The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is currently housing works by some of Western art's mastersThis large-scale exhibition, covering two wings of the second floor exhibition space, provides a visual summary of Western art history spanning 500 years. The 70 paintings on display are on loan from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum's collection and cover historical periods ranging from the Renaissance to 20th century contemporary art.
The Tokyo museum's collection in Western paintings is centered around French masterpieces but also branches out to neighboring countries, such as Italy, Holland, and Spain, as well as Great Britain and the US. Particularly, the collection is concentrated on 18th century French Rococo paintings and Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 17th century. The oldest painting on view is a portrait of Gioranna Tornabuoni by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), and the latest one, Seven, is from American pop artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987).
One of the most precious must-sees is the famous Triumph of Venus (1745), by the 18th century painter Francois Boucher, which was damaged -- but not visibly -- during this trip to Taipei and may never be displayed again.
PHOTO: TOKYO FUJI ART MUSEUM
The exhibits are arranged according to artistic movements in history. As you enter the right wing of the second floor, you will be journeying from the Renaissance to Baroque, and then to Dutch and Flemish paintings, and then to Classicism before winding up at Rococo.
The left wing begins with Boucher's Triumph of Venus, and then goes to Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Academism, the Barbizon School, Impressionism, and finally 20th Century Contemporary Art.
If you start with Renaissance portraits, take note of how artists in that period preferred to focus attention on the figures -- mostly solemn and poised -- and so cushioned them with very plain backgrounds. Moving on to the Baroque style, there is a shift to more action and expression, which may be seen in works from Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) and Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644).
PHOTO: TOKYO FUJI ART MUSEUM
The Dutch painters make use of sharp contrasts with light, tending to highlight the subjects, illuminating the face, and shrouding the background in obscurity. Little Girl with a Puppy in Her Arm is a beautiful example of this style. As you reach the Flemish section, more landscape pieces appear, representing a noticeable shift away from portraits.
Seventeenth century thought was marked by a desire for order and stability, which comes through in the works by artists categorized under Classicism. The detailed and structured street scenes from Francesco Guardi are some examples of this style.
Winding up a tour of the right wing are the Rococo style paintings that exude frivolity and sensuousness. Painters Jean Honore Fragonard, Jean Marc Nattier and Francois Boucher were masters at portraying ladies. Perhaps the most accomplished Rococo portrait artist, however, was Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun. One of her works on display is Princess Youssoupoff (1797), a beautiful canvas that showcases a classic 18th century Russian lady.
PHOTO: TOKYO FUJI ART MUSEUM
Continuing to the left wing, the exhibition begins with Neoclassicism, which tends toward ancient, heroic or mythological themes. One famous example on view is Jupiter & Thetis from leading painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. In the Impressionism section, visitors will run across the more popular name of Pierre Auguste Renoir and his Woman at Bath (1896). Bathers are one of Renoir's famous subjects. This work is unique in that Renoir presented his subject from a side angle, which is rare.
The last section of 20th century contemporary art presents a multifarious scene where numerous theories and movements flourish. Maurice de Vlaminck's depiction of the houses along the Seine is an example of Fauvism, known for its outrageous coloring, and Rene Magritte's The Resumption (1965) is an example of Surrealism that captures viewers with its illusionary, bizarre images or combinations that challenge our visual experience.
This is the second time the Tokyo museum's collection has come to Taipei, and the first time it has displayed Western paintings. This year's exhibition has proven a remarkable success, with 15,000 visitors in the first two weeks. Also, a welcome complement to this exhibit are the knowledgeable volunteer guides, who offer historical anecdotes associated with the paintings.Serge Emmanuel Jongue sends Taipei postcards from the subconsciousWith a background in literature, visiting photographer Serge Emmanuel Jongue prepared for his first Asian exhibition with a new kind of narrative. His images on display at the FNAC emphasize life's most enigmatic sentiments, such as love, death, desire, loneliness and passion. The pictures are misty, blurry and ambiguous.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FNAC
The 32 postcard-sized photos represent snapshots from the subconscious, the images that linger in memories. Here, they are reinterpreted and given meaning by Jongue for his so-called photo-narrative fiction. The images are from his travels in Europe and North America and are brought into context through the images' captions.
A self-taught photographer, the fictional nature of this exhibit is a far cry from what Jongue has been doing for the past 12 years. The Montreal photographer usually presents subjects through sharp images. He has focused mostly on urban scenes, such as union workers, immigrants, and city people. His first exhibition was in 1990 in Montreal was called Metropolitan Identity.
This time, Jongue wants to switch viewers' attention away from concrete imagery. He purposefully diffuses the colors so that the viewers feel the images, instead of looking with a scientific eye for visual details.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FNAC
"Memories recreate reality," Jongue said. So his pictures are not of concrete reality, but are mental pictures, taken from projections of emotion. So a woman's face is dubbed Lost Faith, Denver, for example. His picture-text constructions are also open to subjective interpretation in the hope that viewers will create stories of their own.
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