Sculpture, Ceramics and Seal Carving

As introduced by the Taiwan Yearbook 2006:

Sculpture

Before the 1920s, temple and folk sculpture were the only sculptural forms thriving in Taiwan; it was not until the 1970s that sculpture was widely accepted as a fine-art genre.

Born in 1906, Huang Tu-shuei is widely recognized as Taiwan's first fine-art sculptor. Like many painters of his generation, he studied Western-style techniques at the Tokyo Fine Arts Institute. His most celebrated works are of water buffaloes, animals symbolic of the Taiwan countryside. The most renowned sculptor after Huang was Chen Sia-yu, who was also trained in Japan and returned to Taiwan after World War II to create realistic portraits and figures, often of women in pensive poses.

The tide of Western-oriented abstraction that swept through the local art world in the 1960s produced the first Taiwan sculptor to gain worldwide attention. Yuyu Yang (also known as Yang Ying-fong), who died in 1997, was most famous for his stainless steel sculptures, which often converted traditional symbols like the phoenix and dragon into fluid abstract forms. His works, which were sometimes monumental in size, have been erected in cities around the world. His East West Gate (1973) stands on Wall Street in Manhattan, and the 23-foot Advent of the Phoenix (1970) can be found in Osaka. In 1996, Yang held a major retrospective of his works in England at the invitation of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.

The back-to-roots movement of the 1970s is exemplified by Ju Ming, who initially trained as a folk sculptor but later studied with Yuyu Yang. Ju was originally admired for his rustic, simple figures carved from wood, especially his monumental Tai Chi Series. In recent years, he has explored a variety of materials, including painted bronze and rolled stainless steel sheets, creating abstract figures of athletes, ballerinas, and people in everyday poses. Like Yuyu Yang, Ju has exhibited worldwide, including in Hong Kong, England, and New York.

Ceramics

Taiwan is also known for its high-quality ceramic reproduction, an industry that got its start in the late 1940s. Several talented figures, such as Lin De-wun and Cai Siao-fang, became known for their skill at imitating ancient porcelain. Today, there are a number of kilns in the north-central city of Miaoli and in Yingge, a small town southwest of Taipei, that are known worldwide for their ceramics. In the early 1950s, several ceramists, including primarily Lin Bao-jia, Wu Rang-nong, and Wang Shiu-kung, made their first efforts to develop Taiwan's ceramics into a contemporary art form. These men began their careers by working in ceramics factories, helping to revive the industry after its decline during the Japanese occupation. Eventually, they broke away to pursue their own creative ideas and to establish teaching studios. Although they remained within the traditional framework of functional ceramics, making vases, bowls, and pots, their works represented a creative venture into unusual shapes and experimental glaze effects.

It was not until the late 1960s that creative ceramists began to gain widespread recognition, thanks in large part to exhibitions at the National Museum of History, which continues to promote the art form. In 1968, the museum held the island's first major solo ceramics show, featuring Wu Rang-nong. In the following decade, ceramic exhibitions at private galleries gradually became more common. A key figure during this era was Ciou Huan-tang, who studied ceramics in Hawaii and returned to Taiwan to introduce the contemporary ideas he had learned abroad. Ceramist Sun Chao also gained recognition during this time for his crystalline glazes. After a career in the National Palace Museum, Sun began applying his experiments with ancient glazing techniques to his own work. In recent years, he has moved from making decorative crystal patterns on vases and bowls to large, flat glaze "paintings" that combine Chinese ink landscapes with abstract expressionism.

Ceramic art quickly came into its own after 1981, boosted by the 1983 opening of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which included ceramics in its opening show. In 1986, the National Museum of History held its first biennial ceramic show. The Chinese Ceramics Association, Taiwan was formed in 1992, and the following year held its first festival, which featured indoor and outdoor exhibitions, demonstrations, and lectures by prominent ceramic artists. Taiwan's first ceramics museum, the Yingge Ceramics Museum, opened in 2000. It presents the latest developments in Taiwan's ceramic arts and promotes cultural exchanges between local and overseas ceramists.

Seal Carving

Carving chops and seals with names or other calligraphic inscriptions was once as necessary a skill as painting and calligraphy for well-rounded literati. Machine-carved name chops are commonly used for most business transactions nowadays, and only a few artists specialize in engraving chops by hand. These include Wang Bei-yue, who teaches seal carving at the art department of National Taiwan Normal University, and, of the younger generation, Huang Ming-siou, who was recognized in the 1994 Provincial Art Contest for his work. Name chops are typically made of wood, jade, or soft precious stones such as "field yellow". The body of the chop may be rectangular and plain, or may be sculpted into symbolic designs such as lions or dragons. In addition to their use in business transactions, name chops are also stamped onto traditional paintings and calligraphic works to identify the artist and add an aesthetic touch.