certainly appears to borrow with confidence as Lu states, choosing freely, but consciously, not with fear about losing indigenous tradition, but with a goal of creating something new and innovative. 248 Julia F. Andrews, “Art and the Nation: The First National Art Exhibition of 1929” for “The Elegant Gathering” symposium, U.C. Berkeley, May 13, 2006, 28. 249 Wang Zhen, Ershi shiji Shanghai meishu nianbiao (20 ), (Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 2005). 140

In recent years, it has been widely accepted by Taiwanese scholars, that Chen served as an adjudicator for the 1929 National Exhibition. Since no single source exists that records all of the artwork, artists, adjudicators, and others involved in the National

Exhibition, the only source that is known to record Chen as an adjudicator is in one of his curriculum vitae. Three CVs written by Chen exist today. Two of the CVs are written in

Japanese, and presumably were used in Japan and Taiwan. The remaining CV is written in Chinese, and undoubtedly was reserved for use in China. It is the Chinese CV that is the only source to record Chen Chengpo as an adjudicator in the 1929 National

Exhibition. Although it is the sole source of this information, because it is written in

Chinese and would have been used in the art community of China amongst individuals either directly related to, or at least familiar with, the participants of the 1929 exhibit.

Up until recently, publications on Chen Cheng-po indicate some confusion as to which of Chen’s paintings were exhibited in the National Exhibition of 1929. Different editions of the exhibition catalogue reproduced one of two paintings: Clear Stream (

), or Afternoon at the Silk Shop250 (綢). In fact, up until a few years ago, Afternoon at the Silk Shop had been published as dating from 1932.

Research in China 251 has uncovered images of documents from the Ministry of

Education’s National Exhibition Catalogue (Fig. 59).252 According to this source, Chen

250 This work is now entitled Suzhou (Soochow, ). 251 Professor Li Chao of Shanghai University, provided me with images of documents shared with him from the Shanghai Library. 252 The publication information of this document is unknown. I received images of a copy from Professor Li Chao of Shanghai University. He was given special access to these documents at the Shanghai Library. My own research at the Shanghai Library for these documents has not uncovered such documents, likely due to special permissions that have 141

Cheng-po exhibited three works in the 1929 show: Clear Stream ( , Fig. 60),

Afternoon at the Silk Shop (綢, Fig. 61), and Early Spring ( ). As recorded in the listing in this 1929 catalogue, both Afternoon at the Silk Shop (Fig. 61) and Early

Spring were offered for purchase. The whereabouts of Early Spring are unknown, however, the works Clear Stream (Fig. 60) and Afternoon at the Silk Shop (Fig. 61) still exist and serve as excellent examples of the concepts of hybridity and the exchange and bricolage portrayed in Chen’s works from this period. An additional document that appears to have been unstudied in earlier research on Chen Cheng-po, is the 1929

National Exhibition catalogue. It displays an image of Afternoon at the Silk Shop (Fig.

61).

Paintings

The conflict with Chen’s identity is visible in his business card from his time in

China, where he lists Fujian province as a place of origin.253 This wrestling with nationality or identity defined by governing powers or defined by himself is something manifested in his paintings from this period onward.254 In Tokyo, Chen found himself as an outsider, living in the Taiwanese dormitory and being misidentified by his fellow

not been granted to me. This document lists the title of the artwork, artist name, and the sale price of the artwork listed. 253 , " (1895-1947) ,   “  March 2003. 254 For more of a discussion on nationality and patriotism in Chen’s paintings, please see:  (Li Su-chu),  ｢サアムシニｰグ｣ (1895-1947)   M.A. Thesis, University of Kyoto, 2000., and  (Li Su-chu), 「サアムシニー グ（Something）」を描く－陳澄波（一八九五～一九四七）とその時代－」 Dissertation, University of Kyoto, 2005. 142

Japanese students as an aboriginal Taiwanese because of his dark skin.255 Now in China,

Chen Chengpo is in the land that many Taiwanese at the time considered their homeland, and that sentiment was significantly stronger during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.

Entering Shanghai, Chen became a welcomed and integral component of the artistic community.

Landscapes As one of his entries to the First National Exhibition of 1929, Clear Stream (Fig.

60) contains many similarities to Paul Cezanne’s works aside from the palette of the painting. Instead of the bright colors of Taiwan’s ‘local color’, this work consists of more subdued shades like brown, dark green, and muted yellows. Chen’s change in color usage for this piece may be attributed to works by nineteenth century western art masters that the Tokyo School of Fine Arts painting instructors studied in Paris. Many of the School of Paris artists like Henri Matisse moved from painting in bright colors to regressing to a darker palette. This reversion of bright colors is consistent to what was occurring in Paris with the Avant-Garde. In Chen’s collection, are countless works by western painters and

European-trained Japanese painters that contain comparable compositions.

In addition, when analyzing this work some Taiwanese art historians256 indicate some similarities to traditional Chinese paintings. As many authors have stated in stylistic examinations of the work Clear Stream (Fig. 60), Chen draws from the traditional methods of Chinese painting practice and applies some of those concepts to his training

255 J. Lai, p. 97. Yen Chuan-ying, “Yongzhe de huaxiang,” (Portrait of a Brave Man) Taiwan meishu quanji: Chen Cheng-po, vol. 1, Taipei: Yishujia, 1992, pp. 32-33. 256 Biographies from art historians like Yan Chuan-ying and Lin Yu-chun note similarities to traditional Chinese painting compositions. 143

as a western-style painter. These authors write of Chen’s reference to the composition and style of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) artist Ni Zan (1306-1374) in this painting

Clear Stream (Fig. 60), with the use of the single tree in the left foreground reaching up towards the top of the painting and the background of the mountains. The Chinese references may be observed in the tripartite division of the composition of foreground, midground, and background, with a tree reaching from the foreground towards the sky of the background. The Yuan artist Ni Zan (1301-1374) is renowned for his landscapes in this type of composition layout. Certainly, the visual similarities are present and Chen’s recognition of this influence of earlier Chinese artists on his own work is found in his statement,

My extended stay in Shanghai gave me an opportunity to study Chinese paintings. I admire most the works of Ni Yun-lin and Bada Shanren (Zhu Da). Ni excels in using lines to enliven the entire composition, while Bada Shanren is a master in creating breathtaking pieces using blotched strokes…257 Even later in Chen’s career we can note Ishikawa Kinichiro’s encouragement for

Chen to study early Chinese painting as noted in this letter from August 15, 1934 (Fig.

15).258 This study and inclusion of traditional Chinese painting within Chen’s own paintings, created with ‘western’ materials, continues throughout the rest of his career.

Jessica Tsaiji Lyu-hada makes a stylistic comparison of Clear Stream (Fig. 60) to a work by Ma Lin entitled Lone Fisher on the Frosty River and a work by entitled

257 Quote from the current exhibit, Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest. “?I[/P7!\ ^U 8OBE %0U>CY;,])-644X.,])M$ Q +649M$;MG J`:0"1…….” 258 “?#W@D5T(^E%U L F*A 3 F*AZ2N0 U  S@4EK&R=_E% XOH” Translated from the Japanese to Chinese by Li Su-Chu ('

Moored Ship on the Rivershore.259 Both of these works were published in the catalogue of the exhibit Masterpieces of the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming. Although it is unclear whether Chen Cheng-po attended this show in 1928, he had a copy of the catalogue in his collection (Fig. 62).260

Clear Stream (Fig. 60) was also published in Shanghai in Yiyuan Profile

(Yiyuan Gaikuang) in June of 1929. Later that year, it was accepted into the Taiten under the title Melting Snow on Broken Bridge, directly taking the title of the monument and clearly referencing the traditional Chinese place name and painting tradition. During an interview with Chen Chung-kuang, he brought out the painting Clear Stream for me to view, stating that this was one of his father’s most beloved paintings.261

Clear Stream (Fig. 60) recalls in its subject matter the tradition of painting one of the views of West Lake, Duanqiao canxue, or Melting Snow at Broken Bridge, the subject matter of this painting. The implications of such subject matter are numerous.

Chen had become familiar with this topic of traditional Chinese painting during his trips to Hangzhou while continuing his education in Tokyo. According to an interview from

August of 1928, Chen completed three landscapes depicting West Lake that he intended

259 Ibid., 25. 260 This is a photograph of the catalogue that is in the collection of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Chiayi City. Tō sō gen min meigaten-gō (, An Exhibition of Masterpieces from the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties), Tokyo: Tokyo Asahi Shinbun Hakkōjo, 1928. 261 Jessica Tsaiji Lyu-hada of Kyushu University writes that Chen Chung-kuang also mentioned to her that according to the family, [Clear Stream] was “his most cherished work when he was still alive.” In “A Pivotal Moment in Taiwanese Modern Art: Chen Cheng-po’s Shanghai Period in Historical Perspective,” Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, (Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum), 23. 145

to submit to the Teiten in Japan.262 Thus, it is very likely that this painting was created while Chen was still completing his education in Tokyo, but traveling to and from China.

Chen also participated in the 1929 West Lake Exposition in June, exhibiting four works.

As Jessica Tsaiji Lyu-Hada remarks in her essay addressing this painting, West Lake

“occupied a pivotal role in Sino-Japanese cultural exchange in the 1920s.”263 It is the location of the West Lake Yubi Society of Calligraphy and Painting, a well-known group established by artists and calligraphers from Japan and China, who were very much involved in Sino-Japanese relations. West Lake had a long history in the painting canon of China and Japan from as early as the (960-1279) of China and appearing even in works from the (1603-1868) of Japan.264

The significance of the subject matter in Clear Stream (Fig. 60), more than just its scenic view, is indicative of Chen’s artistic development and identity as a part of the colonial society. It characterizes various aspects of the artistic and societal culture of the time, and Chen as an individual within this culture. This painting embodies the coming together of China and Japan, and can be viewed as a representative of who Chen is as an artist, bringing together the East and West, a West that he learned about through Japan.

