Select works from California's Sun Ten Museum, which houses one of the finest and most comprehensive private collections of works by Taiwanese artists, will be on display at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York from May 23 through June 2.
Dr. Hsu Hong-yen (許鴻源) was an avid art collector and his family founded the Irvine-based Sun Ten Museum after his death. He believed that the works in his collection belonged to all the people of Taiwan, and the museum formally agreed to donate Dr. Hsu's collection in its entirety to the Ministry of Culture last September to fulfill his wishes.
Over 600 pieces of art is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan by the end of 2019. However, considering that most of the privately held works were never shown to the public, Sun Ten Museum decided to first hold a major exhibition tour on both American coasts before escorting the items back home to Taiwan.
The New York leg of the exhibition tour, which is aptly named "Selections from the Sun Ten Collection: A Homecoming Celebration," will be accompanied by two special presentations on Taiwanese art history and the museum's collection on May 23 and 25. The guest speakers are professor Hsiao Chong-ray (蕭瓊瑞) from the National Taiwan Cheng Kung University's Department of History, and Director Chen Fei-long (陳飛龍) of Sun Ten Museum.
TECO in New York will also host weekend screenings of documentary films featuring senior Taiwanese artists — such as Lin Yu-shan (林玉山), Chen Chin (陳進), Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波), and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖) — on May 25 and 26, and June 1 and 2. The opening event on May 23 will also feature Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun, who is currently visiting the US.
Visit the Taipei Cultural Center in New York's site for more information: ny.us.taiwan.culture.tw