To mark late artist Hung Jui-lin (洪瑞麟)’s 110th birthday, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine arts (NTMoFA) will hold the exhibition "Tender Portrayals of Difficult Lives: The Works of Hung Jui-Lin and Images of Miners (做工的人：洪瑞麟作品與礦工身影)" from Sep. 28, 2022, through Feb. 19, 2023, to highlight Hung's contribution and the importance of his role in the Taiwanese art history.
Continuing the spirit of the previous exhibition "Tender Portrayals of Difficult Lives: Hung Jui-Lin and Images of Labor in the NTMoFA Collection (做工的人：洪瑞麟與臺灣美術中的勞動身影)" which displayed a selection of Hung's works that are related to the theme of "labor," the new exhibition focuses on Hung's sketches and oil paintings themed on “miners,” showcasing 31 replicas of the original works that are enlarged by 20%.
Curator Lin Hsiao-yu (林曉瑜) stated that this exhibition mainly presents Hung's sketches that were created in the 1950s and 1971 alongside historical photographs of miners. The comparison of the two reflects Hung's observation and description of the working conditions of the miners.
Born in 1912 in Dadaocheng, Hung Jui-Lin was one of the first-generation artists under Japanese rule in the history of Taiwanese art. As his entire life and creations were related to "miners," he was often referred to as the "miner painter" and "humanitarian painter." Previously worked in mines with miners for more than 30 years, he believed it was the mission given to him by art to represent the miners’ sacred work in paintings. Therefore, his paintings are considered "Miner's Diary."
In 2019, MOC received 1,467 works donated by Hung Chun-hsiung (洪鈞雄), the artist's eldest son, and then handed them over to NTMoFA for management. For more information, please visit NTMoFA's official website.