Clear Stream (Fig. 60) is a complex piece in the context of understanding Chen Cheng- po, with its hybrid quality of amalgamating multiple styles and ideas to form one painting that reflects a more novel painting objective. Interestingly, this work traveled to the

Chicago World’s Fair as a representative piece in the Chinese Village. In a journal entry

262 Tuneless Flute, August 3, 1928. 263 “A Pivotal Moment in Taiwanese Modern Art: Chen Cheng-po’s Shanghai Period in Historical Perspective,” Journey Through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng- po’s Artistic Quest, Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, p. 27. 264 Ibid., p. 27. 146

in 1945,265 Chen records that he was one of twelve artists chosen by the Chinese government to have a representative work travel the world. Chen’s Clear Stream (Fig.

60) was the painting chosen, and it traveled as an example of a western work from China.

At the World’s Fair in Chicago, it went by its original title of Clear Stream (Fig. 60). The fact that it served as a representative of China in a world event adds to the complexity of

Chen’s Taiwanese identity and also attests to the multi-national nature of his artistic individuality. With this entry, Chen pulled away from the colonizing forces of Japan, which presented him with western methods, by associating himself with a Chinese heritage and combining that with Avant-Garde movements. Clear Stream (Fig. 60) serves as one example of this bringing together of different concepts and styles that can be considered an example of hybridity and bricolage.

Other depictions of the same subject matter portrayed in Clear Stream (Fig. 60) bear various styles. As mentioned earlier, Chen visited this area multiple times on travels from Japan, and even once he moved to Shanghai. Boating on West Lake, dates from

1928, from one of Chen’s earlier travels to the area. Portrayed in a style unlike the 1929 version of the lake. With a less Post-Impressionist appearance, the coloring of the painting is mostly blues and greens, with the buildings and some features of the boats, clearly rendered. Interestingly, the leaves of the trees are reminiscent of those in Street

Scene on a Summer Day. The hues of green are thickly applied in short, lively strokes, similar to the 1927 painting that several art historians have associated with an influence from Chen’s familiarity with Vincent Van Gogh’s work. The thickness of the pigment is echoed in the reflection of the trees in the water. West Lake (Broken Bridge) (Fig. 69)

265 Chen Cheng-po, Reflections, Looking Back on Society and Art, September 9, 1945. 147

from 1930 and Spring at West Lake from 1933 convey a different style and perspective.

In West Lake, a similar composition to Clear Stream (Fig. 60) exists with a small foreground area with a tree reaching upwards. Small figures fish from this small expanse of ground, while other figures are seen crossing the bridge, as well as in a boat in the water. The pigments used in this later painting of Broken Bridge, along with the brushwork, differs from the 1929 image. Lighter colors are used and small wavy brushstrokes compose the sky and some shrubbery. Spring at West Lake, provides an alternative perspective on Broken Bridge and West Lake. Spring at West Lake was selected for the fifteenth Imperial Art Exhibition/Teiten in 1934.

In another example of his paintings exhibited at the 1929 National Exhibition,

Suzhou stands out for its unique blending of forms and portrays Chen’s developing exploration of new painting styles. As mentioned earlier, until a few years ago, publications listed this painting as dating from 1932. This was partially due to the mistaken notion that it was Clear Stream that was the sole entry of Chen’s exhibited in the 1929 show. The fact that the title recorded in the contents listing is Afternoon at the

Silk Shop, and the title was eventually changed to simply Suzhou, added to the confusion over the dating of the painting. Evidence found in the rare editions of the National

Exhibition catalogue mentioned above, demonstrate the acceptance of this painting into the 1929 show. Similar to Clear Stream, its creation was most likely inspired and completed on one of Chen’s earlier travels to China during his period of education in

Tokyo. It depicts the characteristic scenery of the canals in Suzhou, with individuals walking along the sides of the waterways. This works original title Afternoon at the Silk

Shop describes the subject matter depicted, a common sight along the canals. Known for

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its silk-dyeing shops, strips of silk fabric were dyed and hung up to dry outside the small stores in Suzhou. Even the characters on the sign on one of the storefronts on the lower left of the painting makes clear what Chen illustrates from this setting.

Suzhou also serves as further evidence of hybridity and bricolage. The depiction of the strips of dyed fabrics descending from the top of the canvas into the center of the scene is itself a very curious artistic device for Chen to use. These colorful strokes of paint down the center of the painting disrupt what is a very conventional portrayal of a landscape for Chen, and dislocates it from the viewer. It is no longer about entering into a traditional landscape, but about realizing the flat surface of the canvas. This painting is a fascinating example with what I consider to be a focused awareness and engagement with the surface of the painting and the materiality of the work. By disrupting one of his traditional depictions of a landscape with the depiction of the colorful strips of fabric, he calls attention to the materials of the painting and almost creates an agitated surface.

Instead of using paint in a three-dimensional layering, Chen instead uses flat strokes to divide the space not just vertically, but between the eye of the viewer and what lies behind these colorful strips of “dyed silk”. Thus, he constructs space between the picture plane and the landscape of the rest of the painting, combining a very progressive idea with a traditional environment. Similarly, these strips of paint divide the painting vertically. This creates such a creative and progressive concept with the traditional landscape of the canals of Suzhou in the background. This dialogue between materials and the execution of the painting is an excellent example of bricolage. In terms of style of brushwork, the left portion of the painting is very flat in keeping with the architectural façade, and on the right is a very impressionistic depiction of water and buildings. It is a

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bizarre mix of two styles on one canvas, combining two separate brushwork techniques on the same surface. The painting then can be divided into four parts with various styles cohabiting in the one space.

One aspect of Chen’s paintings that the subject of these two paintings indicates, is that Chen Chengpo took advantage of travel opportunities to various cities in China while he was in Japan and in China. Several other works and photographs from Chen’s period in China demonstrate his sketching from life, and depicting these well-known scenic locales in an assortment of styles. Taihu Lake Villa (Fig. 63), from 1929 depicts a view along the popular tourist destination. This first photo (Fig. 64) is of Chen Cheng-po painting a different work of the same subject matter as Taihu Lake Villa, on site at Lake

Tai in 1929. This second photo (Fig. 65) shows Chen Cheng-po with students at Lake Tai in 1929. Judging from the inscribed onto the rocks in the background as well as the pavilions and white barrier peering through the shrubbery at the top of the cliff, this looks to be the same perspective as that in the painting. However, instead of this group of students and teacher on the rock outcropping, in the painting is Chen’s familiar adult and child standing in the lower left with their backs to the viewers.

Paintings such as At the Foot of Tianping Mountain (Fig. 66), Beach at Putuo

Mountain (Fig. 67), Wuli Lake (Fig. 68), and In Front of Putuo Temple266 (Fig. 70) further demonstrate Chen Cheng-po’s representational renderings of natural settings during the time he lived in Shanghai. Similar to how Ishikawa Kin’ichiro led his students out into various places in Taiwan to observe and record, through painting, the sites before

266 This image of In Front of Putuo Temple is from a microfiche of a 1929 publication of Ziluolan () found in the Shanghai Library Archives. The whereabouts of this painting are unknown, and this is the only image that I have been able to find of it. 150

them, Chen mirrored this practice with his students in Shanghai. This photo (Fig. 71)267 from the Shanghai xinhua yizhuan xuexiao shenghuo is yet another example of Chen out painting with his students. The caption in the journal states, “Shanghai xinhua yizhuan students in front of Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, sketching from life with their Professor,

Chen Cheng-po.”268 These works also portray another aspect of Chen’s works from his

Shanghai period. Similar to many of his portraits and figure paintings that will be addressed later, the works from this era are on larger canvases, and in general, make use of much more pigment. This certainly could be a stylistic change, but more likely, it was a result of this time period being the most financially stable for Chen and his family. No longer a student, and with a teaching position, resources were more plentiful. Later, in his return to Taiwan, pigments and canvases were more scarce due to war and also due to governmental restrictions based on whether the subject matter reflected patriotism.

Chen Chengpo demonstrates various painting styles during his time in Shanghai.

The diversity of styles in his oeuvre is visible in both his renderings of landscapes and figures. I would also suggest that in his experimenting with various styles, Chen seems constantly aware of the viewer. The question he seems to deal with is who is viewing this painting, and what will they take from it? In essence, he is toying with the vocabulary within the painting, whether it is in style or subject matter. This reliance on the

‘language’ within the painting prevails—becoming familiar with the language of the culture, that is the artistic culture, allows for success in these three different areas and allows for messages to be understood by the viewership it ‘speaks’ to. Would the

267 Shanghai xinhua yizhuan, xuexiao shenghuo, 1933, vol. 55, pp. 6-8. 268 Ibid., p. 6. 151

landscape in Suzhou be so recognizable to those in Taiwan or in Japan if titled Afternoon at the Silk Shop? Would a sign with Chinese characters aid in the understanding of what was depicted and where, for a Taiwanese or Japanese viewer? Clear Stream was titled

Melting Snow on Broken Bridge when entered into the Taiten, providing an understanding of what was depicted. Is it possible that this was done in case the

Taiwanese viewer, raised in a period when traditional Chinese concepts were erased, was not familiar with this scene? The styles and concepts used for these two paintings exhibited in the same exhibition evidence Chen’s ability to experiment with different modes of painting.

Portrait and Figure Painting

Up until recently, Chen Cheng-po was known as a landscape painter, and particularly for illustrating the scenery of his homeland, Taiwan, and especially his hometown of Chiayi. As mentioned above, it became common practice to create studies of nude models as part of the curriculum in art schools in Tokyo. Chen had a few examples of these early nudes that were exhibited in Taiwan during the Nationalist period. The majority of Chen Cheng-po’s nudes dating from his early career in Japan through to his return to Taiwan were just revealed in two exhibits starting in the Fall of

2011. This was the first time they were exhibited since Chen’s lifetime, and it transformed the understanding of him solely as a landscape painter. Many of these figure paintings date to his time in Shanghai.

