Sun, Jul 29, 2001 page18

• Revisiting the early days of a master

  The Yuyu Yang Museum is currently exhibiting a collection of works from the beginning of the famed sculptor's career

  • By Chang Ju-ping / STAFF REPORTER
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  Yuyu Yang (楊英風) is one of Taiwan's most internationally prominent sculptors. He is best known for his abstract stainless steel sculptures that appear to blend with the surrounding landscape. The current display at Yang's residence-turned-museum, however, showcases his earlier, more traditional bronze sculptures and prints from the 1950s and 1960s. The show, titled "Naked Women and Streets of Rome," features 12 prints and 15 sculptures.

  Yang was born in Taiwan and received his education in Japan and Beijing. In Japan, Yang studied under Asakura Fumio (朝倉文夫), who was a student of the famed sculptor Auguste Rodin and also was the teacher of another Taiwanese sculptor -- Ju Ming (朱銘). In the works currently on view at the Yuyu Yang Museum, the influence of the French master is immediately distinguishable. Another sculpture, from 1954, of a woman throwing a discus is clearly a variation of Myron's Discus Thrower.

  

  Returning to Childhood (1957), by Yuyu Yang, is part of an exhibition of the artist's early work.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  In The Dance of Fire (1954), Yang models the figure after the Chinese mythological character of Nu Wa Bu Tian (女媧補天), the mother of all creatures who patched the sky to save the world from crumbling into ruins. This piece is the first indication of Yang turning toward more abstract sculptures. In 1958, Yang began to produce female body sculptures without a head or arms. Two sculptures from this series are on view at the exhibit. Yang left marks that look like scratches or strokes on the surface of these sculptures, instead of leaving them smooth as in most bronze sculptures.

  Yang's work took him around the world, including to Rome, where he worked and exhibited for three years until 1966. On view in the current show are prints based on sketches he made of the streets of Rome, with that city's picturesque cafes, markets and churches.

  Yang's styles changed radically during the different stages of his career. In the 1970s he turned to more streamlined, abstract compositions, two examples of which include Flight (1971) at Singapore's Mandarin Hotel and Wall Street's stainless-steel piece East West Gate (1973). This exhibition, however, emphasizes Yang's earlier, traditional works that laid the foundations for his prolific and ground-breaking career.

  Art Notes

  What: Naked Women and Streets of Rome: Sculptures and Prints from 1950's and 1960's (楊英風人體雕塑版畫展)

  Where: Yuyu Yagn Museum (楊英風美術館), 31 Chungking S. Rd., Sec. 2, Taipei (台北市重慶南路二段31號)

  When: Until Aug. 26 (Closed Monday)
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