The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA) is slated to launch a solo exhibition of Yuan Jai (袁旃), the Taiwan-based senior ink artist in the contemporary era, in the spring of 2022.
NTMoFA's director Liang Yung-fei (梁永斐) and exhibition staff visited the artist's studio in person on Dec. 17 to discuss exhibition cooperation and offer the invitation. Liang, who has devoted himself to the art of calligraphy, also exchanged creative ideas with the artist.
The organizer specially invites Catherine David, the senior curator of Centre Pompidou, France, to organize the exhibition in the hope of, with her curated experience for the artist's solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in 2020, exploring Yuan's different visions and styles in her art so as to show the audience her wonderful and rich creativity.
Born in 1941 in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, China, Yuan moved to Taiwan with her family in 1947. In 1958, she entered the Department of Art at the Taiwan Provincial Normal University, where she laid a solid foundation of Chinese painting skills by learning from many masters, such as Pu Hsin-yu (溥心畬) and Huang Chun-pi (黃君璧). After graduation in 1962, she went to Europe to further her studies. Beginning in 1969, she worked as a conservator in the Department of Antiquities at the National Palace Museum in Taipei for more than 30 years. Since her retirement in 2001, she has devoted herself to creating art in the professional field. In 2020, she was invited to hold the solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in France.
NTMoFA's director Liang stated that the artist's style of painting has developed a unique personal charm and characteristics, with rich layers, vivid colors, and creative themes incorporated with life and culture, demonstrating the modern ink works that are different from traditional ones.
This solo exhibition will be the artist's large-scale and significant retrospective exhibition in Taiwan in recent years following her solo exhibition at the Kaohsiung Museum of Art in 2012.