Chinese Name: 陳植棋
Born: 1906
Died: 1931
Birthplace: Taipei County (Northern Taiwan)
Did You Know That…?
At a farewell party before he went to Japan to further study in arts, Chen Chih-chi made a famous remark: “Life is short but art is eternal.”
Born in the Xizhi (汐止) area of Taipei County (now New Taipei City) in 1906, Chen Chih-chi graduated from Nangang Public Elementary School in 1921 and enrolled at Taihoku Normal School (臺北師範學校), where he studied arts under Japanese painter Kinichiro Ishikawa (石川欽一郎). In 1924, he was involved in a student uprising and expelled from school. Encouraged by his teacher Ishikawa, Chen went to Japan in 1925 to study in the Department of Western Painting at the Tokyo Fine Arts School.
From 1927 to 1931, his artworks were selected for the Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition, which was a recognition that guaranteed an artist’s high status. In 1928 and 1930, his art pieces “Scenery of Taiwan (臺灣風景)” and “Scenery of Tamsui (淡水風景)” were chosen for the 9th and 11th Imperial Exhibition (帝展) respectively, which caused a sensation both in Taiwan and Japan. Therefore, Chen was hailed as a talented young painter by Taiwan Daily News (臺灣日日新報). Unfortunately, he suffered from pleurisy in 1930 because of exhaustion and died the next year.
When he was studying at the art school in Japan, Chen began to come in contact with a large number of modern art styles such as Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Expressionism that were introduced to Japan from Europe. Influenced by avant-garde art, he created his style with rebelliousness, boldness, and colorfulness. Chen’s artworks fully reflect the integration of Taiwanese fine arts and Western painting, as well as his affection for his homeland.
Chen Chih-chi not only expressed his independent will for beauty with oil paint but also raised the Taiwanese consciousness through civic participation as an active speaker and writer to create contemporary Taiwanese art. He was one of the most representative figures in the Taiwanese nationalist movement in the 1920s during the Japanese colonial period.