PROVENANCE:
Ancient collection of the artist's first daughter, Liao Mei-hui

ILLUSTRATED:
Ho Cheng Kuang, Chi Chun Liao's Paintings, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, May 1976, color illustrated, p. 44
Ho Cheng Kuang, Chi Chun Liao's Paintings, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, March 1981, color illustrated, p. 48
Lin Hsin-yue, Liao Chi-chun (Taiwan Fine Arts Seriesv No. 4), Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, July 1992, color illustrated no. 48, p. 90
Li Chin-shian, Colors-Harmony, Liao Chi-chun, Hsiung Shih Art Book, Taipei, 1997, color illustrated, p. 98

“The question of modern paintings is not whether they [the paintings] are abstract or figurative or whether they have form or not. It is the content and the expression of beauty that counts.”

Liao Chi-chun is known as the “color magician.” His attractive and bold use of color originates not only from his studies as a student but also from his romantic and carefree nature.

Liao was admitted to the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1924. One important factor that lead to him studying abroad was his falling in love with Lin Qiong-xin. The daughter of an illustrious family, Lin was a wise and decisive young woman with outstanding academic performance. Her father was a local man of substance in Fengyuan. Coming from a relatively poor family, Liao was not considered a good match for Lin. However, she intended to wed this innocent, devoted and passionate young man, so she proposed a condition of marriage—Liao had to study in Japan and receive a higher degree in order to marry her. This intriguing agreement broke down the class barrier between them and was a turning point in Liao’s artistic life. During that period, impressionism, pleinairism and fauvism were the mainstream of the Japanese art scene. Professors studying in Europe introduced these liberal fashions to Japan, deeply influencing the development of independent thinking.

Returning to his hometown, Liao was deeply inspired by the vivid play of light and shadow in the tropical sun. He used colors as his basic tone, capturing Taiwan’s local landscape. Colors dominated his canvas, allowing lines and shapes to fully exercise their power. His free and poetic style was bold and wild. The composition of his paintings became more and more personal, showing overlapping blocks and transparent space as well as the rhythm of colors. Liao’s artistic style started from academic training but moved into more unfettered artistic realms.

Liao had a special talent characterized by an extreme sensitivity to colors. Even artists who came later struggle to emulate his achievements in the use of color. He was very close with Umehara Ryuusaburou, an artist who pursued fauvism. Sharing the same interest in art, they were both shy and cautious in appearance but in fact sensitive and passionate inside. Liao was never Umehara’s student. However, when Umehara visited Taiwan in 1933, Liao was Umehara’s guide, taking him to draw nature sketches in Tainan several times. No doubt Umehara had a profound spiritual inspiration on Liao. However, in terms of artistic style, Umehara tended to use delicate strokes, diverse gradation and thick and melancholic tones. His works reveal a sort of lyrical artistic conception of Chinese literati. On the other hand, Liao is more intuitive and sensitive. His brush strokes are direct and naive, and his colors are vivid and sharp. His paintings, moreover, manifest a kind of willful delight as expressed by an innocent child.

In the 1960s as abstractionism swept the art world, an art movement of modernization engulfed Taiwan. In May 1962, in the joint exhibition of Liao Chi-chun and Shiy De-jinn at the Taipei office of the U.S. Information Service, Liao had several artworks constructed purely from dots, lines and planes on display. “Countryside” was created at that time. Floating lines and aesthetic color blocks that are not restricted by the shapes of objects appear on Liao’s canvas. He ingeniously designed the contrast of colors through abstract expression.

The U.S. State Council invited him to visit the U.S. in June of the same year. His visit to the U.S. was not only an honor setting him apart from other contemporary artists, but also gave him the opportunity to feast on European and U.S. contemporary art. The artist was deeply impressed. Liao stayed in the U.S. for four months, visiting all the major museums in U.S. cities. He then travelled to Europe the next year, visiting many tourist attractions, cultural relics and artworks. In March 1963, he returned to Taiwan and shared his thoughts about the trip, “As Marc Chagall said, he didn’t come to Paris to learn how to paint but to be inspired by the city.” Liao also emphasized that “the question of modern paintings is not whether they [the paintings] are abstract or figurative or whether they have form or not. It is the content and the expression of beauty that counts.” Reaching his sixties, the senior artist has experienced the impact of the old and the new as well as the influence of Euro-American artistic movements. He has established his own views. This statement, moreover, has stood the test of time.

Liao painted “Ancient Castle in Spain” in 1965, and he used the same vivid white, yellow and blue color blocks as he did in “Countryside” to dominate the picture. Liao once said, “Chinese people have a strong sense of color, like Ming porcelain. Over a white background, they paint blue, red and green patterns. It can be difficult to find such a powerful and elegant sensitivity to color in other cultures.” The landscape and objects in the painting are outlined with delicate lines. The ratio of color use and the abstract metamorphosis form a perfect artistic rhythm. One is a historic European town with Mediterranean white walls, and the other is a rural landscape of Taiwanese houses in the shining sun. Liao employed similar techniques to create these two works with clever composition and brilliant changes of tone. He fully grasps and expresses the atmosphere of these two places, immersing viewers in an artistic realm.

When scrutinizing the composition of “Countryside,” we see the gradation of color and overlapping transparent images. The whole presentation shows the artist’s mature skill, filled with the joy of creation. From the raised horizon, viewers overlook the lanes, canals and trees between the country houses. They are so close that they seem to be within reach. Liao gave full rein to his artistic talents and expressed his deep attachment to the land while working on this painting.