Modern and contemporary painter Kuo Tong-jong (郭東榮), also the founder of Fifth Moon Group (五月畫會), passed away on Jan. 9 at the age of 96.
Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te expressed his condolences upon hearing the news. Minister Lee pointed out that Kuo devoted his life to art creation and education, having greatly impacted Taiwan's painting circle.
Kuo was born in 1927 in Chiayi. After graduating from the National Taiwan Normal University, with the encouragement of Professor Liao Chi-chun (廖繼春), Kuo and his three co-exhibitors decided to form an artistic fraternity with the four of them as core members. Drawing inspiration from the adventurous spirit of the French "Salon de Mai," the group accordingly took the name "Fifth Moon Group." After that, he went to study in Japan in the 1960s. In 1966, he graduated from Waseda University with a master's in Western Art History. In 1973, he earned a second master's degree from Tokyo University of the Arts, this time in oil painting materials and techniques.
With his excellent artistic performance, Kuo continued to develop in the art world in Taiwan and Japan. After returning to Taiwan, he taught at the National Academy of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts), National Taiwan Normal University, National Chiayi University, and so on. Moreover, his works were collected by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. He had made a lot of contributions to the Taiwanese art world and was an important promoter of the development of modern art in Taiwan.