Taiwan 2002

		The Arts
		Museums and the Art Market Art Museums Taiwan's best-known museum is the National Palace Museum in Taipei, a repository for traditional art from mainland China. In 1933, the numerous treasures in the museum's collection started traveling from Beijing to Taiwan in a harrowing 12,000-kilometer journey around China over the course of 16 years, evading both the Japanese army and the Chinese communists. In 1965, the museum finally opened in Taipei and is recognized for having the world's best collection of Chinese art, from ancient bronze castings, calligraphy, scroll paintings, porcelains, jade, and rare books. The museum's current collection numbers over 640,000 items, a collection so large that only about 1 percent can be accommodated for display at any one time, while the rest is kept in storage. In 1996, the National Palace Museum greatly enhanced its international image with a spectacular US tour of 452 of its finest works of art. The "Splendors of Imperial China" ran from March 1996 through April 1997, with stops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Curators and scholars in the United States hailed the exhibition, which attracted 900,000 visitors, as a once-in-a-lifetime experience that could very well give new impetus to the study of Chinese art, just as a smaller-scale 1961 exhibition inspired many of today's Chinese art scholars. In 1999, the National Palace Museum held a special joint exhibition with the Guanghan Sanxingdui Museum 廣漢三星堆博物館 in Sichuan province of the Chinese mainland, providing a better understanding of the lifestyles prevalent during the prehistoric Chinese kingdom of Shu 古蜀王國. The newly-opened Yingko Ceramics Museum greets visitors with cascading waterfalls and installation artworks. In 2000, some of the important exhibitions held by the National Palace Museum included "China at the Inception of the Second Millennium a.d.--Art and Culture of the Sung Dynasty, 960-1279" an "Exhibition of Buddhist Sculpture Through the Dynasties" the "Development of Porcelain in China" and "Chinese Jades." While continuing to be a major venue for displaying classical Chinese and Asian art, the National Palace Museum also offered local audiences a chance to appreciate Western art by hosting the "DaliA Genius of the 20th Century" 魔幻達利 exhibition from January 20 to April 20, 2001. Eighty-five works (38 oil paintings and 47 water colors and sketches) by the surrealist master on loan from the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in Spain were exhibited, attracting large crowds. The National Museum of History, also located in Taipei, is best known for its impressive collection of ancient bronzes, pottery, and ceramic burial figurines. The museum regularly exhibits the works of major Chinese artists of the 20th century. In 1999, the museum held five exhibitions introducing Taiwanese artists in Estonia, the US, and Latvia. In 2000, the museum held important exhibitions of Han dynasty artifacts, tea culture, fan art, and the paintings of Hsia Yi-fu 夏一夫. As part of cross-strait cultural exchanges, the National Museum of History presented the "Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses of China's First Emperor Special Exhibit" 兵馬俑秦文化特展 from January to March 2001, drawing an unprecedented number of visitors that exceeded all other museum exhibitions on the island. Designed as a simulation of Pit Number One, one of the three pits discovered to contain terra cotta warriors and horses, the exhibit was an excellent display of cultural and technological achievements in ancient China. The museum also held the "La Mesopotamie" exhibition 美索不達米亞羅浮宮兩河流域珍藏展 between March and July of 2001. A total of 299 artifacts, including the Code of Hammurabi on loan from the Louvre, were displayed. Since its opening in 1983, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum has been a major catalyst for the development of modern art. It has featured many local artists and important foreign exhibitions, including the 1999 "Outdoor Sculpture of the 20th Century," which was supported by Paris Musees and held in the newly opened Taipei Art Park. It also hosts annual and biennial competitions, as well as invitational exhibitions. From November 9 to December 3, 2000, it hosted the biennial exhibition 臺北雙年展 entitled "The Sky Is the Limit" 無法無天, with the works of 31 artists from 18 countries. The museum has also been commissioned for the Taiwan Pavilion at the Venice Biennial 威尼斯雙年展 since 1995, providing a channel for Taiwanese contemporary art to communicate with the global art world. The Taiwan Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennial held from July to November 2001 featured the works of five Taiwanese artists with the theme of "Living Cell" 活性因子. The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Taipei, 臺北當代藝術館 located in the refurbished old city hall, officially opened in May 2001. The opening exhibition, entitled "The Gravity of the Immaterial" 