In memory of the late Japanese lacquer master Yamanaka Tadasu (山中公), who taught countless students in both Taiwan and Japan, a special showcase of lacquer arts will be held in his hometown Kagawa Prefecture from Nov. 10 through 25.
The late artist set up the Yamanaka Arts and Crafts Lacquer Workshop in Taichung City during early 20th century while Taiwan was under Japanese rule. He pioneered a subtropical style that became known as "Penglai lacquerware (蓬萊塗)" for his adoption of motifs from Taiwan's indigenous cultures, natural landscapes, and fruits and flowers.
Yamanaka's Penglai lacquerware is marked by its distinct lack of Japanese patterns that characterize traditional Japanese lacquer arts. Instead, aboriginal totems and local sights and scenes are used to display Taiwan's cultural vitality. His three main Taiwanese disciples were Wang Ching-shuang (王清霜), Chen Huo-qing (陳火慶) and Lai Kao-shan (賴高山), who later became master craftsmen to a new generation of lacquer artists in Taiwan.
Yamanaka returned to Japan and passed away after the end of World War II. He is survived by a daughter, Mizuko, who donated her father's lacquer collection and artifacts to the National Taiwan Crafts Research and Development Institute in 2013.
To celebrate the age-old inheritance of lacquer arts, the upcoming "Joint Lacquer Arts Exhibition of Taiwan and Kagawa Prefecture" will not only feature the works of Yamanaka and his disciplines, but also that of 13 young Taiwanese lacquer artists.
This will mark the first official collaboration between the National Taiwan Crafts Research and Development Institute and the Kagawa Prefectural Government.
‘Joint Lacquer Arts Exhibition of Taiwan and Kagawa Prefecture’
Date: Nov. 10 – 25, 2018
Venue: Kagawa Prefecture Culture Hall
Address: 1 Chome-10-39 Bancho, Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture 760-0017, Japan
Site: https://jp.taiwan.culture.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=365&s=6214