An Ode to the Sun and the Moon

Yen Shui Long's Formosa

ORGANIZERS 
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art
National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute 

CURATORS 
Yen Chuan-ying, Lin Yu-chun, Yang Yu-jui, Lin Yi-lo, Ho Guan-wei

PERIOD 
MAR 30th, 2024（SAT） —  JUN 30th, 2024（SUN）

VEUNE 
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Galleries 103-106, Gallery Street, Starry Grass Field

EXHIBITION INTRODUCTION

Yen Shui-long (1903-1997) was born in Xiaying, Tainan. He went to Japan to study in 1920 and graduated from the Graduate Institute of Western Painting Department at the Tokyo Fine Arts School (1922-1929). 

In 1930, he traveled to France via the Trans-Siberian Railway for further studies. He attended art school at night to improve his drawing and sketching skills, while during the day, he copied 16th and 19th-century portraits at the Louvre Museum with the determination to introduce Western art to Taiwan. Yen was concerned about the enlightenment of the Han Chinese and indigenous peoples under colonial rule. He visited the International Colonial Exposition when he was in Paris and constantly reflected on the origins of Taiwanese culture. He remained deeply worried about the ecological and cultural crises the indigenous peoples faced. After the war, he continued to study the traditional crafts of the indigenous peoples and the Han Chinese and to innovate and modernize them, expanding the international perspective of Taiwanese culture and enhancing the aesthetics of life for the people in Taiwan. Based on the spirit of altruism, his artistic goal is to create a beautiful form for Taiwan. He constantly pursues and celebrates Taiwan's sun of which the color is extremely bright and exuberant. Art creation and the craftsmanship have become the two parallel tracks throughout his life.

Yen Shui-long’s dedication spans across various fields, from crafts, design, advertisement, architecture, public art, to his personal artistic expressions, all of which serve as exemplary practices left to Taiwan. Throughout his life, he explored artistic forms in service to the public, deepening beauty in everyone’s modern experience. This exhibition takes a non-binary perspective on crafts and fine arts, guiding viewers to see the artistic landscape where “there is art in craft, and craft in art.” Yen’s artistic journey led him to the global field connecting to Japan, Europe, United States and many others, anchoring on Taiwanese culture to uphold a new intercultural worldview, reconstructing our understanding of art history.