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Long-lost statue "Water of Immortality" by late sculptor Huang Tu-shui to be displayed in December

  • Date:2021-10-19
Long-lost statue 'Water of Immortality' by late sculptor Huang Tu-shui to be displayed in December

The Ministry of Culture has announced that late Taiwanese sculptor Huang Tu-shui's (黃土水) groundbreaking work, "Water of Immortality (甘露水)," which was lost for over half a century, will be displayed in an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of National Taipei University of Education (MoNTUE) in December.

Completed in 1921, the marble statue was the second work by Huang to be displayed at the Imperial Art Exhibition in Japan, the most prestigious art event in the country, where it received critical acclaim.

The 1.75-meter-tall sculpture was collected by the Taiwan Education Association (now 228 Memorial Museum) in 1931, a year after Huang died of peritonitis, and displayed in a posthumous exhibition. However, it was later abandoned at the Taichung railway station for unknown reasons after the Provisional Taiwan Provincial Council relocated from Taipei in 1958.

Fortunately, the work was saved by a local family surnamed Chang and kept in the nearby family clinic, though it was later moved to a factory in Wufeng in 1974, where it remained until being discovered by Professor Lin Mun-lee (林曼麗) from the Taipei Municipal University of Education and her team. It was donated to MOC on Sep. 6, 2021 under the witness of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Water of Immortality, praised as Taiwan's Venus, was the first recorded nude statue in Taiwan's art history. Although modeled after the classic image of "The Birth of Venus," the statue reinterprets the goddess with a Taiwanese female form, ushering in a new art landscape for a new generation, as well as stunning the world with its eye-catching beauty.

Born in 1895 under Japanese colonial rule, Huang Tu-shui was an iconic sculptor and the first Taiwanese artist to participate in the Imperial Art Exhibition in Japan. He was proud of his Taiwanese identity and advocated that artists should create a spiritual civilization that matches Taiwan's for those who live here.

(Photo courtesy of Huang Pang-Chuan and Chunni Lin/ the Museum of National Taipei University of Education)