The figure painting and sketches of nudes that Chen completes while in Shanghai portray an artist sampling various modes of expression. Taking examples of sketches

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(Fig. 72), watercolors (Fig. 73, Fig. 74), and an assortment of his oil paintings (Fig. 75,

Fig. 76, Fig. 77), demonstrates this point. A look at a few of the reproductions in Chen’s collection (Fig. 78, Fig. 79) provides some insight into stylistic influences on his depiction of figures. Certainly the work of Henri Matisse comes to mind when considering some of Chen’s figure paintings. Particularly so, with the decorative and patterned backgrounds behind the models. The Standing Nude with Mask (Fig. 80) and

Masked Nude Female (Fig. 81) are two interesting examples from Chen’s time in

Shanghai. This addition of the mask, and in the one case, the doll hanging in the background are intriguing elements with a Western flare.

Within these figure paintings and portraiture from Chen’s Shanghai period, stylistic changes are apparent in his brushwork and use of pigment. As already mentioned, Chen made use of more paint within the works created during the time he lived in Shanghai. Chen employs a variety of styles in his figure paintings not only through form, but also through brushwork and texture. In many of Chen’s portraits of family members and himself, the very textured nature of the faces in comparison to the relative flatness of the rest of the painting is especially apparent. The works Self-Portrait

(Fig. 82), Woman (Fig. 83), and Portrait of Grandmother (Fig. 84), are a few of many examples displaying this thick layering of paint focused on the face. Woman, dated 1931, in particular, appears to play on the dialogue between the materials and the execution of the painting, that Claude Lévi-Strauss writes of. The surface of this work is incredibly thick and once again brings the attention of the viewer not just to the distortion of the figure’s hand and face, but to the distortion of what would be a flat surface of the canvas.

The paint has a textured bumpiness to it that denotes a layering of paint, and a careful

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examination of the painting reveals that the strokes of color on the surface are not the same as those of a dried layer beneath the surface that is visible. In terms of stylistic depiction of the figure, the disfigured rendering of her face and hand are reminiscent of figures by artists such as Chaim Soutine (1893-1943) or (1884-

1920). Another portrait, Little Brother (Fig. 85), is of his son, Chen Tsung-guang.

Although, it does not have the sam textural features on the face as others do, it has a similar Soutine feature. The hands and face have a slight distortion to them. In both

Woman and Little Brother, the disfiguring of the hands is purposeful and appears to call attention to the “disfiguring” of the hands. No reproductions of Soutine or Modigliani portraits exist in Chen’s collection, that I have found. It is unknown if Chen had the opportunity to see either artist’s works in person, to observe the use of paint and texture on the canvas. The lack of extant documents on this does not imply that they did not exist, because it is possible that in the sudden return to Taiwan that war incited, that certain documents did not follow.

A work that epitomizes this conversation between materials and implementation of painting is Dancing Girl (Fig. 87), from 1932. Similar to the painting Woman, this painting has a great deal of texture to its surface. But particularly interesting is the depiction of the girl’s dress. What appears to be small white areas on her pink clothing can at first glance look like threads of the canvas peering through. But on closer examination, it is clear that these small white sections of paint come off of the surface of her dress with a woven-thread-like pattern. It looks as if Chen added small dollops of white paint upon the surface of her pink dress, on her skirt, in the shoulders, and along the collar. But what is fascinating is that he seems to have followed this application of

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pigment with an impression of a textured material impressed upon the sections of white paint while they are still wet, in order to create a seemingly fabric-like surface. Again,

Chen appears to be calling attention to the materials and the surface of his painting. This dialogue between the material of paint, its application on the surface, and the act of shaping the paint to appear like something it is not (fabric), clearly demonstrates this concept of bricolage of Lévi-Strauss.

The Paintings My Family and Nijubashi One very fascinating work of portraiture is Chen Cheng-po’s painting My Family

(Fig. 2). This is the only extant painting of the artist’s family that Chen creates.269 It is always published as dating from 1931, but for a number of reasons, Li Su-chu believes this painting dates to 1930. Of the various reasons she provides, the most convincing comes from a letter that Chen Cheng-po wrote to the TSFA graduate newsletter published on February 3 of 1931. In it he states, “I recently completed a size fifty painting of a portrait of the entire family. This painting is unlike my other paintings, it has a different feel. My family came [to Shanghai] last summer.”270 Since the size mentioned in Chen’s letter matches the size of the painting and this is the only portrait of Chen’s family that exists, it is fairly likely that this painting was completed either in late 1930, or January of

1931.

Two intriguing aspects of this painting are the style, and what Chen chooses to portray in his painting. Similar to what Chen states in his letter to the graduate journal,

269 For comparison, this is a photo of the Chen family (Fig. 86), accompanied by Chen’s cousin, Chen Yao-chi. This photo is from their time in Shanghai and dates to 1931. 270 Chen Cheng-po, letter written to the “Xiaoyou huiyue bao,” Dongjing meishu xuexiao, Vol. 29, No. 8. Quoted in Li Su-chu, 2012, p. 56. 155

the style is distinctly dissimilar to any of his other paintings. Each figure stares straight out at the viewer, with somewhat blank, and almost fearful expressions. In addition to this, each member of the family is depicted in a way that is unlike other portrayals of them by Chen, whether in oil or sketches. Chen himself, depicted on the far left, possesses facial characteristics that are unreconizable as his own. The figures have large round eyes, and almost perfectly oval faces. Each is outlined in dark, exaggerated shadows that fall to the left, except for Chen’s that outlines the right side of his head.The shading is a bit exaggerated as well, and the texturing of the paint is mostly in the faces and in some other random areas, leaving a fairly smooth surface on the canvas. The overstated shading is contrasted with the flatness of the table which faces the viewer in the same way as each of the figures.

Interestingly, the style contains similarities to Mexican artists such as Diego

Rivera (1886-1957) or Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957). Covarrubias traveled to China and spent time in Shanghai in 1930 and returned a year later.271 Whether he had any works that were on display is unknown, but it is possible that reproductions of Rivera’s works circulated in Shanghai in the 1930s. According to a researcher of Covarrubias, some Chinese artists in the 1930s became familiar with the work of Diego Rivera through photographs of his . In addition to this, a photo of a that was in the Palace

Hotel in Shanghai in the 1930s, that no longer exists, contains stylistic similarities with

271 Adrianna Williams. Covarrubias, Austin: University of Press, 1994. p. 61. 156

Diego Rivera.272 It is unclear who painted these murals, or if Chen had the opportunity to view these specific murals.

The second interesting feature to call attention to is what Chen decides to depict with the family. In the background are two paintings, one of which looks similar to a painting Chen created in 1930, entitled, Snuggling () (Fig. 88). It depicts two individuals walking away into the distance, one of them wearing what appears to be a brown, large-brimmed hat, and the other with black, shoulder-length . This could possibly be an image of Chen (with his brown hat he was known to wear) and his wife, but there is no other evidence that directly suggests this. Around the table sits the whole family, from left to right, Chen Cheng-po, his second daughter (Pi-nu), Chen Cheng-po’s wife (Chang Chieh), Chen’s first son (Chung-kuang), and his eldest daughter (Tsu-wei).

Each of them has objects they are holding that are associated with themselves. The oldest daughter on the right has books in front of her for reading, her little brother, Chung- kuang is sitting next to her with a toy in his hand. Their mother sits in the center of the painting with needlework and sewing, which is what she used as a source of work to have money for the family and Chen while he was at school in Tokyo. The younger daughter sitting next to her dad, is holding picture postcards in her hands. Naturally, Chen, painted himself holding brushes and a painter’s palette. In the middle of the table are a calligraphy brush, , and a block of ink. Two letters sit beside them, with mostly

272 Peter Hibbard. The Bund Shanghai: China Faces West, Hong Kong: Odyssey Books and Guides, 2008. p. 201. The information about the Rivera photos in Shanghai came from an inquiry by Steve Upton on a discussion board on H-Asia. The researcher of Covarrubias in Shanghai is Paul Bevan. 157

illegible writing; the white letter could possibly have “  ” (Chen Cheng-po xiansheng Mr. Chen Cheng-po)” written on it.

The curious object in the painting is the booklet that sits on the table in front of the brushes that Chen Cheng-po holds in his hand. The front of it clearly reads, “

 ” which translates as “proletarian painting theory.” This is an identifiable book that dates from 1930. It is one of a multi-volume publication, that focuses on proletarian painting. It contains works by artists such as Yanase Masamu ( )

(1900-1945) and Kanji Maeda ( ) (1896-1930), and text describing proletarian ideology and the style and development of proletarian painting, introducing representative works.

The question in all of this is why Chen would choose to have such a book in this portrait of his family, the only known work of his family. Each identifying object has its purpose within the scene, and the text on the front cover of the proletariat book are so clearly legible, and of a specific book, that there is no doubt that there is some purpose reason for this item just as the others. One simple explanation is that Chen supported the proletarian movement. This is what many authors stated in the decades after his death.

Certainly, in the Nationalist-governed world of Taiwan, that was not only anti-Japanese, but also anti-Communist, this type of book would not be tolerated. In fact, there was such controversy over this book’s portrayal in this painting, that in a 1979 show where it was scheduled to be exhibited, it was decided not to display the work. In the catalogue

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accompanying the exhibit, the painting was reproduced with the characters of the book removed.273

Li Su-chu contends that Chen’s possible reasons behind the depiction of this book in the painting are numerous. First, proletariat art was a popular type in Japan, with the ideology spreading and paintings in this style were abundant. Thus, this may demonstrate a piece of the culture and art history of this time. Chen expresses his knowledge of the subject by including it in the painting, but without actually painting in that style.

