Huang Tu-Shui and His Time: Taiwan's First Western-style Sculptor and the Tokyo Fine Arts School in the Early 20th Century

DatesSep 6 (Fri), 2024 - Oct 20 (Sun), 2024

Dates:

Sep 6 (Fri) - Oct 20 (Sun)

Closed:

Monday (except Sep 16, Sep 23, Oct 14), Sep 17, Sep 24, Oct 15

Hours:

10:30 - 17:00 (Entry by 16:30)

Place:

Main Gallery 3, 4 (The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts)

Admission:

Adult - 900 yen
College student - 450 yen
Senior high school student or younger - Free
*Free admission for disabled people (one accompanying guest for each disabled person is admitted free)

asoview!

Organized by Tokyo University of the Arts; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts

Supported by Ministry of Culture; Nomura Foundation; The Asahi Shimbun Foundation; Geidai Friends; T-content plan; Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan Taiwan Cultural Center

Exhibition Overview

The sculptor Huang Tu-shui (1895-1930) is known as the first Taiwanese student to study at the Tokyo Fine Arts School. In recent years, he has been increasingly recognized as a sculptor who has given a unique brilliance to modern art in East Asia, and in his home country, his representative work "Water of Immortality" (1919) was designated a national treasure in 2023.　
This exhibition will feature 10 works (tentative) by Huang, including "Water of Immortality", as well as related materials, on loan from the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. It will also introduce 48 works (tentative) of Western-style painting and sculpture from the Geidai Collection, focusing on the Taisho and early Showa periods when Huang was studying at the Tokyo Fine Arts School.
We will be introducing a variety of works, including those by Takamura Koun and his son Kotaro, who sought to fuse traditional Japanese sensibilities with modern art, the figures of Ogiwara Morie and Kitamura Seibo, who also displayed a quiet passion like "Water of Immortality" in their works, paintings by Fujishima Takeji and Koito Gentaro, which use urban life as their motif, and a group of self-portrait works by the Taiwanese graduates, we have a wide variety of works waiting for you. 　The greatest sculptor in Taiwan, Huang Tu-shui, is returning to his alma mater - please come and see this historic moment for yourself.

Highlights

Taiwan's national treasure, "Water of Immortality", makes his first appearance in Japan!
The representative work of Huang Tu-shui, "Water of Immortality", was only designated as a national treasure last year. In the same year in Taiwan, a major retrospective exhibition of Huang Tu-shui's work, including this work, was held at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and attracted a great deal of attention. This year, the work will be on display at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the successor to his alma mater (Tokyo Fine Arts School). This will be a great opportunity to see this work alongside his other works.

2. What was the state of the Japanese art world during the period when Huang Tu-shui studied there?
The period from 1915, when Huang Tu-shui entered the Tokyo Fine Arts School, until his untimely death from illness in Tokyo in 1930 was a time of great upheaval in Japanese modern art. This exhibition introduces the works of sculptors who were active during this period, such as Takamura Koun, Takamura Kotaro, Hirakushi Denchu, Ogiwara Morie, Asakura Fumio, and Tatehata Taimu, as well as Western-style painters such as Fujishima Takeji, Wada Eisaku, Koito Gentaro, Tsuda Seifu, and Ishii Tsuruzo (who was also a sculptor). What did the young man named Huang Tu-shu, who came from Taiwan, learn in Tokyo? Learning about this will deepen your understanding of Huang Tu-shu.

3. Taiwanese Western-style Painters
One of the outstanding features of the University Art Museum at Tokyo University of the Arts is that it preserves the works of its graduates. This exhibition also makes use of this advantage, introducing around 10 works by modern Taiwanese Western-style painters such as Chen Cheng-Po, Yen Shui-long and Li Mei-shu, whose reputation has been growing in recent years.