Exhibition of influential Taiwanese painter Chen Cheng-po opens

Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) An exhibition showcasing the works of Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波), a renowned Taiwanese painter during the Japanese colonial era who lost his life in the 228 Incident, opened Monday in Taipei featuring natural themes to highlight Taiwan's natural appeal.

"Rediscovering Taiwan: Chen Cheng-po's 130th Birthday Anniversary Exhibition," being held at the National Railway Museum until May 11, 2025, features eight of Chen's paintings grouped under three natural themes: the Kuroshio Current, Monsoon and the Tropic of Cancer.

The chairman of the Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation and the artist's oldest grandson, Chen Li-po (陳立栢), said at the show's opening ceremony that he wanted to showcase Taiwan from a geographical perspective in the show to avoid engaging in ideological discourses.

That geography, Chen said, may have had an impact on Taiwanese history, which is often seen through the lens of the Dutch, Spanish and Japanese colonial eras.

The island's appealing climate, due in part to its monsoons, Kuroshio Current and Tropic of Cancer, may have led many of those colonizers to ponder staying and become "settlers," Chen argued.

Among the works on display is the famous "East Taiwan Coastal Road" courtesy of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum in Japan.

The painting was commissioned by Japanese Governor-General Mitsunoshin Kamiyama in 1930 shortly before his term ended for a reward of 1,000 yen.

Before Kamiyama's death in 1938, he ordered that the painting be donated to the Hofu City Sandetsu Bunko, which later became the Hofu City Library.

In 2015, the painting was moved to Fukuoka Asian Art Museum where it was repaired and then moved to the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum in the town of Yamaguchi north of Hofu to mark the 150th birthday of Kamiyama. It has remained there ever since.

The exhibition also features three animated renderings based on the eight Chen Cheng-po paintings on display that tie them more clearly to the natural themes, offering visitors fresh perspectives on the works.

In addition to being recognized as an influential Taiwanese painter, Chen Cheng-po is also widely known for being a victim of the 228 Incident.

Then a Chiayi city councilor, he was executed in front of the Chiayi Train Station by the Kuomintang government on March 25, 1947, on a charge of sedition.

The 228 Incident refers to an anti-Kuomintang government uprising in 1947 that resulted in a brutal crackdown, which left tens of thousands of people, many of them Taiwanese intellectuals and elites, dead or imprisoned.