Pu was born to a picture framer in southern Taiwan’s Chiayi City and grew up under Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945). In 1931, Pu went to Japan and a year later entered Tokyo’s Imperial Art School, today known as Musashino Art University, where he studied painting and sculpture.
Pu’s contributions to sculpture in Taiwan encompassed technical knowledge and education. In 1945 while making a three-meter-tall statue of Sun Yat-sen, he set up a bronze foundry in Taipei, the first of its kind in postwar Taiwan that introduced the technique he learned in Japan of casting from clay.
Pu Tian-sheng reclines among his statues of gymnasts (Courtesy of Steven Paul)
From 1949 to 1962, Pu taught school students, teachers and workers enrolled in a government-funded sculpture workshop in Taipei that took place each July and August. Pu’s classes were the only place to learn sculpture techniques at a time when local education institutions had yet to establish a formal training system for the medium.
Pu sculpted a number of historical figures and local celebrities. Among these is the statue of Sun erected at Taipei Zhongshan Hall in 1949. It was one of the first public statues of the postwar era.
Founding president of Taiwan Art History Association Liao Hsin-tien said that Pu’s numerous sculptures of local worthies are ideal candidates for collection in a portrait gallery, as the subjects have stories closely linked with Taiwan’s historical and cultural development.
Pu’s Dr. Sun Yat-sen statue stands on a pillar at Taipei Zhongshan Hall (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)
Pu also created purely artistic sculptures like the 1981 work Sunshine. Such work included Slim and Graceful and Remembrance, selected for Paris Salon exhibitions in 1983 and 1984, respectively. The three pieces now stand in a park next to Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park.
Today the Pu Tian-sheng Sculpture Memorial Museum in Taipei works to showcase Taiwan’s art history. It was established in 2010 by Pu’s third son Steven Paul after he retired.
Liao said that Pu is an early example of Taiwan’s unique creative identity. Pu’s lifelong dedication to sculpture and his large body of work exerted a long-lasting influence on postwar Taiwan sculpture. (E) (By Pat Gao)
Dr. Tu Tsung-ming, pioneering pharmacology researcher into snake venom and opium addiction, clay, 1947 (Courtesy of Steven Paul)
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(This article is adapted from “Historic Figures” in the January/February issue of Taiwan Review. The Taiwan Review archives dating to 1951 are available online.)