Tender Portrayals of Difficult Lives: Hung Jui-Lin and Images of Labor in the NTMoFA Collection

Dates | 2022.5.14 - 2022.8.7

Venue | Gallery 302

Hung Jui-Lin was one of the first-generation artists under Japanese rule in the history of Taiwanese art. His entire life and oeuvre were associated with “miners,” which has earned him the reputation of “miner painter” and “humanistic painter.” In 2019, with the effort of the Minister of Culture, Hung’s family donated a collection of 1,467 pieces of Hung’s artworks to be housed by the NTMoFA as the managing agent. Hung is known as a pioneer in terms of exploring issues related to “laborers” in Taiwanese art history. Moreover, he is also a representative figure of Taiwanese realist art. The first theme of the exhibition: “The Distinguished Wild Samurai: Hung Jui-Lin’s Journey and View on Art” will display Hung’s thirty-seven paintings along with five sketch books featuring the theme of miners to foreground the artist’s relentless pursuit of this subject and deep concern on laborers.

The other theme “The Portrayals of ‘laborers’ in 20^th-Century Taiwanese Art” will use “laborers” and Taiwanese realism as an entry point. Forty-six artworks (including thirteen loaned pieces) by a total of twenty-three artists are selected from the museum’s ample collection to map out the developmental trajectory of Taiwanese realist art while underlining how these artists have depicted the images and stories of “laborers” to address social issues in their artworks to garner more attention. From the first generation of painters’ concern for society under Japanese rule, to the post-war woodcuts printmakers’ affection toward Taiwanese culture and documentation of the real life of the social underprivileged through the photography works of the 80s and 90s, this exhibition will show how artists display their focus on the existential meaning of human beings and seek to express their beliefs and impact society through their works.

Artists | LEE Mei-Shu,DEN Nan-Gwang, Liu Chi-Hsiang, HUNG Jui-Lin, HUNG Kung-Da, CHANG Yi-Shiung, ZHU Ming-Gang, HUANG Rung-Tsan, CHEN Hsia-Yu, FANG Hsiang, SHIY De-Jinn, CHEN Chi-Mao, JANG Bing-Nan, HUANG Huei-Mu, LIN Ching-Yun, WU Yao-Chung, SHIE Feng-Sheng, TZENG De-Biau, LIANG Cheng-Chu, GUAN Xiao-Rong, HO Ching-Tai, HSUEH Bai-Ming, SHU Wei-Jung, LIN Ching-Shiang (Listed by birth year)