A PORTRAIT OF THE TIMES – UNDER THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SEA AN IMAGE OF A HISTORICAL BATTLEFIELD IS PRESERVED

1945 was the year of Taiwan’s retrocession and the end of WW2. With the support of the US Seventh Fleet the Taiwan Strait is temporarily at peace. In 1949, the KMT retreated to Taiwan, maintaining a frontline on Kinmen. From this year on the entire civilian population, as well as business groups, enthusiastically contributed to the support of the armed forces on the frontline. Under the leadership of department chair Huang Jun-bi, the National Taiwan Normal University Department of Fine Arts collaborated with several academic institutions and personnel throughout Taiwan, and travelled to the front lines to offer their support to these fighters.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The works of many artists of the previous generation show the beginnings of an exploration into the scenic features of Taiwan’s maritime culture. Prior to this, artists were not permitted to paint landscapes in coastal or mountainous areas. In order to entertain frontline troops, artists began to explore and paint battlefield scenes, and in this way images of coastal scenery began to be captured.

During the summer vacation of 1956, Liao Chi-chun and a number of other NTNU professors accepted an invitation from outstanding graduate student Yang Qian-zhong (Note) to take a trip to his hometown near Beiguan in Yilan’s Toucheng Township, and paint the coastal scenery there. Their first sighting of the beauty of Gueishan Island in the clear light of dawn was breathtaking for all present. The vision of Gueishan Island standing proudly on the broad, flat ocean was an unforgettable moment for Liao Chi-chun. The white spume of the waves continued to inspire him. After receiving US Department of State funding for an artistic trip around the world, he returned to re-examine this scene of Gueishan.

Around 1970, the artist revisited the original Gueishan Island 40F (Image 1) oil painting, and produced two 30F (Images 2 & 3) paintings that added a greater diversity of colors to the composition of Gueishan Island, leaving behind a landmark cultural asset in Taiwan contemporary art history. Liao Chi-chun was a faculty member of the NTNU Department of Fine Arts from 1947 onward. He was an international-class painter and a master of color. His works often show figural distortion in service of composition and color composition as the focus of the work, with point, linear and planar structural elements. These harmonious combinations show the gentle personality of the artist as he departed from the traditions of a past age to set foot in a new age and lay down his own artistic milestones.