Tan Ting-pho
| Tan Ting-pho | |||||||||||||||||
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| Born |
February 2, 1895 Chiayi, Taiwan | ||||||||||||||||
| Died |
March 25, 1947 (aged 52) Chiayi, Taiwan | ||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Taiwanese (Hoklo) | ||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School, Tokyo School of Fine Arts, Hongo Painting Institute | ||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Painter and politician | ||||||||||||||||
| Known for | Founder of Chi-Hsing Painting Society, Tai-Yang Art Society, Chih-Yang Western Painting Society | ||||||||||||||||
| Notable work | Street of Chiayi (嘉義の町中,嘉義街外) | ||||||||||||||||
| Awards | Outside Chiayi Street selected for the 7th Imperial Art Exhibition, the first time a Taiwanese artist's work could be displayed at the exhibition. | ||||||||||||||||
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Tan Ting-pho (Chinese: 陳澄波; pinyin: Chén Chéngbō; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Têng-pho; February 2, 1895 – March 25, 1947), was a well-known Taiwanese painter. In 1926, his oil painting Street of Chiayi was featured in the seventh Empire Art Exhibition in Japan, which was the first time a Taiwanese artist's work could be displayed at the exhibition.[1] Tan devoted his life to education and creation, and was greatly concerned about the development of humanist culture in Taiwan. He was not only devoted to the improvement of his own painting, but also to the promotion of the aesthetic education of the Taiwanese people. He was murdered as a result of the February 28 Incident, a 1947 popular uprising in Taiwan which was brutally repressed by the Kuomintang (KMT).
Early life
Tan was born into a poor family in Chiayi that could not invest in his artist talents. After attending college in Taipei, he returned to his hometown to work as a teacher, a job he held for seven years. Tan then earned enough money to attend the Tokyo University of the Arts, and graduated in 1929. Upon graduation, he moved to Shanghai for four years, where he taught art. Tan returned to Chiayi in 1933, and joined the city's Preparatory Committee to Welcome the National Government in 1945. In 1946, Tan was elected as a member of the Chiayi City Council and joined the Kuomintang.[1]
Education
He enrolled in the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School in 1913, where he studied Western-style watercolor painting under Ishikawa Kinichiro. In 1924, he went to Japan to receive formal academic training in art under Japanese oil painter Tanabe Itaru at the Normal Education Division in Painting of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (today's Tokyo University of the Arts). Chen also studied privately under Japanese luminarist Okada Saburosuke at his Hongō Painting Institute.
Work and public life
After completing his graduate program in 1929, he moved to Shanghai to teach at Xinhua Art College and Changming Art School. During his stay in Shanghai, he was influenced by the traditional Chinese painting of Ni Yunlin and Bada Shanren, and began to develop a distinctive style that fuses the lyrical essence of Chinese landscape painting with Western painting techniques. His work includes oil painting, glue color painting, and sketching while his themes center on landscapes and portraits, mostly inspired by everyday scenes around him.
In 1926, his work Outside Chiayi Street was selected for the 7th Imperial Art Exhibition of Japan (Teiten), making him the first Taiwanese painter to have an oil painting accepted for the exhibition. His success continued after this initial breakthrough, and his works were selected several times for the Imperial Art Exhibition, Taiwan Art Exhibition (Taiten), and Taiwan Viceroy Art Exhibition (Futen), as well as exhibitions held by Japanese art groups outside the state-run exhibition circle like Kaijusha and Kofukai. After returning to Taiwan, the focus of his work shifted to the scenery of his hometown, as he showcased the charm of the Taiwanese landscape with plein-air works painted in Tamsui, Chiayi and Tainan. Besides painting,
Chen was also actively involved in Taiwanese art movements. Among other art movement activities, he co-founded the Chi-Hsing Painting Society in 1926, co-founded the Tai-Yang Art Society with Yang Sanlang and Liao Chi-chun in 1934, and helped young artists in Chiayi establish the Qingchen Fine Art Association in 1940. His contributions to broadening the influence of art in Taiwan also extended to his service as a Chiayi City Councilor, and as a juror at the first Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition after the Retrocession of Taiwan.
Death
Due to the February 28 Incident, severe conflict occurred in 1947 between the Chiayi citizens and the KMT, whose military was trapped inside the city's airport. The city produced a "February 28 Incident Committee", composed of Tan and five others who would approach the military as representatives of peace. The military, however, captured four of them, including Tan, and released the remaining two.[1]
On the morning of March 25, 1947, after being tied up with wire, the four were forced to march from the city's police station to the train station, where other three were shot dead in public.[1] His son, Chen Shigemitsu, recalled that as soon as hearing that his arrested father was paraded, he went onto the street and found his father on a military vehicle at Chiayi Fountain. He followed the contingent and realized what would happen when his sight suddenly met his father's.
When the vehicle stopped at Chiayi Station, the army strafed the square in front of the station, with bystanders fleeing in disorder. Tan Ting-pho was the last one pushed off the vehicle. Soldiers shot at him from three meters. The first shot missed but the second penetrated his chest, and Tan fell forward. The Kuomintang forbade the families from collecting the corpses immediately, so Tan's remains were left to decompose on the street for three days, until his wife and a photographer she had hired to take pictures of the aftermath collected them.[1]
Legacy
Tan's work Chiayi Park was sold for $5,794,100 HKD at a Hong Kong auction on April 28, 2002.[2]
In 2015, a Google Doodle commemorated his 120th birthday.[3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Han, Cheung (31 January 2016). "Life and death on the streets of Chiayi". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- ↑
- ↑ "Chen Cheng-po's 120th Birthday". google.com. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chen Cheng-po. |
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