Sculpture has long been an important part of China's rich artistic tradition, but its contemporary forms have generally been neglected by Taiwan's art world. Instead, the focus has been on painting and, more recently, ceramics. Although collectors and investors buy the latest works by Chinese painters, they still prefer acquiring traditional, folk art sculpture over the work of the island's new generation of sculptors.
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum has tried to help remedy this situation by building up its modern sculpture collection and by holding an annual ROC Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, open to all Chinese sculptors. Through these exhibitions, many sculptors, previously known to but a few art collectors are gaining greater exposure.
But in the private sector, up to a few months ago, only Taipei's Hanart gallery consistently included sculpture in its shows. Although sculpture is occasionally shown at Taipei's Cherng Piin and Hsiung Shih galleries, as well as the Taiwan Museum of Art in Taichung, painting continues to dominate their exhibitions.
This indifference toward modern sculpture may seem surprising given the important part it has played in Chinese aesthetic tradition. The earliest known Chinese sculpture, dating from the Neolithic and Shang periods in the second millennium B.C., includes intriguing animal figurines, including a jade bird and a marble sitting bear.
In 1986, archaeologists in Szechwan province discovered bronze heads with gold face covers and a 182 cm. bronze life-sized statue on a high base. Experts still disagree as to the exact date these artifacts were created, placing them somewhere between 1200-1000 B.C. The findings are of considerable importance for previously it was thought that the famous Sian terra-cotta warriors, crafted by artisans of the Chin dynasty (221-207 B.C.), were the first human figures the Chinese had ever made.
How far back does Chinese sculpture go? Art historian Michael Sullivan has written that Horse Trampling a Barbarian (Western Han dynasty 202 B.C.-9 A.D.) is the earliest known Chinese monumental stone sculpture. It was found near the tumulus of the famous Han general Ho Chu-ping.
Sullivan believes that the style of the life-size stone figure of a horse, standing with majestic indifference over a fallen barbarian solider, is suggestive of foreign origins because it was created at a time when China was highly receptive to Western ideas and art forms. Sullivan also suggests that Chinese sculptors of that period had not yet mastered the art of carving in the round on a large scale, finding it easier instead to express themselves in tomb figures and stone relief which began as clay models.
Impressive examples of sculpture created by unknown Chinese artisans can be found in bronzes, tomb figurines, cave monuments, religious images, as well as the well-known guardian figures of officials, warriors, and animals lining the "spirit roads" leading to the Ming tombs outside Nanking and Peking.
The West has its Michelangelo, Rodin, Brancusi, and Noguchi, but in the Chinese tradition, few sculptors are known by name, because sculpture was created by artisans who confined their work to religious rather than secular or abstract forms. China's scholarly elite did not concern themselves with sculpture, devoting themselves instead to the literati arts of painting and calligraphy. Generally speaking, until the twentieth century Chinese sculptors remained anonymous.
Jeh-San Tang Gallery (惜山堂), in northern Taipei, is trying to ensure that contemporary sculptors do not remain unknown. It is actively introducing them to a larger audience, and at the same time is helping to establish sculpture as an integral part of contemporary Chinese art. The gallery belongs to the Chin Pao San Foundation established by Tsao Ryh-chang (曹日章), owner of the Chin Pao San cemetery.
The mountainside cemetery, overlooking the Taiwan Straits about an hour's journey north of Taipei, draws heavily upon China's long tradition of religious sculpture. Tsao commissioned Chu Ming (朱銘), Taiwan's most famous sculptor, to recreate the renowned sculptures of the Mogao Grottoes, commonly called the Cave-temples of the Thousand Buddhas, at Tunhuang. These central Asian caves, which contain nearly five hundred chambers and niches full of painted sculpture and frescoes depicting the life of the Buddha, were initially carved out of limestone by Buddhist artisans from the fourth to tenth century. The caves are considered one of the great treasure houses of ancient Buddhist art. In keeping with Tsao's wishes, Chu Ming, together with thirteen other sculptors, combined traditionally styled sculpture and architecture to produce a remarkable religious environment which has deep resonance with the past.
The foundation-sponsored gallery takes its name from the Chinese words meaning "borrowed from the mountains," implying that sculpture material comes from, and should return to, nature. It is managed by Tsai Hong-ming (蔡宏明), who has had a long association with the arts in Taiwan, including the editorship of two of Taiwan's most prestigious art and literary magazines, Hsiung Shih and Unitas. Tsai is also an art critic and a poet. The gallery, originally visualized as a small commercial space for the exhibition and sale of sculpture, has evolved into a large exhibition area dedicated to promoting sculpture and related artistic activities.
