The First Taiwanese Western Style Painter Chosen For The Imperial Exhibition
Chen Cheng-po was the first Taiwanese Western Painter to be selected for Japan's Imperial Fine Arts Exhibition. With landscape paintings of his hometown, he won the highest accolades from the art scenes of Japan and Taiwan during that period, symbolizing the affirmation of his work. From then onwards, Chen Cheng-po concentrated on painting landscapes with his simple yet humorous painting style and became one of the leaders of Western style painting in the history of early Taiwanese art. He was the first painter introduced in Taiwan Fine Arts Series and he was also the only painter amongst 31 influential personalities filmed by Public Television Service in last year's "A Century of Outstanding People in Taiwan"
Chen Cheng-po was born during the Ching Dynasty, in the same year when Taiwan was ceded to Japan (1895). Inside his concepts of thinking, he was proud of his father being an Imperial scholar and he knew about and adored the traditions of Chinese scholars, and was receptive and tolerant towards the different cultures of China, Taiwan and Japan. Due to his cheerful and passionate nature, his paintings were brimful of joy and happiness.
The cultivation of his art started relatively late, but prior to learning western art, Chen Cheng-po had already been nurtured in the influences of Sinology and calligraphy. In 1913, he began receiving instruction from the Japanese watercolorist, Kinichiro Ishikawa (1871-1945) and gained the rudimentary knowledge about western art. He was then already 19 years of age and at the age of 30 years, he overcame the hardships in life to gain admission into the Tokyo Fine Arts School. This, as a result, made him put in greater and more unremitting efforts in a wholehearted wish to achieve some accomplishments in the field of painting and saw him being selected into the highly competitive Imperial Fine Arts Exhibition for four times.
Currently, all records show that Chen Cheng-po's earliest works was in 1924. According to the article by Madam Yen Chuan-ying, A Courageous Painter - Chen Cheng-po, we broadly categorized the paintings in his lifetime of creation into three stages: "The Tokyo Period"(1924 - 1929), "The Shanghai Period"(1929 - 1933) as well as "The Return to Native Soil Period"(1933 - 1947). In the first stage of "The Tokyo Period" Chen Cheng-po adhered to an institutional style of training while pursuing self-exploration as well. Influenced by the Post-Impressionist, Vincent van Gogh, his painting style inclined towards the bubbling passion and enthusiasm found in Fauvism. During the second stage of "The Shanghai Period" he became a teacher of western style painting in an art school. Overcame with admiration for masters of Chinese ink and wash painting, the manner of his painting explorations in this period was a combination of both the Chinese and Western style, infusing with the energetic lines alike those of Ni Yun-lin (1306-1374), a painter cum calligrapher in the Yuan Dynasty, as well the texturing method and brushing (touch) technique of Ching Dynasty's Pa-ta-shan-jen (Chu Ta, 1624/1626-1705), and pursuing moods containing eastern appeals of China as well as developing his "reverse perspective"concept of composition in a more wanton, piece of work was, on the contrary, even better able to testify to the prosperous sights at the ends of Taipei Bridge.?
Iron Bridge Afterglow - One Of The Eight Sights In Taipei
According to early historical accounts of Taiwan, the smooth and unhindered river transport of Tamsui River during the Ching Dynasty allowed for vessels to navigate upstream to Hsinchuang, a collection and distribution center for goods and materials during that time. During the last years of the Chia Ching reign, as the upper reaches of Tamsui River turned shallow from the built up of silt and paths of navigation became uncertain, the ending point of the river transport was shrunk back to Mang-ka. The upper reaches of Tamsui River above the Taipei Bridge could only allow for small boats to shuttle to and fro within them.
In the 15th year of the Ching Emperor Kuang-hsu's reign (1893), Liu Ming-chuan opened up Taiwan's first railway, which started from Keelung in the north and ended at Hsinchu in the South. A wooden bridge was built at the Tamsui River between the regions of Da-Dau-Cheng and Sanchung-pu. The train passed through what is now the Chung-hsin Road of today's San-chung city, to Hsinchuang, Kuei Shan and Taoyuan. As rainstorms often washed the wooden bridge away, the transportation of residents on both banks were mainly dependent on ferries. In 1918, the area was hit by typhoon and the wooden bridge was damaged by floodwaters. Therefore, the Japanese rerouted the railway to pass through Mang-ka and Panchao to Taoyuan (i.e. the current route of the trunk lines of the western railway), and rebuilt the foundations of the San-chung-pu railroads into a public North-South highway. In 1925, the Japanese rebuilt the wooden bridge of Tamsui River into an iron bridge, consisting of traffic lanes in the middle and pedestrian passageways on both sides, which they also renamed as Taipei Bridge. Owing to its unusual design, it was then the bridge with the highest sense of contemporary age and it became known as the "Iron Bridge Afterglow? "One Of The Eight Sights?in Taipei.
