A total of 1,496 paintings and 40 sketchbooks by late Taiwan artist Hong Rui-lin were officially donated to the Ministry of Culture Feb. 1 in the central city of Taichung, bolstering government efforts to preserve the country’s artistic heritage.
The artworks will be placed in the custody of Taichung-based National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the ministry said, adding that they will be put on public display in the future.
Born in 1912 in Taipei’s Dadaocheng neighborhood, Hong studied water color painting and sketching with Japanese artist Kinichiro Ishikawa (1871-1945) at Taiwan Institute of Fine Arts in 1927. He traveled to Japan three years later to study at Imperial Fine Arts School, modern day Musashino Art University, in Tokyo.
After returning to Taiwan in the late 1930s, Hong took a permanent job at a mining company in what is now New Taipei City. For 35 years, Hong gained fame for his vivid depictions of coal miners while establishing himself as a pioneer in the local fine art and cultural scene.
NTMFA Director Liang Yung-fei thanked the Hong family for the generous donation. The museum will digitalize the works of art, as well as organize exhibitions and forums to introduce the artist to a wider audience, he said.
According to the MOC, under the government’s Reconstruction of Taiwan Art History project, many works by the country’s artists have returned home in recent years. The newest additions follow the donation of more than 600 pieces last year by the family of Dr. Hsu Hong-yen (1917-1991). (SFC-E)
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