Secondly, it is possible that just as Chen’s name is written on the front of one of the letters, possibly as a signature, that this publication on the table denotes a date for the painting. This would be atypical for Chen, but so is the style of this piece. One other possibility that Li cites for Chen’s inclusion of the book, is that he may have empathized with the proletariat class. Li suggests that he may have considered this aristocracy versus proletarian struggle as analagous to the tension felt between the Japanese colonial government and the Taiwanese colonized populace.274

While all of these are possibilities, it is clear that Chen’s placement of the book on the table alongside all the other features of the family is meaningful. Certainly another book from that same year could be utilized to denote a date of the painting. If Chen was an advocate of the proletarian movement, he could have painted in the style that was very prevalent during that time, or he might have written about his convictions of this movement. However, Chen created no writing or paintings that include this style or subject matter, outside of the inclusion of this book in the painting My Family. The next

273 Chen Cheng-po hua ji, Taipei: Hsiung shih mei shu, 1979. Li Su-chu, 2012, p. 54. 274 Li Su-chu, 2012, pp. 54-59. 159

chapter will explore his political views in the context of his writing, and will demonstrate that the proletarian line of thinking is not a part of that. I maintain that Chen’s painting the book into his family portrait is another example of how Chen welcomed new ideologies, styles, and inspirations into his artistic “toolbox.” By having this book play a role in the portrait of his family, Chen is, in some ways, espousing the meaning behind proletarian painting, but not the style in which the Japanese proletarian artists painted.

Although it is unclear how much of Diego Rivera’s or Miguel Covarrubias’ works to which Chen may have been exposed, Rivera’s work certainly had proletarian expressions.

Li suggests similarities with Koide Narashige’s ( ) painting The Family of N (N ) (Fig. 89), as well as Kanji Maeda’s (  ) painting The Master

Carpenter’s Family ( ) (Fig. 90).275 Due in part to a regular association of

Chen Cheng-po with Vincent Van Gogh, Taiwanese scholars have mentioned a resemblance of Chen’s My Family with Van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters (Fig. 91). In terms of composition, there are similarities to all three of these works, and in style, a likeness can be seen in the depiction of some of the faces in Van Gogh’s work.

The combination of this Japanese proletariat publication and a painting style that is not consistent with the Japanese proletariat style creates complexity. Although Chen chooses to express his knowledge of proletariat painting and its history from the Japanese perspective, he chooses not to demonstrate the Japanese painting style which expresses this ideology. Living in Tokyo and then Shanghai at the peak of the development of

Japanese proletariat painting, Chen would be very familiar with this style. This painting,

My Family, is a very deliberate choice to not explore that style, or possibly a rejection of

275 Ibid., 54-59. 160

that Japanese style. Furthermore, in dismissing the Japanese proletariat style, he adopts a different style to apply. If Chen is familiar with Rivera’s work, for example, Chen would be combining two separate expressions of the same ideology in one work. At this point,

Chen had already conformed his style in order to succeed in the Japanese environment, and in China has more opportunity to explore various styles. He takes this chance to make a deliberate break from a style conformed to suit a particular ideology.

The painting Nijubashi (Double Bridge) (Fig. 3) is another work which has had an attributed date (1927), but is likely from another period in Chen’s career. It also serves as a more concrete example of hybridization. It demonstrates a shift in color palette, from the bright greens and reds typical in “local color” works in Taiwan, to a lighter, almost pastel-like palette. In subject matter, Chen uses a very familiar sight to those living in

Tokyo, the bridge to the entrance to the Imperial Palace.

Stylistically, the work is a fascinating combination of a few Impressionist painters. The sky and water resemble the painting style of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, while the bridge reflects Vincent Van Gogh. Both of these artists were well known in the painting circles in Japan as many of the instructors at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, as well as other art institutions in Japan, studied the techniques of these artists in France.

The thick, broad strokes are standard for Van Gogh’s bridge scenes, with each stroke forming the blocks of masonry. The sky contains the painterly brush strokes common for

Renoir, with the light, wispy effects. Even the thinness of each line of the water is more similar to Renoir. It is as if the bridge and the landscape surrounding it are in a different mode. The overall method of having the colors side by side to create a certain intensity of the paints and the mixing of the pigments in the brushstrokes is standard Impressionist

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work. While it is a common practice for artists to take characteristics of painters and apply them in a new way, the combination of styles that Chen uses is fascinating and demonstrates a sort of hybrid quality.

But this painting also raises interesting ideas of stylistic exchange that was occurring between Taiwan and Western Europe. Particularly when Van Gogh’s reinvention of Japanese prints in oil is considered. These two depictions of Japanese icons in oil (a Japanese print and the bridge at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo), complete with similar style of brushwork and application of textured paint, proposes a very intriguing type of artistic exchange between East Asia and Europe.

In terms of subject matter, as mentioned above, this scene was identifiable by any

Japanese individual as the entrance to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Because of the colonial conquest of Taiwan, this site became well-known for all Taiwanese colonial subjects as well. This is because, the “Double Bridge” became a symbol of the emperor of Japan. To demonstrate allegiance during the war and to celebrate the 2600 anniversary of the Imperial family’s rule, in 1940, costly images of the emperor would be placed in schools and businesses throughout Japan. As a sign of respect, one would bow when passing by the image. In Taiwan the same loyalty and respect was expected, but generally, Taiwanese schools and businesses could not afford one of the valuable images of the emperor. Instead, an image of the “Double Bridge,” the entrance to the Imperial palace and to the presence of the emperor, would be a suitable replacement, as it represented the emperor himself. Chen Tsung-kuang’s wife recalled that this painting by

Chen, Nijubashi (Fig. 3), was in the principal’s office of one of the schools in Chiayi, where students and faculty alike, would bow to exhibit their respect to the leader of the

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colonial government.276 The association was so strong that this painting, along with many others, was returned to the Chen family very quickly after Chen Cheng-po was killed by the KMT.

In most publications, this work is dated to 1927. This has been chosen to be included in this section of the dissertationbecause of the ambiguity of when this painting was created, and also because it can serve as a connection into the next section, Chen’s return to Taiwan. The painting is not dated, only signed in the bottom right corner, “

”. Judging by style and brushwork alone, this piece does not appear to be any earlier than Chen Cheng-po’s period in China. Since, in recent years, it has been established that Nijubashi (Fig. 3) has been misdated, many scholars claim that it must have been painted between 1939 and 1940, during the war. In a conversation, Lin Yu- chun, Acquisitions Director at the Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, and curator of the recent

Journey through Jiangnan—A Pivotal Moment in Chen Cheng-po’s Artistic Quest, mentioned to me that she believes the painting was completed before 1940. Lin bases this on the signature, which she believes is unlike any other of Chen’s signatures from the

1940s. Li Su-chu, in her dissertation argues that the painting is from 1940, possibly commissioned by the Japanese government for the 2600 anniversary of the Imperial

Family.

On September 18, 1931, an explosion occurred that sparked the commencement of Japan’s invasion of , and resulted in the eventual establishment of

276 Li. 2012, pp. 64-65. 163

Manchukuo.277 This has come to be known as the Manchurian Incident. In the same month as the initial incident, according to some brief writing by Chen, he attends the first regulation-draft meeting of the Storm Society (Juelan Society) at the Plum Garden

Restaurant in Shanghai.278 One of the first western avant-garde art societies in China,

Chen was at the forefront of modern art movements in China. The artists involved were

Pagn Xunqin, Ni Yide, Wang Jiyuan, Zhou Duo, Zhou Zhentai, Duan Pingyou, Zhang

Xian, Yang Taiyang, Yang Qiuren, Qiu Ti, Guan Liang, Li Zhongsheng, and Liang

Xihong.279 This photo, provided to me by Li Chao in his research at the Shanghai

Library, shows Chen with several artists in this Shanghai circle (Fig. 92). It is unclear the extent of Chen Cheng-po’s activity with the Storm Society, but he seems to have been involved since its inception. The first of their four exhibits was in 1932, and unfortunately, by 1935, the group was dissolved.

In January of 1932, after some unrest, fighting between China and Japan occurred, in what is now called the Shanghai Incident, or the January 28 Incident. Shortly after this, Chen sent his family home to Taiwan. Chen left for Taiwan himself in June of

1932 but returned to Shanghai later that year. He moved his permanent base to Taiwan in

1933.280

It seems that the establishment of art societies in general was something that resounded strongly with Chen. The concepts that were in their manifesto seem like

277 The Manchurian Incident was found to be a planned confrontation by the Japanese military in order to strengthen their hold in this norther area. Eventually, a puppet government was established from this area. Janet Hunter, Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. p. 187. 278 Taipei Fine Arts Museum Catalogue, 2012, chronology chart. 279 Shanghai Modern, p. 196. 280 Taipei Fine Arts Museum Catalogue, 2012, Chronology Chart. 164

ideology that he brought back with him and attempted to implement in Taiwan. The onset of war, however, prevented any of the potential involvement Chen could have had through 1935 with the Storm Society. His involvement with this group, however short, is a good way to frame the end of Chen’s career in China.

It is clear that Chen Cheng-po was a part of an amazing circle of artists while in

Shanghai and on the cusp of the modern art reform in China. A tangible illustration of his connections to this community is provided by the Chinese ink painting (Fig. 93) gifted to Chen in commemoration of his work at Yiyuan, which is a collaboration of five artists including Wang Jiyuan and the renowned painter Zhang . This painting has remained a part of Chen Cheng-po’s collection of artworks given to him by colleagues, and commemorates the lively artistic community in which Chen participated. It is challenging to understand the exact impact of other Chinese artists on Chen’s paintings because so much of the art in China from that era was destroyed by war and the years of turmoil that followed. Chen was in Shanghai at a time when everything was being established, new art institutions as well as art societies like the Storm Society. When war pushed him out of Shanghai, it was also pushing him out of the circle of artists that came to define modern Chinese art.

In an interview with Yang Taiyang, a member of the Storm Society, he mentions how the influence of the Storm Society was immense as it promoted new painting and broke away from the conservation attitude of the time.

In terms of its significance in China, the Storm Society was one of the earliest artistic organizations to move forward, to start innovating and accepting new ideas from abroad…. [The Society] advocated an innovative spirit that broke away from the old framework. It promoted an individualistic approach to art, enabling the artist to create his or her

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unique individuality…. At the time, it had a tremendous influence on society and on the art scene in China.281 Later in the interview Yang gets to the heart of the concept of bricolage by stating:

By mastering new ideas and techniques from other nations, we understood that we should learn from the advancements of other nations, that we should borrow from their art, and that once we had a grasp of these things, we should learn to use these concepts as tools and, using our own strengths, take them further.282

Chen’s paintings display precisely that, a borrowing from his experiences in

Taiwan, Japan, and China. Thus Chen created works using the tools of the colonial occupation in the “western” medium of oil painting, mastering the European styles as translated by his Japanese teachers, and practiced a diverse range of styles he came across in the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai. Through his teaching positions and involvement in the instrumental art circles like the Juelanshe, Chen left and gained a lasting impact with, as the Storm Society Manifesto states, “a raging passion and iron intellect,… creat[ing] a world interwoven with color, line, and form!”283

281 Yang Taiyang, exerpted from a filmed interview by Guilin TV commissioned by the Museum Villa Stuck, © 2004. Questions: Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker and Zheng Shengtian. Translated from “The Storm Society” in Shanghai Modern, 1919-1945, Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker, Ken Lum, Zheng Shengtian, eds., Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2004, p 243. 282 Ibid., p 243. 283 Ibid., p 234. 166

Chapter 5: The Development of Identity, Modernity, and Hybridity:

The Return to Taiwan

The last fourteen years of Chen Cheng-po’s life continued to be prolific. He maintained a consistent production of paintings, continued to exhibit within and outside of Taiwan, established and participated in art societies, and worked to elevate Taiwanese art. Because Chen had such a successful and fruitful career upon returning home, in lieu of examining his works one by one, this section will focus on one particular document and the effects of his time abroad on the Taiwanese art world. It is true that his period in

China stimulated his artistic sensibility dramatically and proved successful in his growth as an artist, teacher, and proponent of the establishment of art societies. However, I believe that Chen’s pivotal period is his return to Taiwan. This is clear in how he embraced the absence of the establishment of art schools in Taiwan and the lack of advocacy for original Taiwanese art, and used it as a catalyst in his efforts to drive the

Taiwanese art world forward.

This enthusiasm and the challenges Chen faced in his endeavors to cultivate the

Taiwanese artistic community, is captured in his journal from 1945. This section will begin with a chronological examination of this period in order to demonstrate Chen’s continued success. This will be followed by a review of his 1945 journal, and then an analysis of a few of his paintings in light of his journal entries.

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Chronological Account As historical events moved Chen out of the burgeoning environment of Shanghai back to the rising art world of Taiwan in June of 1933, Chen continued to accumulate tools developing his painting. Certainly his continued communication with Ishikawa

Kinichiro as well as his personal correspondence with such prominent Japanese artists such as Fujishima Takeji and Umehara Ryuzaburo demonstrates Chen’s continued exchange of artistic ideas across borders. In these postcards from 1935 (Fig. 94, Fig. 95), we note Chen’s close connection with Fujishima and Umehara, a pupil of Auguste

Renoir.

In Chen Cheng-po’s first several months back in Taiwan, he successfully submits a painting of West Lake to the seventh Taiten in October, and also serves as an artist in residence for three months at Yang Yin-wu’s home in Changhua. The following year,

Chen returns to Tokyo to attend, and exhibit his painting, Spring at West Lake (Fig. 96), at the Imperial Art Exhibition of Japan. In this same year, the Taiyang Art Society is established and Chen participates in the founding of this private art association, exclusively a Western-style painting group.284 Chen exhibits his work, Foliage (Fig. 97) at the first exhibition of the Taiyang Art Society in 1935. As a result of the Second Sino-

Japanese War, the Taiten is suspended in 1937. Chen participates in every Taiyang Art

Society exhibit in the following years before his death, as well as participating in the

Kofukai exhibits. This demonstrates Chen’s continued participation in exhibits in Japan and Taiwan. The following year, the Futen285 is established and Chen has work accepted to every one of these colonial-government sponsored exhibitions until they come to an

284 Wang Hsiu-Hsiung, p. 117. 285   (The Taiwan Governor-General Art Exhibition) 168

end in 1945. Chen aids in the establishment of the Qingchen Fine Art Association, and in

1940, he is appointed as an adviser to Western-style painters for the first Qingchen Fine

Art Association Exhibition, held in Chiayi.286 Evidently, Chen Cheng-po remained an active participant in the artistic community of Taiwan and Japan, playing a particularly dynamic role in the Taiwanese art world.

Like many Taiwanese, Chen gladly welcomes the end of the Japanese colonial governance in Taiwan in 1945 and the transition of power to Chiang Kai-shek’s rule. In fact, Chen Cheng-po served as a Deputy Director in Chiayi for the committee for

“Welcoming the Nationalist Government,” and is the Director of the Chiayi Self-

Governance Association in 1945. By April of 1946, he is voted into office as

Representative of the First Chiayi Legislative Assembly. In October of the same year, the first Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition is held, and Chen serves as a juror for the show as well as exhibits work. One of his two paintings on display at this exhibit is Celebration

Day, from 1946, portraying the excitement of the crowd as they welcome the Nationalist government.287

Despite the enthusiasm for the transition in power, and the end of Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan in 1945, the 228 Incident takes place in 1947, and an estimated ten to thirty thousand Taiwanese are killed beginning on February 28. For reasons not recorded in written accounts of the time, Chen Cheng-po was one of several individuals publicly shot in front of the Chiayi Train Station before friends and family. Speculations for the exact grounds for Chen’s execution vary from his activity in the Chiayi Self-

286 Chronology Chart, Taipei Fine Arts Museum Catalogue. 287 Ibid. 169

Governance Association to false accusations of his Japanese or even Communist affiliation. Outside of pure fear of how to handle the situation in Taiwan, the Nationalist government had no other reason to provide an explanation for their actions. Not watning to sound sentimental about this situation, I believe it is fair to say that the Taiwanese art world lost one of its great advocates that day.

The 1945 Journal In September of 2011, after sixty-seven years of safe-keeping, a journal written by

Chen Cheng-po was released for the first time since Chen’s public execution by the

Nationalist Government. In these pages, Chen wrote of his aspirations for the Taiwanese art world. He envisioned ways to elevate the artistic community in Taiwan in ways that were never manifested, or possibly, were purposefully prevented from taking place, during the Japanese occupation of the island.

On the front cover of the journal, Chen writes, “Reflections, Looking Back on

Society and Art, September 9, 1945.” The contents of the journal cover a range of topics, but mostly focuses on art circles in Taiwan and the transition from being ruled by a

Japanese colonial government to a Nationalist ruled government. Because it is 1945, the tone of the writing is reflective of his painting Celebration Day (Fig. 4). In general, Chen writes of a harsh rule under the Japanese colonial government, one that stifled the growth of Taiwanese art. The shift to a Nationalist government is welcomed with the impression that the ideals he learned about of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the founding father of the Republic of China, would transform the challenges Taiwanese faced as a whole, but also would revolutionize the Taiwanese art world. In essence, the journal reveals Chen

Cheng-po’s dreams for advancement of Taiwanese art.

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Chen starts by noting that with the end of the Japanese colonial rule, that “heaven and earth, and all the trees and grass in between celebrates, every blade of grass celebrates… and now the bell of justice tolls.” It is very apparent that Chen is eager to have a new beginning, and I believe, he anticipated a society similar to what he experienced in Shanghai, where the establishment of art institutions and art societies was in abundance. He writes that under Japanese rule, the government’s control was suppressive and forbade the organization of an art institution. This resulted in the inability for Taiwanese to freely express their intelligence and their art energy. According to Chen, this led to a darkness in cultural life.

In the journal, Chen records how Liao Chi-chun and Chen Chih-chi traveled to

Tokyo for their education. The two Chens were sitting together one day and decided to organize an art association for Taiwanese artists to elevate Taiwan’s culture. Without mentioning who, Chen Cheng-po writes that there were those that thought it was not a good idea, particularly because of the pressure of being ruled by another government. He felt it was a shame, that the Taiwanese who traveled to Japan to study exhibited so much talent and skill, yet were held back by the fact that realistically, no art association for

Taiwanese could freely be established.

This journal serves as a wonderful account of the establishment of art societies in

Taiwan. Chen lists the names of various artists involved in the founding of the different groups as well as the years and purposes behind the institution of these associations. For instance Chen records that in 1927, back in Taiwan, he along with several other artists, founded the Orange Sun Society in Tainan, while Chen Chih-chi co-organized the Seven

Stars group in the north. He proceeds to list the individuals involved. It was with the

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inception of these early art groups that an energy began to spread, with increased fervor for art societies to be established. The eventual outcome, was a vigor among Taiwanese artists that, despite the continued control over the exhibits and the individual associations, remained strong and managed to organize smaller independent exhibits. It was in this fervor that groups like the renowned Taiyang Art Society was established, with the help of senior artists like Chen Cheng-po.

Through this entire chronicle of the Taiwanese art world, it is clear that Chen’s goal is to elevate the art world of Taiwan. In his account, one can see his own development of stepping into an art world of Tokyo where international artists were exhibited on a regular basis. Chen witnessed the freedom of Japanese artists in their own home country, educated in the preeminent art school in the region, with overflowing opportunities to travel abroad for further artistic engagement. He traveled on to Shanghai,

China where the taste for modernity was bursting at its seams, and resulted in art institutions and art societies rising up all over. Although brief, Chen’s involvement with the Juelanshe just before his return to Taiwan, must have had an impact as he reentered

Taiwan, where even establishing one art institution was suppressed.

The journal ends with an allegorical story that Chen created. It tells of a poor family who loses their son to a man as a result of their inability to return a loan.

