Boasting the country’s only undergraduate program dedicated to art history, TNUA is considered one of the most important centers for deepening related knowledge. The program, set up in 2003, is complemented by master’s and doctoral level courses.
Lin Su-hsing, an associate professor at TNUA and head of its Art Archive Center in Taiwan, believes that in an era of emerging art museums, building a strong talent base of art critics, curators and historians is essential. This is particular important as AACT needs the brightest talents as it advances the ongoing Reconstruction of Taiwan Art History Project for the Ministry of Culture, she said.
According to Lin, TNUA seeks to give students a well-rounded background in art history covering Western, Chinese and Taiwan traditions. The field’s rise to academic prominence is a relatively recent phenomenon in Taiwan, she added.
The picturesque campus of Tainan National University of the Arts is a rich source of inspiration for those studying Taiwan’s art history. (Courtesy of Tainan City Government)
TNUA owes its art history credentials to trailblazers National Taiwan Normal University and National Taiwan University in Taipei City. NTNU formed the country’s first tertiary-level art department in the late 1940s, while NTU began accepting admissions to its art history graduate institute in 1989.
The genesis of the institute lies in a 1971 collaborative project between NTU’s history department and Taipei-headquartered National Palace Museum. Over the years, NPM has teamed up with numerous institutions and organizations to cultivate local expertise in the art history on the back of its extensive collections of classical Chinese calligraphy, paintings and ceramics.
Liao Jen-i, director of the Graduate Institute of Museum Studies at Taipei National University of the Arts, said the discourse on Taiwan’s art history began in the late 1970s. But it was not until after the country’s democratization began from the late 1980s onwards that an increasingly liberalized academic environment allowed for the discipline to diversify and flourish, he added.
According to Liao, comprehensive Taiwan art history courses ideally include the aesthetics of Austronesian inhabitants’ prehistoric cultures, artistic influences during Spanish and Dutch rule in the 17th century, as well as the succeeding Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
National Taiwan University began accepting admissions to its art history graduate institute in 1989. (CNA)
For the modern era, Liao said he enlightens students on how the Japanese brought Western water color, oil painting and sculpture techniques to Taiwan. In addition, he covers the great variety of native folk art found around the country.
Such teachings, Liao said, are indispensable to the continuation of art history studies. Conserving homegrown artwork and related historical records is crucial to the field, and provides inspiration and cultural insight to next generation artists and critics, he added.
In the bigger scheme, Liao said, this helps fill in the blanks about Taiwan’s art history while forging a coherent artistic identity for the country and its people. (E-TYT) (By Pat Gao)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw
(This article is adapted from Telling History in the July/August 2020 issue of Taiwan Review. The Taiwan Review archives dating to 1951 are available online.)