Chinese Name: 杜牧河
Year of Birth: 1949
Place of Birth: Tainan, Taiwan
Did You Know?
Tu Mo-ho has been involved in traditional clay sculpture for decades and has learned from a variety of masters. He has a foundation in an array of traditional arts and crafts, including paper mache, float-making, collage, painting, and clay sculpture, demonstrating a high level of skill and technique expressed through delicate, detailed work. In particular, his sculptures of various deities excel in portraying the distinctive styles, personalities, and physical carriages of his subjects, marking him as a master of both form and spirit. His works are rich with metaphor and interpretive possibility, and he is a master of his generation, linking the past with the present and incorporating new techniques into this traditional art. In 2021, the Ministry of Culture named him a National Living Treasure for his accomplishments.
Clay sculpture artist Tu Mo-ho was born in 1949 to a Tainan family well known for the traditional art of dough modeling; his father was particularly renowned for his skill in crafting figures from rice-flour dough. From an early age, Tu showed both a gift for and an interest in art, beginning to learn the art of dough modeling when he was in second grade. Graduating from elementary school at the age of 13, he set up a stall of his own, making and selling dough figurines to help support the family. His works during this time largely related to religion, ceremony, and folk customs. When he was 16, Tu began learning papier mache and basic aesthetics from master artisan Chen Jin-yong, and prior to his compulsory military service, he had earned praise and recognition from a number of cut-and-paste ceramics masters like Ye Zong and Hong Shun-fa. After completing his service, Tu went on to apprentice under Huang Shun-an, a student of Hong Shun-fa, learning the basic skills of clay sculpture. In this early period, his works were mostly ornamental pieces focused on ceremonial floats and shrines. Later, under the encouragement of Chen Jin-yong, Tu began to turn his attention more to the sculpting of deities.
The fundamental keys to clay sculpture, Tu emphasizes, are structure, form, and posture. Structure is his highest priority when making clay sculptures. In addition, before he makes a statue of a deity, he studies the historical story of that deity so as to capture their movements, aura, skin texture, and skin color vividly, and as a result, his works are always tremendously lifelike. The overall presentation of his works is also a key consideration, and as a result, his works are not only perfectly suited to task, but also detailed and beautiful in form and widely popular. Tu never pays much heed to how much work will be required for a given piece, but rather just fully invests himself in the process, concerning himself only with making the piece the best it can be.
Having developed his skills in a number of traditional arts and crafts, including paper sculpture, ceremonial floats, dough modeling, clay sculpture, and cement sculpture, and dedicated himself to melding these forms together in new ways, Tu has become one of Taiwan’s few truly multitalented master artisans. Armed with this diversity of skills in traditional crafts, Tu also works on restoring historic sites, buildings, and relics, making him an indispensable asset to Taiwanese efforts to preserve cultural heritage. The greatest challenge in restoring relics, he says, is that the masters of the past all had clearly defined schools, and so even though two pieces may look virtually identical on the outside, the mechanics underpinning them can be completely different. As a result, in the restoration process, Tu has to dive deep into how each piece was originally made and then contemplate how best to approach the restoration work. In addition to clay sculptures, he also creates large lantern floats. He is truly a renaissance man of folk arts.
Tu’s techniques are many and varied, combining traditional and modern into one. His deity images are vibrant and lively, and such work saw him commissioned to restore the statue of Matsu in the Tainan Grand Matsu Temple. His works can also be found in Wan Huang Temple in Tainan’s South District and Bao’an Temple in Chigu District. His works are unique in both form and interpretation, preserving traditional techniques while incorporating new ideas. As a result, in 2021, Tu Mo-ho was honored as a National Living Treasure by the Ministry of Culture. He once said, "When I was young, I worked to make a living; when I was middle-aged, I did it as a challenge, trying to surpass my own work; and as an old man, I do it out of a responsibility to pass on this craft."
(Photo courtesy of Tu Mo-ho)