Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) A work by Yan Jhen-fa (顏振發), the last film poster painter in Taiwan, sold for NT$128,888 (US$4182), nearly NT$50,000 higher than its starting price, in an online charity auction that ended Monday night.
Hondao Senior Citizen's Welfare Foundation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Taichung, central Taiwan, started auctioning six paintings online on Jan. 4.
The auction included Yan's "Most afraid of not being able to walk. It's going to cause others trouble"and "We dream about a boisterous Lunar New Year,"by 10-year-old Chen Si (陳曦), both at a starting price of NT$80,000.
The six paintings sold for a total of NT$324,688.
The foundation is looking to raise NT$20 million and has so far raised more than NT$10 million. The money will be used to fund projects that provide care for disadvantage elders and elders who live alone.
Born in rural Tainan, a southern Taiwanese city, Yan became an apprentice to movie billboard painter Chen Fung-yung (陳峰永) at the age of 18.
Over the past 40 years, he has painted thousands of movie posters.
The artist attracted global attention with his hand-painted billboards, with the BBC running a feature introducing his life and works last year. In 2013, the Associated Press hailed Yan as a national treasure and his poster advertising the hit Disney movie "Zootopia" went viral on the discussion forum Reddit in 2016.
In addition, Yan has been invited to create a wall-painting for the 1993 film "Farewell My Concubine" in Yau Ma Tei, an area in the Yau Tsim Mong District of Hong Kong.
"Farewell My Concubine" is the only Chinese-language film to win the Palme d'Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Yan is scheduled to travel to Yau Ma Tei on Wednesday for the project.
The last practitioner of this once-popular art form in Taiwan is also scheduled to hold an art exhibition in April in Hong Kong, where his self-portraits and eye-catching works of nostalgia will be displayed.
(By Chang Jung-hsiang and Yu-Chen Chung)
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