輕且重的震撼, presented the contemporary world art scene by inviting 26 artists from both Taiwan and abroad to display their works. As the second fine arts museum in Taipei, it promises to further invigorate the city with new cultural energy while keeping step with a quickly changing society. Modern art museums have also been established in Taichung and Kaohsiung. The Taiwan Museum of Art 國立臺灣美術館, located in Taichung, opened in 1988, concentrating on Taiwan's artistic development. Items in its collection range from the Ming and Ching dynasties to contemporary works. The museum hosts both research exhibitions and planned exhibitions. Besides presenting the works of local artists, the museum also introduces works by foreign artists of worldwide fame and hosts international exchange exhibitions. The museum sponsored a touring exhibition entitled "Chinese New Year Prints" to Central America; the action art exhibition "No Destruction, No Construction" the "Life City" exhibition at the Seventh International Exhibition of Architecture in Venice; and the Yuen Shui-long exhibition in Paris. The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts 高雄市立美術館, which opened in 1993, is one of the largest fine arts museums in Asia. The Chang Foundation Museum 鴻禧美術館, which opened in 1991, is the island's first private Chinese art museum. Although relatively small, with only about 16,000 square feet of exhibition space, it has an impressive collection that features traditional painting, exquisite porcelain, and other ceramics. This museum also holds exhibitions in cooperation with museums on the Chinese mainland. The Juming Art Museum 朱銘美術館, which opened on September 19, 1999, boasts a full collection of Ju Ming's works done at different stages in his life, including around 500 pieces of sculpture in wood, mud, stone, bronze, and stainless steel, as well as 500 paintings in oil, ink, pastel, and multimedia. Works by world-renowned masters, such as Picasso, Henry Moore, and Andy Warhol, are also on display in the galleries. Galleries The number of galleries in Taiwan has grown tremendously from a single enterprise, the Lungmen Gallery 龍門畫廊 in 1975, to about 150 galleries today. Lungmen Gallery has retained its prominence among the galleries and shows works by artists from both Taiwan and overseas. The Hanart Gallery 漢雅軒, which has a home gallery in Hong Kong, has also played an important role in promoting Taiwan's younger generation of artists. Other prominent galleries include the Galerie Elegance 愛力根畫廊; the Eslite Gallery 誠品畫廊; the Taiwan Gallery 臺灣畫廊, and Home Gallery 家畫廊, which focus on contemporary art; and the Caves Art Center 敦煌藝術中心 and the Pristine Harmony Art Center 清韻藝術中心, which focus on Chinese ink paintings by both traditional and contemporary artists. IT Park 伊通公園 is an alternative gallery for non-commercial artists and provides a much-needed venue for installation and performing artists. Several galleries in central and southern Taiwan have established themselves in the art market. Some of the best known include Gallery Pierre 臻品藝術中心, East Gallery 東之畫廊, and Modern Art Gallery 現代藝術空間 in Taichung; New Phase Art Space 新生態藝術環境 in Tainan; the Up Gallery 阿普畫廊 and Duchamp Gallery 杜象藝術中心 in Kaohsiung; and Gallery Venus 維納斯藝廊 in Hualien 花蓮. The increase in art galleries around the island has been partly due to the great expansion of art collecting in the 1980s, which in turn has been driven by growth of the stock and real estate markets. Taiwan collectors are also active in the art markets in Hong Kong and New York, prompting such high-profile auction houses as Sotheby's and Christie's to provide previews of their Hong Kong and New York auctions in Taiwan. Both houses have held auctions in Taiwan beginning in the early 1990s, with varying degrees of success. Both have focused primarily on traditional Chinese painting and works by Taiwan's Japanese-trained impressionists, such as Chen Cheng-po, whose 1931 painting Sunset at Tamsui 黃昏淡水 (see section on Painting) was sold by Sotheby's for US$380,000 in 1993, a record-breaking price for a contemporary Chinese painting. Another major development has been the annual Taipei Art Fair International 臺北國際藝術博覽會, which began in 1992 and promotes the local art market both regionally and internationally. The event gives local art collectors a chance to appreciate and bid for masterpieces by world renowned artists, drawing around 70,000 to 80,000 visitors each year. Organized by the ROC Art Galleries Association 中華民國畫廊協會, the 2000 fair was held December 14-18 with the theme of "Awakening" and an exhibition on Gao Xingjian 高行健, the first Chinese Nobel Laureate for Literature. The fair celebrated its tenth anniversary in November 2001 with the participation of over 28 local galleries and Japanese art dealers. Copyright (C) July 2002, Government Information Office.   All rights reserved.   Site design by L.F. Lee Best viewed with Netscape 4.x or IE 5.x (medium font) at 800 x 600 True Color (32 bit) resolution