Taipei's National Palace Museum (NPM, 國立故宮博物院) has long since established itself as a repository for Chinese art; with its newest exhibit, Splendor of the Baroque and Beyond: Great Hapsburg Collectors, it proves it is much more than that.
According to Wilfried Seipel, director of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), who was in Taipei for the opening of the exhibition, the aim of the show is not just a tour of grand masters from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The Hapsburg emperors amassed huge collections, and the exhibition is an insight into the emperors as collectors of art and their individual tastes. In an age when the very understanding of what it was to be human underwent radical change, these works, the cutting edge of artistic expression at the time, reveal much.
This exhibition, which runs until Feb. 24, displays 67 works from KHM, and is part of a cultural exchange project in which the NPM will exhibit part of its collection in Vienna next year.
Photo: Courtesy of NPM
The exhibition is being held in the NPM's second exhibition area, now routinely used for special events. With relatively few items, each work is given ample space, encouraging museumgoers to enjoy the complexity and intricacy of each work.
Four years in the making, the exhibition is a follow-up to a proposal made 15 years ago, but which for "various political reasons," said Seipel, did not get off the ground. For the first time, the originals of some of the best-known works of the Baroque era are on display at the NPM.
Of particular interest to art history students and hobbyists, is the use of color and movement by artists like Titian (circa 1488-1576), the almost photographic realism achieved by Balthasar Denner (1685-1747), the sheer exuberance of Bartholomaus Spranger (1546-1611) and the endless bold and bizarre experiments in perspective by Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527-1606), Hendrick van Steenwijck the Younger (1580-1649) and others.
In this age, during which the dominance of religion was giving way to humanism, subject matter was diverse, ranging from works conventionally lauding the power and magnificence of the royal house, to others showing the lives of common people and portraiture.
The curators have provided adequate explanations in English and Chinese for each section of the exhibition, but detailed notes on individual paintings are in Chinese only. To get the most out of the show, audio tours have been made available in Chinese. An English audio tour is expected to be available in two to three weeks. Audio tours cost NT$100 and require a deposit. There is also an excellent Web site with an English introduction and photos of the works at www.mediasphere.com.tw/vieena/zh-en/vienna_overview.html.
Exceptions to the rule are sometimes revealing. For a brief few years, there was an emerging ideological split between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that appeared to be pushing the DPP in a direction that would be considered more liberal, and the KMT more conservative. In the previous column, “The KMT-DPP’s bureaucrat-led developmental state” (Dec. 11, page 12), we examined how Taiwan’s democratic system developed, and how both the two main parties largely accepted a similar consensus on how Taiwan should be run domestically and did not split along the left-right lines more familiar in
As I finally slid into the warm embrace of the hot, clifftop pool, it was a serene moment of reflection. The sound of the river reflected off the cave walls, the white of our camping lights reflected off the dark, shimmering surface of the water, and I reflected on how fortunate I was to be here. After all, the beautiful walk through narrow canyons that had brought us here had been inaccessible for five years — and will be again soon. The day had started at the Huisun Forest Area (惠蓀林場), at the end of Nantou County Route 80, north and east
Specialty sandwiches loaded with the contents of an entire charcuterie board, overflowing with sauces, creams and all manner of creative add-ons, is perhaps one of the biggest global food trends of this year. From London to New York, lines form down the block for mortadella, burrata, pistachio and more stuffed between slices of fresh sourdough, rye or focaccia. To try the trend in Taipei, Munchies Mafia is for sure the spot — could this be the best sandwich in town? Carlos from Spain and Sergio from Mexico opened this spot just seven months ago. The two met working in the
This month the government ordered a one-year block of Xiaohongshu (小紅書) or Rednote, a Chinese social media platform with more than 3 million users in Taiwan. The government pointed to widespread fraud activity on the platform, along with cybersecurity failures. Officials said that they had reached out to the company and asked it to change. However, they received no response. The pro-China parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), immediately swung into action, denouncing the ban as an attack on free speech. This “free speech” claim was then echoed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
RSS