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Legacy Series XXIV: Lee Chi-mao

  • Date:2019-09-01
Legacy Series XXIV: Lee Chi-mao

Post-war titan of ink-wash painting

 

Lee Chi-mao (李奇茂) was a much-beloved artist in Taiwan who combined traditional ink-wash brushwork with Western sketching techniques. He captured Taiwanese life with a nimble brush and both his paintings and advocacy for arts education marked the start of a new era of traditional ink-wash art for post-war Taiwan.

 

Utilizing an expansive knowledge of age-old ink painting techniques, Lee sought to portray the everyday scenes of Taiwanese life, using his strokes to deftly immortalize those who make up the grassroots levels of society theatrical actors and backstage musicians of Taiwanese opera troupes, operators of tea houses, night market vendors, and all those who made Taiwan their home after 1949.

 

He was also one of the ten renowned ink-wash painters who collaborated on creating "Formosa Evergreen (寶島長春圖卷)," the nation's longest collectively created scroll at about 66 meters. The multi-perspective composition linking different features together from various places in Taiwan is now housed in the Taipei-based National Museum of History.

 


Magnificent seashores and crashing waves are depicted at the beginning and the end of the scroll, with peculiarly shaped rocks and cliffs extending into golden paddies populated by farmers and cattle carts. Modern infrastructure and buildings are scattered throughout the challenging topography, adding to its richness and extraordinary appeal and paying tribute to the hard work that ancestral settlers had to put in to cultivate this land.

 

Moreover, Lee helped established the National Taiwan Academy of Arts and began teaching himself, sparing no effort in educating countless students and passing on his ink-wash skills and art knowledge to new generations. His apprentices recall that their mentor emphasized technique over style, saying that one's artistic flair will develop over time.

 

His tireless spirit was invaluable in laying the groundwork for future Taiwanese ink-wash artists. He also loaned his portraiture skills to both government campaigns and experimental art projects. Above all, he was a friend to many fellow artists and cultural professionals, and his advice was sought during the planning and development of several museums and memorials that now hold indelible positions in Taiwan's cultural scene.


More information on the late post-war titan of ink-wash painting is available here.