Had Yan Shui-long (
Apart from being an outstanding oil painter, Yan devoted his life to handicrafts from his youth, trying several times -- though without success -- to set up his own handicraft school. He also wrote extensively on the subject in his later years.
Pioneer of Taiwanese Handicraft: special exhibition of Yan Shui-long's 100th anniversary, (
PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIPEI CRAFT DESIGN CENTER
To shed light on the life of a dedicated master, the exhibition also includes a reconstruction of Yan's studio, his collection of exotic handicrafts from other countries and some well-designed personal items like his glasses cases. Together, these create a rounded picture of an artist who lived out his art in his life.
Well-known as the "Father of Taiwanese handicraft," Yan juggled teaching, painting and making handicrafts. In preparation for a retrospective in 1997, which was meant to celebrate his 95th birthday, Yan painted eight hours a day in the hope of presenting an impeccable selection of works. He was tired out and slipped in his bathroom, sustaining a bone fracture. He soon died from complications resulting from an operation on the injury.
Throughout his life, Yan advocated the merits of handicrafts. "Art is not just a painting on the wall," Yan once said. Handicrafts not only help improve living standards in a developing country but foster people's appreciation of beauty, Yan said. They can give people a lift in a country that values wealth and longevity, because their influence on people are more far-reaching than fine art.
At a time when most artists in Taiwan would not demean themselves to make product designs or advertisements, Yan created many of these kinds of works. His series of 12 advertisements for Japan's Smoca tooth powder is the best part of the exhibition.
"Since freshening up after getting up in the morning is your style, how can you not use Smoca after smoking?" the advertisement asks in Japanese with a simple yet inviting picture of a bathroom door left ajar.
Yan's package designs for Taichung's Tai Yang Tang (
Rural life and Aboriginal culture inspired him most. Yan expressed his admiration for Aboriginal esthetics in his clay works. The stock imageries of snakes, fish and human figures are adjusted to depict the true life style of Aboriginal people.
Mural mosaics are another part of Yan's celebrated works. Apart from Rural Life mosaic in Taipei's Chian-tan Park and Sports in Taichung Stadium, the exhibition includes large pictures of many other mosaics which are located in less-visited places across the country.
"Pioneer of Taiwanese Handicraft," an exhibition celebrating Yan Shui-long's 100th anniversary will run until Oct. 26 at the National Taiwan Craft Research Institute's Taipei Craft Design Center, 9F, 20 Nanhai Rd, Taipei (
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
Aug. 4 to Aug. 10 When Coca-Cola finally pushed its way into Taiwan’s market in 1968, it allegedly vowed to wipe out its major domestic rival Hey Song within five years. But Hey Song, which began as a manual operation in a family cow shed in 1925, had proven its resilience, surviving numerous setbacks — including the loss of autonomy and nearly all its assets due to the Japanese colonial government’s wartime economic policy. By the 1960s, Hey Song had risen to the top of Taiwan’s beverage industry. This success was driven not only by president Chang Wen-chi’s
Last week, on the heels of the recall election that turned out so badly for Taiwan, came the news that US President Donald Trump had blocked the transit of President William Lai (賴清德) through the US on his way to Latin America. A few days later the international media reported that in June a scheduled visit by Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) for high level meetings was canceled by the US after China’s President Xi Jinping (習近平) asked Trump to curb US engagement with Taiwan during a June phone call. The cancellation of Lai’s transit was a gaudy
The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu (白酒), long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times. Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60 percent alcohol. It’s the usual choice for toasts of gan bei (乾杯), the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games. “If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade
RSS