A current exhibit at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung City features a series of landscape paintings that document the transformation of Taiwan’s outward appearance over the past few centuries.
“This series of landscape paintings is intended to showcase more than just scenery, for the exhibition pieces reflect different mentalities and aesthetics specific to their own eras,” museum Director Huang Tsai-lang said at a news conference July 12.
Selected from the museum’s permanent collection, the images are organized into five sections, namely political symbolism, the beauty of the Taiwan landscape, popular memories of local life, cultural and national identity and reverence for the environment, the museum said.
It added that altogether 52 sets of Taiwanese landscape and scenic art pieces by 57 artists are on display.
Highlights include rare works of historical significance as well as more contemporary pieces.
“The Campaign against Taiwan 1787-1788,” a set of 16 copper engravings depicting Taiwan in the 18th century, was commissioned by Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) to mark his military might.
“Presidential Palace,” by contemporary artist Yang Cheng-yuan, is a collage of different symbols, including the historical red-brick Presidential building, a road map of Taipei City and hunting tools used by indigenous tribes.
The various symbols used in the collage are intended to convey the complexity of Taiwan’s history, organizers said.
The exhibit, titled “Scenery and Vistas of Taiwan through the Eyes of Artists: A Century of Taiwanese Landscape and Scenic Art,” runs from July 9, 2011, to March 31, 2012. (HZW)
Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw