The widow of artist Chang Chin-fa (張金發), who passed away in 2012 at the age of 78, has been ordered by a court to return her late husband’s paintings to the university he initially donated them to.
Chang’s widow, Chang Lin Hsiu-hsiang (張林秀香), borrowed the paintings for an event and later refused to return them.
Chang Lin Hsiu-hsiang (張林秀香) in 2017 requested to borrow 12 of her late husband’s paintings from the National Taiwan University of Arts for an event she held to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his passing.
Photo: Huang Hsu-lei, Taipei Times
She later refused to return the paintings, saying that her husband had never meant for them to be gifted to the university.
She said that her late husband had only lent them with the intention of promoting local arts and culture.
The university took the case to court for a decision. In the first ruling, the New Taipei City District Court ruled in its favor. Chang Lin appealed, and in the second ruling the judge upheld the former ruling and ordered her to return the paintings to the school.
The judge in the second ruling said that the evidence supported the university’s claim that her husband had intended the paintings to be donated to the university.
The 12 paintings depict scenes of Aboriginal villagers and fishers, and scenes of various locations in Taiwan. Chang Chin-fa donated the paintings in 2008, and in 2012 he passed away.
Chang Lin applied in January 2017 to borrow the paintings, and the university agreed to the request in March that year, under the condition the paintings would be returned by the end of July, it said.
When Chang Lin refused to return the paintings after the deadline, the university sued for their return, in addition to NT$590,000 in damages.
During the court hearing, Chang Lin argued that her husband had only agreed to lend the paintings to the university, because he had heard that it was planning to build a new art museum, and he had hoped his paintings could be used in an opening exhibit.
She said the university had not presented the paintings, but rather kept them stored in a warehouse, and argued that they were the rightful inheritance of her and her two daughters.
The High Court judge did not agree with these claims based on the paperwork presented by the university.
The court ordered that Chang Lin must return the paintings to the university.
Monetary damages were not awarded.
The ruling can be appealed.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
RSS