During its prime, the magnificent Taipei Bridge was once a landmark for Taipei. In 1925 and 1927, senior artists, Chen Chih-chi and Li Shih-chiao, captured its magnificence in their canvases. The perspectives adopted by both were largely similar to those found in postcards that were popular then, viewing it from the northern end of the bridge, at a slanted angle towards the southwest. The San-chung-pu streets on the left bank, where farmers earned their living, formed the background. And Chen Cheng-po, having just returned from Shanghai and having painted beautiful scenery of the likes of the outer Shanghai beaches and Hangzhou's Westlake, naturally wouldn't have missed the charming attraction of Tamsui River. However, the angle he adopted was unlike those of the two artists aforementioned. From a high vantage point on the Southern side, he looked at the bridge, the mountain range, the river dykes and the shoals in the North as well as the gorgeous chimneys with slow-rising mists atop the western style buildings of Da-Dau-Cheng on the river's right bank.
In the 2002 annual meeting of Tung Hai Universlty's Cultural Studies Association, Mr Liao Hsin-tien voiced out his personal opinion on the three senior artists' paintings that depicted Taipei Bridge. He felt that in Chen Chih-chi and Li Shih-chiao's paintings, the "geometrical shape formed by the intensely slanting angles conveyed a highly modernized feeling? "whose language is modern, scientific and carries a cold and callous sense of aesthetics? As for Chen Cheng-po's Keelung River (ie. the Taipei Bridge - Tamsui River in this season's auction), he felt that it had a different visual significance, "Compared to Chen and Li's abrupt expression of the bridge's existence, Chen Cheng-po's Keelung River (1933), on the other hand, blends the iron bridge into the scenery. The meandering river flows towards the faraway bridge while at the same time, the bridge and the mountain forms a harmonious background in the composition. The bridge even plays the part of bringing the picture to life as a finishing touch, an important element in producing novelty in the painting. To juxtapose the bridge and the mountain as the background of the landscape painting or even as the visual relay station between the onlooker and the mountain ranges representing Nature, is a new visual vocabulary of the modernization process.?
Based on the beautiful sight of Taipei Bridge, the painting subject of Chen Cheng-po's Taipei Bridge - Tamsui River is undoubtedly a rare personal attempt throughout his entire life. Besides the important humanistic landscapes of Guanyin Mountain and the Tamsui afterglow presented by the brushstrokes of the senior artist whom is well known among fellow countrymen, Taipei Bridge - Tamsui River also provided us with a testament to the process of growth and decline of Taipei's fishing and agricultural industries in the early 1930s. The painting contributed immense significance, no matter if it was in terms of historical accounts for the society or in terms of artistry.
Being bereaved of his father and losing the love and concern of family members since young made Chen Cheng-po long for intimacy with others. For a long time in the past, figures were an ever-present element in his landscape paintings. Even paintings of vast and extensive landscapes would always be embellished with several figures to fill the picture with warmth. Similarly, in this piece of work, we can identify, from the brisk and lively movements of the farmers carrying their loads and fishermen going about their fishing, the usual narrative style that the artist loves, which enriches the entire work and makes it interesting! In a 1928 article, Kinichiro Ishikawa once described the circumstances of Tamsui River and Taipei Bridge as, the disorderly clatter of noises from the streets of Taipei ended at the banks of Tamsui River. The protecting dykes cut off all mundane affairs of the human world. Beyond the dykes was a boundless expanse of Nature that seemed as if by taking a step off the bank revetment, it might turn one into a person from an entirely different world. However, turning one's gaze farther towards the lower reaches of the river to look at the Taipei Bridge spanning across like a long snake, one would still have the feeling of being hauled back onto the human world. This is because the bridge's shape is especially eye-catching. Hallucination subsides and reality reemerges in one's mind.?
Now, the old Taipei Bridge with the seven patterned beams no longer exists. The current Taipei Bridge, of concrete and steel construction, was rebuilt in 1997. Fishing boats are no longer seen under the bridge. Following the emergence of new landmarks in other cities, "The Eight sights of Taipei" has undergone changes since a long time ago. Together with the bridge beams that symbolises communications and borders, the changes of Tamsui River in the last century has been developing continuously. Can the shuttling of small boats in Chen Cheng-po's painting reappear in the Tamsui River under today's Taipei Bridge? In summer last year, Taipei City activated the tour of "The Blue Highway" from Da-Dau-Cheng to Kuan-tu. Nostalgic people can now hop on board the yachts and shuttle back and forth on the Tamsui River, enjoying the scenery of the river. Perhaps this can present the river of civilization with a new lease of life!
Reference:
Yen Chuan-ying, A Courageous Painter - Chen Cheng-po, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, February 28 1992, p. 21-48
Lin Yu-chun, Paint - Passion - Chen Cheng-po, Hsiung Shih Books Pte Ltd, Taipei, May 1998. The Precursory Artists?Masterpieces of Taiwan, III, Respectable Art International Pte Ltd, Taipei, 2000, p. 14 -15.
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