Powerless, they witness their son’s cruel situation as he is treated like a slave. This continues on for fifty years, until he is almost completely weakened. The son was sent to a Western doctor who prescribed an antibiotic. This medicine helped, but did not cure the deep-rooted problem. Thus, he went to a famous Chinese doctor who provided him with

Chinese medicine that he had to take three times a day, which cured him. Chen states that

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“we need to take this Chinese medicine to help rebuild our country.” The message is clear, Chen felt the need to shed the suppression of the prior colonial governance, and welcome what he perceived the new Chinese government could provide—that same artistic community he experienced in Shanghai. The unfortunate reality is, that it was this government in which Chen had so much faith, that not only executed him, but almost killed Chen’s vision for his country as it nearly wiped out his name in the development of

Taiwan’s art history.

Despite the title of the painting Celebration Day (Fig. 4), Chen’s painting looks anything but celebratory. Similar to the mention of this in the discussion of Summer

Streetscape (Fig. 45), the figures represent a crowd, yet still appear isolated in their static poses and anonymous renderings. The majority face away from the viewer, with those facing the viewer lacking facial features or expressions. It is unclear why the crowd has gathered, and this grouping of individuals hardly looks like a crowd with no overlapping of figures or interaction with one another. The only suggestion to a celebration are the small individuals standing on the roof of the building in the enter of the painting who raise their arms above their heads. Other than that, the scene is as still as the solid trees that frame either side of the image. By 1946, the year of this painting, the new government that the population was excited about had arrived the year before. Perhaps this is Chen’s developed style or his continued devotion for the art and person of Vincent

Van Gogh. Or, can this painting be interpreted as a reflection of Chen’s changing opinion of the newly established government that eventually is responsible for his death.

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Hybridity in Painting Linlang Mountain Pavilion (Fig. 98) is an example of Chen’s work upon his return to Taiwan. Completed in 1935, this piece was painted while he stayed at the home of Chang Li-te. It is a depiction of the fountain, pavilion, and garden area at this home.

This photo is of Chen Cheng-po and the family, sitting in the garden (Fig. 99). This painting is one of five works that Chen exhibits in the second Taiyang Art Exhibition, in

April of 1926.288 Unfortunately, this is also an example of one of the works where Chen

Cheng-po’s signature was scraped off in order to insure that it would not be identified as one of his works, and would not link this family to Chen during the aftermath of the 228

Incident.

Similar to many of Chen’s paintings, there is a personal connection and story behind the painting Farm (Fig. 100), created in 1934. Chen Cheng-po’s grandson, Chen

Li-po shared the background of this painting with me on one of my visits to their home to view paintings. The story as passed on to him by his grandmother (Chen Cheng-po’s wife), is that Chen Cheng-po was passing through the area of this farm. He watched as the woman from this farmhouse came out to feed the chickens. She placed the bowl, with the feed in it, on the ground and the chickens walked over and ate out of it together. Chen was moved by the peaceful gathering of the chickens around the bowl, sharing their meal, and approached the woman after they had finished eating and asked if he could purchase the bowl from her. The woman declined saying that she would have nothing with which to feed her chickens. No matter the price Chen gave her, she would not sell it. So, Chen went into town, purchased several bowls similar to the one the chickens ate from and

288 Taipei Fine Arts Museum Catalogue, Chronology Chart. 174

returned to trade these for the one bowl. Confused, but willing to part with the one bowl for so many others, gave Chen the chicken bowl. To Chen, the bowl was a symbol of peace in this humble setting; he appreciated how simple animals could come together to share something, while humans had such trouble with this concept. Chen Li-po showed me the unpretentious bowl, a treasured piece that Chen Tsung-kuang keeps his in his home.

Stylistically speaking, this painting is carefully organized. Chen’s characteristically curving lines in his brushwork pervade the piece. These rounded lines of pigment outlining the trees, filling in the bark of the main tree that stretches from the foreground to the top of the painting, framing the story within its trunk. The curving green and yellow paint fill the full shape of the tree leaves and around the curves of the roof of the building in the background. Like many of Chen’s landscapes, water plays a major role, here, with a river running through the foreground and a pond filling in the midground.

A majority of Chen’s paintings once he returned home to Taiwan were landscapes of different Taiwan scenes. This painting, Alishan in Spring (Fig. 101), is one of Chen’s grand landscapes of Mt. Ali, a picturesque mountain near his hometown, Chiayi. In the thirties, the colonial government was working to create a national park system with the

Alishan region included in this arrangement. This region has long been a popular subject matter for artists and is still a popular tourist attraction to this day. It is a recognizable scene to most Taiwanese, and certainly was an excellent example of “local color” depicting the mountainous regions of the “Southern Country.” Perhaps for this reason, but likely also because of its fine composition and stylistic characteristics, this painting

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was one of two works selected for the ninth Taiwan Art Exhibition. 289 This photo depicts

Chen with Alishan in Spring in the background (Fig. 102).

As a part of the many landscapes Chen paints during this period, a recurrent subject matter is his hometown, Chiayi. Somewhat similar to the images from 1926 and

1927 (Chiayi Suburbs, Chiayi Street, Summer Streetscape, and Wenling Mazu Temple) explored earlier, Chen continues to capture the cityscape of Chiayi in works like Middle of the Street in Chiayi (Fig. 103 ), and Chiayi Street View (Fig. 104), both from 1934.

Looking Towards Chiayi (Fig. 105), also from 1934 is a mix of the industrial side with the greenery of the region. Then, there are the multiple examples of the topic of Chiayi

Park, a popular gathering place in this city (Chiayi Park (1934, Fig. 106), Chiayi Park

(1937, Fig. 107), Chiayi Park (1939, Fig. 108), Chiayi Park (1939, Fig. 109), Chiayi

Park with Pedestrian Path in Front of Shrine (1939, Fig. 110)).

Coconut Grove (Fig. 111) serves as an example of Chen’s continued pastiche technique mentioned earlier. In terms of perspective, Chen provides an all-encompassing angle where the viewer peers through the trees able to see the floor of the environment from above, figures and the trunks of the coconut trees at direct eyesight as well as the bottom of the palms of the trees as if looking from below. In essence it is similar to what is seen in Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) landscapes where multiple viewpoints are depicted to capture the entirety of the scene. While not naturalistic, it becomes a reappearing characteristic in many of Chen’s paintings.

Also worthy of note is the subject matter in this work. It seemingly represents another of the tropical scenes of the island, an example of “local color”. The Japanese-

289 Ibid. 176

constructed Taipei Botanical Garden, is what is depicted in this scene. Coconut trees were an extremely popular subject matter for Japanese artists to portray in their works sent to the Teiten in Tokyo, demonstrating the tropical flora of the newfound colony.

What is interesting in Chen’s paintings is that while the vegetation are the title and subject matter of the work, it is what peers through the background that is of great interest. The architectural structure just beyond the fence-like assemblage is the former

Taiwan provincial government’s administrative office, built before the colonial era by the

Qing empire.290 Built towards the end of the Qing reign in Taiwan, it was torn down and replaced by a structure honoring the coronation of the new Showa Emperor. The structure

Chen depicts then, is the rebuilt portions of the structure in the zoo and botanical gardens.

Essentially what we have in this piece is this hybrid quality of Chen’s life. The portrayal of the coconut trees appeases the “local color” aspect encouraged by the Japanese, blended with the Chinese history of the past, deconstructed by the occupiers and reconstructed within a display of modernization.

Another grouping of pieces that utilize this blending of forms is the series of paintings focusing on the Chang Jung Girls Schools.291 Completing most of his depictions of this subject matter in 1941, Chen’s style of portrayal changes with each painted view. In each work the trees and foliage take on a post-impressionist quality with the short brushstrokes haphazardly piecing the trunks and leaves together in thick lumps of paint. The trees curve towards the sky with a character that recalls some relation to

Van Gogh’s curving trees. The thickness and the almost indiscriminate application of the

290 Buzhengshisi Yamen. 291  177

paint describing the flora, contrasts with the thin and cleanly application of the pigment portraying the building.

This contrast also draws out the history of the school itself. The first Chang Jung

Girls Middle School was established in 1887, prior to the Japanese occupation of the island. Developed by the Reverend Hugh Ritchie, this school was the first of its kind for girls to attend and as a requirement had any girl attending to stop the practice of foot- binding. In that sense, it was a progressive and modern institution, housed in western- style and foreign-built architecture. In Chen’s paintings, these buildings are described with organized brushstrokes and in accurate perspective, surrounded by the lush green foliage of its environment.

Chen Cheng-po's paintings of schools from this period in Taiwan may offer further evidence of his exploration of Taiwanese identity in his paintings. Similar to earlier works, there is a subtlety in the way Chen conveys a concept without stating it directly. A few questions arise in examining the paintings Danjiang xuexiao (Fig. 112),

Changrong nüzhong jiaoyuan (Fig. 113), Xinlou (Fig. 114), and Changrong nüzhong jiaoshi (Fig. 115). Why does Chen choose to paint these schools in particular, and not other schools? Do these schools represent something to Chen or the Taiwanese that should be taken into consideration when studying these works?

In style, these paintings have a mixture of post-impressionist and Chinese traditional qualities. The trees and foliage are reminiscent of post-impressionist brushwork, while the paint outlining the trees references Chinese ink painting. But what is even more intriguing, is the subject matter. Both the Danjiang and Changrong schools

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were built during the Qing Dynasty prior to the Japanese colonization of Taiwan. The

Changrong Schools were established by the Reverend Hugh Ritchie in 1887 and

Danjiang High School was established in 1872 by the missionary George Leslie Mackay, both affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. As a result, classes on Christian theology as well as other western subjects were taught. In accounts by the Presbyterian Church, it is recorded that despite the more intense assimilation efforts and ban on the usage of

Taiwanese and Chinese languages by the colonial government, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan continued to conduct services in Taiwanese and had hymnals and Bibles written in the romanized vernacular. Patricia Tsurumi notes that these schools established by missionaries, were discriminated against by the colonial government because they did not teach the assimilation policies of the government.292 In the late thirties and early forties, during the kōminka movement, these schools were forced to abide by some

Japanese colonial rulings. In fact, it was in 1936, the same year that Chen Cheng-po painted Danjiang High School, that the school was forcefully transferred into the

Japanese consortium.

