Refined in Form

This unit examines how artists translated the presentation techniques, form, and style of their fine art practice — with all the aesthetic sensibility these entail — into functional applied design, exploring the relationship between artistic form and aesthetic refinement as it moves between fine art and applied design. Guided by the principle of "fine arts as the core, design as the application," Taiwanese artists of this period pursued pure artistic creation while simultaneously producing applied design work — leaving behind a wealth of historical material in the form of picture postcards, posters, book covers, and interior illustrations, all of which constitute indispensable building blocks for the reconstruction of Taiwanese art history. As many original works of fine art and design from this early period have not survived, it is through printed applied design that these traces endure. By working backwards from this body of design material, richer and more diverse lost treasures of modern Taiwanese art history are brought to light.

During the Japanese colonial period, Ishikawa Kinichiro, Shiotsuki Toho, Gobara Koto, and Kinoshita Seigai played central roles in advancing Taiwanese art through two landmark exhibitions: the Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition (Taiten) and the Taiwan Governor-General's Fine Arts Exhibition (Futen). This unit places the catalogues of these two exhibitions alongside those of their metropolitan Japanese counterparts — the Ministry of Education Art Exhibition (Bunten) and the Imperial Academy of Arts Exhibition (Teiten) — allowing viewers to observe the striking similarities between the two sets of catalogues and trace the profound influence of Japanese art institutions on the development of art in Taiwan. Also recovered for this exhibition are surviving picture postcards by Ishikawa Toraji, Yazaki Chiyoji (1872–1947), Misako Seishu (dates unknown), and Ato Shuichiro (1888–1972), helping to fill the gaps that remain in Taiwanese art history. Ishikawa Kinichiro's watercolors alongside his cover designs for the Taiwan Times; Lin Yu-shan's Improved Sugarcane Cultivation and his Zoological Classification Charts — all offer a glimpse into the equal care and commitment these artists brought to both their fine art and their applied design work.