Over the coming month, the National Museum of History will be showcasing a selection of works by one of Taiwan's earliest, most celebrated and influential female artists, Chen Chin (
Born in Hsinchu in 1907, Chen was the first Taiwanese female artist to study in Japan. She studied at the Tokyo Fine Arts Girls School under the guidance of some of Japan's leading artists. Even at such a young age her works were so sought after and her style so respected that critics dubbed her "the female genius of the Southern Sea."
PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY
Chen's repertoire included landscapes and still-life, but it was her portraits of ladies and her ability to transform a painting into an image that incorporated a genuine feel for the era in which they were created that was to prove her enduring legacy.
By the time she passed away in 1998, Chen had become not only one of Taiwan's most prominent and eminent artists, but her works were taking pride of place in museums and galleries throughout Europe and the Americas.
Incorporating 32 of her works dating from 1932 through 1998, The Beauty of Chen Chin's Ladies (
Beginning with Modern Lady, the exhibition takes the viewer through Chen's early unmarried days form between 1925 and 1945. Her eye for detail saw her create works that depicted both the fashions, hairstyles as well as the mannerisms and moods of young ladies of the day.
Works such as her celebrated 1936 Applying Make-up (
The latter part of the exhibition, Traditional Mother deals with Chen's works from 1945 through 1998. Here viewers see how Chen's marriage, motherhood and life as a grandmother changed her outlook on both life and art and saw her style changing in subtle yet noticeable ways.
In later works such as 1968's Fragrant Orchids (
Regardless of which chapter of Chen's life the viewer chooses to enjoy, the current exhibition gives a highly appealing overview of not only the life of one of Taiwan's foremost artists. It is also an interesting insight into the changing fashions and mannerisms of Taiwanese women as see through Chen's eyes.
The Beauty of Chen Chin's Ladies (
From the last quarter of 2001, research shows that real housing prices nearly tripled (before a 2012 law to enforce housing price registration, researchers tracked a few large real estate firms to estimate housing price behavior). Incomes have not kept pace, though this has not yet led to defaults. Instead, an increasing chunk of household income goes to mortgage payments. This suggests that even if incomes grow, the mortgage squeeze will still make voters feel like their paychecks won’t stretch to cover expenses. The housing price rises in the last two decades are now driving higher rents. The rental market
July 21 to July 27 If the “Taiwan Independence Association” (TIA) incident had happened four years earlier, it probably wouldn’t have caused much of an uproar. But the arrest of four young suspected independence activists in the early hours of May 9, 1991, sparked outrage, with many denouncing it as a return to the White Terror — a time when anyone could be detained for suspected seditious activity. Not only had martial law been lifted in 1987, just days earlier on May 1, the government had abolished the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist
Fifty-five years ago, a .25-caliber Beretta fired in the revolving door of New York’s Plaza Hotel set Taiwan on an unexpected path to democracy. As Chinese military incursions intensify today, a new documentary, When the Spring Rain Falls (春雨424), revisits that 1970 assassination attempt on then-vice premier Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). Director Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢) raises the question Taiwan faces under existential threat: “How do we safeguard our fragile democracy and precious freedom?” ASSASSINATION After its retreat to Taiwan in 1949, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) imposed a ruthless military rule, crushing democratic aspirations and kidnapping dissidents from
Fundamentally, this Saturday’s recall vote on 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers is a democratic battle of wills between hardcore supporters of Taiwan sovereignty and the KMT incumbents’ core supporters. The recall campaigners have a key asset: clarity of purpose. Stripped to the core, their mission is to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They understand a basic truth, the CCP is — in their own words — at war with Taiwan and Western democracies. Their “unrestricted warfare” campaign to undermine and destroy Taiwan from within is explicit, while simultaneously conducting rehearsals almost daily for invasion,
RSS