HUNG Tung

Taiwanese　1920 - 1987

Born in Tainan County, Hung Tung (also known as Hung Chu-tou) was one of Taiwan’s most famous self-taught artists. He began to study painting at the age of 50, and started to attract significant attention in 1972 when his painting “Under the Tree” came to public notice. In 1976, Hung Tung’s first solo exhibition, held at the American Cultural Center in Taipei, brought him nationwide fame. In 1986, Hung’s wife, who had worked to support him in his artistic career, passed away. Hung was deeply affected by her death, and died in his sleep himself the following year, at the age of 67. In 1996, an exhibition of Hung Tung’s work entitled “An Eccentric World – the Art of Hung Tung” was held at Taipei Cultural Center in New York. In 1997 Hung Tung’s works were included in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum’s “Taiwanese Naive Art” touring exhibition. In 2004, several of Hung’s works – including “Dedicated to Ho Cheng-kuang” and “American Paradise” – were shown in the “Vernacular Visionaries: International Outsider Art in Context” exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe; the catalogue for this exhibition was published by Yale University. Also in 2004, six paintings by Hung Tung (including “Festival”) were included in the exhibition “Reflections of the 70s – Taiwan Explores its Own Reality” at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. In 2006, Hung Tung’s painting “Flying” was included in the “Odyssey of Art in Taiwan, 1950 – 2000” exhibition, which was held successively in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.