It is the only gallery in Taiwan which focuses exclusively on contemporary sculpture. According to Tsai, a similar gallery opened a few years ago in Taipei, but it failed after a few months. Tsai does not fear the same fate. Although the current trend in Taiwan is to collect art for investment rather than enjoyment, he believes the gallery is succeeding because people are better educated and more demanding of a better quality of life, and art will playa greater role in realizing those demands.
The gallery targets the growing number of young professionals who enjoy art for art's sake rather than for investment. It encourages them in their appreciation and collecting interests by sponsoring lectures and seminars that demonstrate the place of sculpture in daily life. To further reinforce this concept, the gallery includes a special room where sculpture is displayed in an apartment setting.
Jeh-San Tang gallery opened in June 1992, and has already mounted three group shows: The Discovery of Styles (June 1-27), New Vision of Three Dimensions (July 4-25), and Who is Playing with Space (August 1 and 2). Eight sculptors, all thirty to forty years old, participated in the first exhibition. All the artists had studied abroad, and their works in stone, bronze, welded iron, clay, and wood reflect their integration of traditional Asian and modern Western art concepts and techniques.
In New Vision of Three Dimensions, eight younger artists were featured. Educated in Taiwan, they too had absorbed Western concepts through their teachers, who had been educated overseas. The work of these young artists in wood and stone has some unique characteristics which depart significantly from the work usually found in the local commercial market.
Who is Playing with Space was actually performance art rather than an exhibition. The event focused on the concept that while sculpture is an art concerned with the handling of space, its perception is dictated by light. Through the manipulation of light on a nude model, the event was designed to draw attention to and comment on the way sculpture is traditionally viewed.
Two performances were given, each to an audience of thirty people who were admitted to a totally dark environment. A dim light eventually gave shape to the space, which was highlighted by the projection of different images on the model's body and gallery walls. The model, accompanied by recorded music, performed a choreographed routine; at all times during the performance, the audience was free to sit or follow the model around the gallery.
The performance generated a spirited discussion between the audience, the designer, and the choreographer. While the general consensus was that the event had indeed suggested new ways of looking at sculpture, the most intriguing (but inconclusive) discussion of the afternoon centered around why a Westerner had been chosen to perform naked, rather than a Chinese.
The Jeh-San Tang gallery has taken an enormous risk in devoting itself solely to the exhibition of sculpture in a society where sculpture still receives scant support. Nevertheless, it has also been criticized for being opportunistic by taking advantage of a recently passed law which stipulates that 1 percent of the total budget of any public building must be spent on art. Compared with the possible 2.5-3.0 percent which an architect receives for a completed project, this represents a large sum of money, one which should certainly benefit artists and galleries.
But Tsai Hong-ming adamantly believes that the gallery's main purpose is to provide exhibition space and financial support for talented sculptors. Although sculpture may be studied at the National Institute of the Arts and the National Taiwan Academy of Fine Arts, after graduation, sculptors are on their own. This is where the Jeh-San Tang gallery, which is very supportive of these young artists, steps in. Before selecting sculptures to exhibit, the gallery owners visit the artists in their studios to confirm that they are serious and dedicated. Regardless of style, the gallery focuses on their art, and tends to choose sculptors who produce unique works.
During the last few months, the gallery has sponsored two outstanding solo exhibitions. In My Forest (Part III), the wooden sculptures by Shiau Jon-jen (蕭長正) express the sculptor's respect for nature and his Asian aesthetic philosophy. In Silent Drama, a selection of rusted metal forms by Lin Liang-tsai (林良材), the sculptures illustrate man's fragmented nature. Lin's strong, lyrical sculptures, expressing both imprisonment and breaking away, are perhaps symbolic of the fact that Lin is both deaf and dumb. Thus far, all the exhibitions have been well designed and installed, and accompanied by excellent catalogs.
In its efforts to generate more public interest in sculpture, the gallery has begun compiling a comprehensive history of sculpture in Taiwan, going back to at least 1945, the end of the Japanese occupation (1895-1945). At present there is no complete record available on the number of Taiwan sculptors and their works.
The history will include Taiwan sculptors who studied in Japan. The compilers also hope to discover and identify lesser-known or unknown sculptors, including temple sculptors. The history will be computerized, and when completed it will provide a valuable research resource, including basic biographical data on the sculptors, their art and the materials used, exhibitions, competitions, awards, and pricing and marketing of their work. Copies of the artists' correspondence, pictures of their work, and periodical and newspaper articles where available will also be included. A bilingual Chinese-English book will be published upon completion of the project.
Looking into the future, the gallery plans to open an outdoor sculpture park adjacent to Chin Pao San cemetery, where summer workshops will also be held. After the park opens, both local and foreign sculptors will be invited to participate in the workshops and to exhibit their works in the park and at Jeh-San Tang gallery. The owners have no doubt that the gallery will make its mark in Taiwan, helping sculpture to regain the important position it has always held in Chinese art—Maggie Pai is an arts writer based in Taipei.