The Ministry of Culture held a memorial service on Dec. 15 to pay tribute to Taiwan's cultural pioneer, Dr. Chen Chi-lu (陳奇祿), at the National Taiwan Museum in Taipei.
Presided by Deputy Minister of Culture George C. H. Hsu (許秋煌), the event included a posthumous presidential citation and a donation of 53 ethnological specimen illustrations and 15 calligraphy works by the late scholar to the National Taiwan Museum and the National Museum of History.
As the most qualified and prestigious anthropologist of the first generation in the country, Dr. Chen had made significant contributions to the study of Taiwanese aborigines. He had also served as the first commissioner of the Council for Cultural Affairs and successfully converted the academic concept of culture into practical cultural construction.
Apart from his academic and cultural contributions, Dr. Chen was also an outstanding artist. His research materials have high academic value and he had also hand-painted tracings and illustrations of aboriginal artifacts alongside the text of his books. His "ethnological specimen illustrations” skillfully integrate the delicacy and sensitivity of an artist with the objective depiction of ethnological artifacts, creating the unique and unrivaled Chen-style aesthetics that possess both artistic and academic merits.
To commemorate Dr. Chen, the National Taiwan Museum plans to publish a hardcover catalog of illustrations on his birth anniversary next year on June 13. The meticulous and realistic illustrations will help promote the late anthropologist's respect for and appreciation of aboriginal culture.
The National Taiwan Museum also plans to host a special exhibition, "The Pioneer of Culture: Former Academician Chen Chi-lu's Donations,” to commemorate the first-generation cultural helmsman of post-war Taiwan from Dec. 16 through Jan. 4, 2015.