According to Fu Chao-Ching, buildings of institutions affiliated with the western missionaries in Taiwan were designed by missionaries and built by local Taiwanese builders.293 The style of these buildings were generally a hybrid of Western and

Taiwanese characteristics. In Chen's paintings, the use of Western architecture is clearly documented. Danjiang High School has western stylistic features with arched windows

292 E. Patricia Tsurumi, Japanese colonial education in Taiwan, 1895-1945, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1977), and E. Patricia Tsurumi, 'Colonial Education in Korea and Taiwan' in The Japanese Colonial Empire. 293 Fu, Chao-Ching, "Taiwaneseness in Japanese Period Architecture in Taiwan," from Refracted Modernity, edited by Yuko Kikuchi. p. 179. 179

for example, but its layout is designed in a Taiwanese manner surrounding a courtyard.

Fu mentions that "Taiwaneseness in architecture came to characterize vernacular architecture's resistance to its official counterpart as imposed by the Japanese colonial government."294

Perhaps Chen Cheng-po chose the subject of these schools for his paintings during the kōminka movement merely because he liked the style of architecture or the scenery.

Chen is recorded in the Taiwan xinmin bao as describing the landscape and all its natural features.295 Chen also mentions in this same quote the problem that occurred in 1936 with the Danjiang School.296 It has been suggested that these schools were chosen as subject matter in Chen’s paintings because of their proximity to where he was living, or because of the location in general. But I would suggest that these schools were selected, during this very specific time, over others because of what they might represent, namely that they were not Japanese. Instead, they were schools founded by westerners, established not during the Japanese colonial rule, but before the Japanese ever governed the island.

These schools were preserving the Taiwanese language, within walls that were a

Taiwanese-Western hybrid of style, designed by a westerner, but built with Taiwanese hands. Not too dissimilar from the identity of Chen's paintings on Western materials, in a

"western" style, but painted with Taiwanese hands. Thus, these works while capturing a hybridization of styles, also demonstrate hybridity within their reflection of the actions of the colonial government.

294 Ibid., p. 178. 295 Chen Cheng-po. “Art Season—Writer’s Review,” Taiwan Xinmin Bao, October 19, 1936. “   ,   …” The Chinese translation is quoted from Yen Chuan-ying, 2001. p. 164. 296 Ibid. 180

Conclusion

Chen Cheng-po’s ouevre is vast, encompassing works painted in three different regions and exhibited in more. His paintings display complexities that characterize an artist working through the constraints and opportunities of colonialism. This dissertation endeavored to share a sampling of Chen’s works and documents from different periods in his life to elicit the hybridity that developed out of a struggle with identity in a modernizing and colonial context.

Taiwan underwent several intrusions by various nations over the centuries. The

Japanese fifty-year occupation, however, was unlike others before it. Focused on assimilating the people of Taiwan into Japanese subjects, the colonial government imposed the modernization reformation that the Japanese mainland was undergoing since the beginning of the Meiji Restoration. Unfortunately, the assimilation, worked to transform the Taiwanese people into loyal Japanese subjects but did not provide them with all of the benefits and rights of Japanese citizens. Naturally this created challenges for Taiwanese within the societal context and also within themselves and an understanding of their identity.

The art world of Taiwan underwent the same modernization, or westernization, that the rest of the culture experienced. Painting, in particular, made a direct transformation from traditional Chinese ink painting to an “Eastern-style” of painting and a “Western-style” of oil painting. In the case of artists like Chen Cheng-po, this meant

181

adapting to the use of Western materials and methods of painting. This utterly revolutionized the Taiwanese art world. The colonial government implemented this through art education, the strict control of art exhibitions, and the dissemination of information about art in the Taiwan Daily Newspaper.

Issues of identity are a natural innate part of colonialism. Typically, these matters occur with a Western force taking over a non-Western region and peoples. However, in

Taiwan the occupying force was also non-Western but implementing Western ideologies.

This is where post-colonial theories as Edward Said, Fernando Ortiz, Homi Bhabha and the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss shed some light on this unique colonial situation.

Edward Said’s book Orientalism, strikes an interesting perspective on what it means to have an “Oriental” power “Orientalizing” another “non-Western” country.

Fernando Ortiz’s concept of transculturation helps explore how Chen’s experiences in three different cultures aid in his creation of original and independent works. The works of Homi Bhabha and Claude Lévi-Strauss stimulate an understanding of what it means to take existing elements and reworks them to create something new. In the case of Bhabha, this reformulating entails the creation of a hybrid form that turns the gaze of the colonizer back upon itself. Chen Cheng-po’s works blend various aspects and styles absorbed from the different cultures he is a part of and contain subtle messages that reverse the subjugation of the colonial government.

By exploring Chen Cheng-po’s engagement in assorted artistic environments along with his ouevre, it is clear that he is experimenting with a mix of styles and ideologies. Chen acquires skills and a purpose in his education and work in Japan and

China. He is aware of what it takes to be successful in the art arenas in Taiwan, Japan,

182

and China and creates paintings that demonstrate his abilities. In addition to this, his experiences return him to Taiwan with an enthusiasm and commitment to elevate the world of Taiwanese art, despite the constraints of colonial rule. Impassioned, Chen establishes art societies, encourages and teaches younger artists, and continues to create an impressive collection of works. While serving on a committee to cooperate with the new Nationalist government he so eagerly welcomed in 1945, Chen Cheng-po is publicly executed in 1947, tragically ending an extraordinary artistic career and dampening the developments of the Taiwanese art world. After decades of government suppression and misinterpretation, Chen Cheng-po’s documents and paintings are once again coming to the limelight. With the appearance of these sources for the first time since his lifetime,

Chen and his artwork can finally be appreciated properly and for the remarkable contributions they are to the canon of Taiwanese art history.

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Shanghai xinhua yizhuan, xuexiao shenghuo, 1933, vol. 55.

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Shi Shouqian (Shih Shou-Chien), Chen Jin (Ch’en Chin), Taiwan Fine Arts Series 2, Taipei: Yishujia Chubanshe, 1992.

Shichuan qinyilang shisheng zuopinzhan (Early Twenty Century Watercolors of Ishikawa Kinichiro and His Students), Taipei: Taipei Fine Arts Museum, 1986. 193

Shirahama Akira ( ), Atarashī gazō no tōkō ( ), Tokyo: Tokyo School of Fine Arts, 1926.

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Taiwan nichnichi shimpo ( ), 1927, September 6-30.

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196

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197

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“Yishu liang zhi” (#$*, Two Art Notes), Taiwan nichi nichi shimpo ( ), April 4, 1930, 4th edition.

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198

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Ziluolan (, Violet). 1929, Vol. 4, Issue 10.

199

Appendix A: Figures

Fig. 1. Chen Cheng-po, Self-Portrait, 1928.

200

201

Fig. 2. Chen Cheng-po, My Family, Date Unknown.

202

Fig. 3. Chen Cheng-po, Nijubashi, Date Unknown.

Fig. 4. Chen Cheng-po, Celebration Day, 1946.

203

Fig. 5. Chen Chin, Pounding the Pestle, 1937.

204

Fig. 6. Kuo Hsueh-hu, Scenery Near Mt. Yuan, 1928.

205

Fig. 7. Liao Chi-chun, Banana Trees, 1928.

206

Fig. 8. Liao Chi-chun, Ichipa, exhibited in the third Taiten.

207

Fig. 9. Liao Chi-Chun, Shade, exhibited in the sixth Taiten.

208

Fig. 10. Liao Chi-Chun, Kaohsiung Scenery, exhibited in the sixth Taiten.

209

Fig. 11. Chen Chih-Chi, Danshui Landscape, 1925-30.

Fig. 12. Chen Zhiqi, Banana Plantation, 1929.

210

Fig. 13. Wang Kun-nan, Fountain Between Trees, Fourth Taiten

211

Fig. 14. Wang Hsin-ying, Southern Country Temple, Second Taiten

212

Fig. 15. Ishikawa Kinichiro's Letter to Chen Cheng-po, 1934.

213

Fig. 16. Postcard from Ishikawa Kinichiro to Chen Cheng-po

214

Fig. 17. Chen Cheng-po, The Watershed, 1915.

215

Fig. 18. Chen Cheng-po teaching students at Shuikutou Elementary School.

216

Fig. 19. Chen Cheng-po, Tropic of Cancer Post, 1921-23.

217

Fig. 20. Chen Cheng-po, Lumber Factory, 1921.

218

Fig. 21. Chen Cheng-po, A Stroll in the Countryside, 1916.

219

Fig. 22. Chen Cheng-po, Mother and Daughter on an Outing, 1916.

220

Fig. 23. Catalogue of an exhibit in Tokyo and Osaka on Contemporary French Art, 1924, from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

221

Fig. 24. Catalogue of an Exhibit on Contemporary French Art, in Tokyo and Osaka, 1927, from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

222

Fig. 25. Cover of the book Chinese Art by Kuwayama Masuji, from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

223

Fig. 26. Belgian Art in Exile catalogue from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

224

Fig. 27. Cover of a book on Rembrandt in Chen Cheng-po's collection, 1922.

225

Fig. 28. Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Self Portrait, reproduction in Chen Cheng- po's collection.

226

Fig. 29. Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Self Portrait, reproduction from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

227

Fig. 30. Self Portraits of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne, Reproduction from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

228

Fig. 31. Maurice Utrillo, 1924, Reproduction from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

229

Fig. 32. Nakamura, Fusetsu and Kojika Seiun, Shina kaigashi (The History of Chinese Painting), front cover, book from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

Fig. 33. Shina kaigashi, interior title page, from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

230

Fig. 34. Page from Chen Cheng-po's TSFA textbook.

Fig. 35. Page from Chen Cheng-po's TSFA textbook.

231

Fig. 36. Chen Cheng-po's notebook, 1926.

232

Fig. 37. Chen Cheng-po, Loquat Tree, 1924.

233

Fig. 38. Chen Cheng-po, Deep Private Thoughts, 1926.

234

Fig. 39. Chen Cheng-po, Lilies, Undated.

235

Fig. 40. Chen Cheng-po, A Woman, 1926.

236

Fig. 41. Chen Cheng-po, Untitled, Undated. \

237

Fig. 42. Chen Cheng-po, Tropic of Cancer Landmark, 1924.

238

Fig. 43. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Suburbs, 1926.

239

Fig. 44. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Street, 1927.

240

Fig. 45. Chen Cheng-po, Summer Streetscape, 1927.

241

Fig. 46. Detail of Chen Cheng-po's "CTH" Signature.

242

Fig. 47. Chen Cheng-po, Wu Feng Temple, 1925.

243

Fig. 48. Chen Cheng-po, Tokyo School of Fine Arts, 1926.

244

Fig. 49. Chen Cheng-po, Museum, 1926.

245

Fig. 50. Chen Cheng-po, Outside Courtyard, 1927.

246

Fig. 51. Chen Cheng-po, Small Town Scenery, 1928.

247

Fig. 52. A Sketch by Chen from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts Campus.

248

Fig. 53. Sketch of two figures.

249

Fig. 54. Chen Cheng-po, Nude, Undated.

250

Fig. 55. Chen Cheng-po, Nude, 1926.

251

Fig. 56. Tokyo School of Fine Arts Textbook Cover, Shirahama Akira (), Atarashī gazō no tōkō (), Tokyo, 1926.

Fig. 57. Detail.

252

Fig. 58. Catalogue of Wang Jiyuan's exhibition, 1933. 253

Fig. 59. Excerpts from the Ministry of Education’s 1929 National Exhibition Catalogue.

254

Fig. 60. Chen Cheng-po, Clear Stream, 1929.

255

Fig. 61. Chen Cheng-po, Afternoon at the Silk Shop (now known as Suzhou), 1929.

256

Fig. 62. Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming Painting Exhibit catalogue, from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

257

Fig. 63. Chen Cheng-po, Taihu Lake Villa, 1929.

Fig. 64. Chen Cheng-po painting en plein air at Lake Tai, 1929. 258

Fig. 65. Chen Cheng-po with painting students at Lake Tai, 1929.

Fig. 66. Chen Cheng-po, At the Foot of Tianping Mountain, 1930.

259

Fig. 67. Chen Cheng-po, Beach at Putuo Mountain, 1930.

260

Fig. 68. Chen Cheng-po, Wuli Lake, 1931.

261

Fig. 69. Chen Cheng-po, West Lake (Broken Bridge), 1930.

262

Fig. 70. Chen Cheng-po, In Front of Putuo Temple, Date Unknown.

263

Fig. 71. Chen Cheng-po with students from Shanghai xinhua yizhuan xuexiao, in Suzhou.

264

Fig. 72. Charcoal Sketch of Nude Figure, 1930.

Fig. 73. Watercolor, Undated.

265

Fig. 74. Watercolors, 1932.

266

Fig. 75. Chen Cheng-po, Nude Sitting on a Rock in the Woods, 1932.

267

Fig. 76. Chen Cheng-po, Nude Female Lying Flat, 1932.

Fig. 77. Chen Cheng-po, Abstract Nude, Undated. 268

Fig. 78. Examples of reproductions of figure painting, from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

Fig. 79. Example of reproductions of figure painting, from Chen Cheng-po's collection.

269

Fig. 80. Chen Cheng-po, Standing Nude with Mask, Undated.

270

Fig. 81. Chen Cheng-po, Masked Nude Female, 1932.

271

Fig. 82. Chen Cheng-po, Self Portrait, 1930.

272

Fig. 83. Chen Cheng-po, Woman, 1931.

273

Fig. 84. Chen Cheng-po, Grandmother, 1930.

274

Fig. 85. Chen Cheng-po, Little Brother, 1931.

275

Fig. 86. Chen with his family in Shanghai, 1931.

276

Fig. 87. Chen Cheng-po, Dancing Girl, 1932.

277

Fig. 88. Chen Cheng-po, Snuggling, 1930.

278

Fig. 89. Koide Narashige, The Family of N, 1919.

279

Fig. 90. Maeda Kanji, Master Carpenter's Family, 1928.

280

Fig. 91. Vincent van Gogh, Potato Eaters, 1885.

281

Fig. 92. Chen with other artists from his circle in Shanghai.

282

Fig. 93. Collaboration of five artists, 1929.

283

Fig. 94. Postcard from Fujishima Takeji to Chen Cheng-po.

284

Fig. 95. Postcard from Umehara Ryuzaburo to Chen Cheng-po.

285

Fig. 96. Chen Cheng-po, Spring at West Lake, 1933.

286

Fig. 97. Chen Cheng-po, Foliage, 1934.

287

Fig. 98. Chen Cheng-po, Linlang Mountain Pavilion, 1935.

288

Fig. 99. Photo of Chen with the family in Yiyuan, Linlang Mountain Pavilion.

289

Fig. 100. Chen Cheng-po, Farm, 1934.

290

Fig. 101. Chen Cheng-po, Alishan in Spring, 1935.

Fig. 102. Chen Cheng-po with Alishan in Spring in the background.

291

Fig. 103. Chen Cheng-po, Middle of the Street in Chiayi, 1934.

292

Fig. 104. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Street View, 1934.

293

Fig. 105. Chen Cheng-po, Looking towards Chiayi, 1934.

294

Fig. 106. Chiayi Park, 1934.

295

Fig. 107. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park, 1937.

296

Fig. 108. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park, 1939.

297

Fig. 109. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park, 1939.

298

Fig. 110. Chen Cheng-po, Chiayi Park with Pedestrian Path in Front of Shrine, 1939.

299

Fig. 111. Chen Cheng-po, Coconut Grove, 1939.

300

Fig. 112. Chen Cheng-po, Danjiang Middle School, 1936.

301

Fig. 113. Chen Cheng-po, Zhangrong High School Campus, 1941.

302

Fig. 114. Chen Cheng-po, New Buildling, 1941.

303

Fig. 115. Chen Cheng-po, Zhangrong High School Dormitory, 1941.

304

Appendix B: Glossary of Asian Terms baise kongbu 

Bai Shiming (Pai Shih-ming) ,.

Beijing 

Chen Cheng-po (Chen Chengbo) / 

Chen Chi-chi (Chen Zhiqi) /'

Chen Chin (Chen Jin) /+

Chen Li-po (Chen Libo) /

Chen Tsung-kuang (Chen Chongguang) /*

Chen Yi /

Cheng Ho (Zheng He) -

Chiang Ching-kuo (Jiang Jingguo) 

Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) )&, !

Chiayi (Jiayi) 

Chiayi Chung-Wen Elementary  #$

Chiayi Gong xuexiao (Chiayi Public Elementrary) %

Chih-Tao Society  chiho shikisai (Jps.) difang sicai (Chs.) 

Den Kenjirō " ( 305

dōka /

Futen (Taiwan Sōtokufu Bijutsu Tenrankai) 9 (, 95)

Fujian 

Gotō Shimpei =. 1%

Guoxingye (Koxinga, Zheng Chenggong <) 2

Hakujitsukai &

Hasegawa Kiyoshi >

Heping ribao %&,

Hsiao Chiong-rui (Xiao Qiongrui) * '

Hsieh Li-fa (Xie Lifa) :! hōkō (Chs. baojia) 

Ishikawa Kin’ichirō + 4 jinja )(

Juelan she  ( kaiseimei 2$

Kaijusha (

Kaohsiung 3

Keelung (Jilong) #

Kobayashi Seizō 0";8

Kodama Gentarō 6 7-

306

Kofukai  kokugo -

Kōmin hōkōkai   kōminka  

Kuo Hsueh-hu (Guo Xuehu) *

Kuomintang (KMT) Guomindang (GMD) / 5

Kuwayama Masuji %'+ kyōka 

Lee Teng-hui (Li Denghui) 3

Li Su-chu (Li Shuzhu) )0

Liao Chi-chun (Liao Jichun) 

Liao Ping-Hui (Liao Binghui)  

Liaodong 4

Lin Yu-chun (Lin Yuchun) ,

Lugouqiao Shibian (1 (or the July 7 Incident ##(1)

Manchu 2

Meiji !.

Ming Dynasty ! naichijin $ nangoku shikisai "&

307

nanshin 1 nihonga 

Penghu 

Qing Dynasty  seiyōga &*

Sekai bijutsu zenshū "( sekimin 

Shanghai

Shanghai meizhuan 

Shanghai xinhua yizhuan )$ shasei (Jpn.), xiesheng (Chs.) ! shiganhei seido /3 0

Shimonoseki '2#

Shina no bijutsu .(

Shinminkai )

Showa ,

Tainan %

Taipei %

Taipei shili jiaoyu daxue #+ 

Taishō -

308

Taiten (Taiwan Bijutsu Tenrankai) "1 ("(1/ )

Taiyang Art Society #5(

Taiwan bunka kyōkai "'

Taiwan Dōkakai "$

Taiwan nichinichi shimpo " *

Taiwan shengzhengfu "% 2

Taiwan sōtokufu 

Taiwan zongdufu guoyu xuexiao gong xue shifan fu "0)

Taiwan "

Tamsui (Danshui) !

Tokugawa Shogunate 

Tokyo  toyōga -

Wang Hsin-ying (Wang Xinying) &*

Wang Jiyuan (Wang Chi Yung) & 3

Wang Konnan (Wang Kunnan) &

Wang Xiuxiong (Wang Hsiu-hsiung) &,+

Wang Yi-yun (Wang Yiyun) &.6

Wu Feng Miao 7

Xiamen 4

309

Xinhua yizhuan   xiucai 

Yen Chuan-ying (Yan Juanying) 

Yishujia 

Yiyuan  yōbun (Jpn.), yangwen (Chs.) 

Yōga 

Yuan Dynasty  yuanzhumin 

Zhangrong nuzhong  

Zheng Jing 

310