展覽說明

「墨韵詩情．氣韻風華」－ 李奇茂、歐豪年、楊英風聯展
文 / 何堯智（英國東倫敦大學藝術創作博士．國立臺灣藝術大學書畫藝術學系專任教授）

「當代藝術並非描繪，而是關於哲學！」－ 沃爾許 David Walsh

1990 年以降當代藝術思潮興起，儘管蘇聯解體、香港回歸中國等國際政治與亞洲金融風暴的劇變，以及後現代藝術主流的物換星移，「1997 年」卻是個讓人永遠忘不了的年份，而應邀加拿大溫哥華精藝軒畫廊（Art Beatus Gally）的「當代中西藝術四家聯展－李奇茂、歐豪年、楊英風、吳炫三」，亦是一個臺灣美術史可以紀念的年代。

自1992 年「第一屆中華民國畫廊博覽會」的成功舉辦，直至1995年畫廊博覽會從臺灣區域性活動，首次跨足國際藝術市場，讓臺灣藝術家也因此有更多機會在國外的商業畫廊藝術市場進行交流，以「TAF'95 臺北國際藝術博覽會」營造超越展覽的國際化藝術視野（臺灣參展畫廊為62 家，國際參展畫廊17 家）。然而，長期以來香港一直是亞洲藝術市場的樞紐，著名的香港本土畫廊「精藝軒」成立於1992 年，不僅帶動香港建立藝術文化的欣賞和包容不同形式的藝術表現，1996 年畫廊主席梁潔華博士於加拿大溫哥華所建構的「梁潔華藝術基金會」開設的第二間「精藝軒」，有系統的支持華人藝術家作品及提升國際藝壇地位，並致力中西文化藝術交流，推廣華人當代藝術不遺餘力。

「越在地，越國際！」1970年代臺灣的鄉土文學運動，間接引動藝術家們關照鄉土美術思潮。然而，當臺灣鄉土美術運動盛行之時，西方藝術新興思潮歐普藝術（op art）、低限藝術（minimal art）及後繪畫性抽象post-painterly abstraction圖騰符號相繼呈現。藝術家們如何將區域性的文化刻痕、地方性的人文生活與國際進行對話，展現其作品具備文化自覺的民族性、媒材語彙的豐富性以及美學哲思的時代性。在1997年隨著轉瞬即逝的20世紀，東方藝術家們與美學研究的當代主題趨勢，朝向尋求人與自然、人與社會、人與自身文化之間的關係。誠如國立國父紀念館前館長高崇雲先生為「當代中西藝術四家聯展」應邀赴溫哥華精藝軒畫廊展出之前，於中山畫廊舉行聯展付梓專輯序文所言：「當代巨擘－李奇茂、歐豪年、楊英風、吳炫三，四位名家在他們的創作領域各擅所長，非但在國內均享盛名，而且皆受國際藝壇重視，更是將中華文藝的光輝普照於國際藝壇的大師級藝術家。」新時代文藝工作者需把優質藝術創作力和傳統底蘊的價值力，積澱融合戮力弘揚中華文化的生命力。

回顧「當代中西藝術四家聯展」之臺灣名家展覽，具有多重意義。在這個展覽的觀者走進賞析的，不只是不同年齡藝術家們在個人從早期至當下的創作，更宛若走進二戰後1951 年以來直到1997 年臺灣美術發展史的一頁。筆者試做三點略述分析如下：

一、視覺藝術形式的美學內容：

視覺藝術即是藝術家運用物質材料創造出具有形式特徵的觀看對象，而視覺藝術形式亦傳達了藝術家透過所思與所見，藉媒材為載體介入呈現感知的形態。「當代中西藝術四家聯展」展覽的作品，涵蓋了平面版畫、水墨、油畫及立體雕塑多元媒材的美學呈現。享譽國際水墨畫巨擘李奇茂（1925 ~ 2019）的藝術，體現了「微觀．宏想」的視覺文化意識與時代新美學價值，不論是橫掃千軍、層疊墨趣的巨幅大帳；或是墨線勾勒、象外情境的斗方小品，皆能賦予玄墨、微妙的感動。

嶺南畫派傳承與創新的歐豪年（1935 ~ 2024），同精藝軒畫廊主席的梁潔華（1934~）皆師從趙少昂大師習畫，而歐豪年善畫、善書、善詩，筆墨淋漓，大氣酣暢的山水畫作，創構在「似中求意」闡明山水畫中的真趣與意境，以客觀景物作主觀
情思的象徵，亦為「情」與「景」（意象）的渾融為一。尤其在山水、人物及走獸畫的彩繪表現上，能否再現實境並不重要，重要的是用適當的筆墨涵養、技法、語言、線質營造出意蘊深邃的境界。

臺灣現代雕塑的拓荒者楊英風（1926 ~ 1997），創作風格獨樹一幟，不僅將東方傳統美學與西方現代主義巧妙融合；且全方位的在平面版畫藝術及立體造形雕塑作品上成功地展現了中國文化底蘊，氣勢磅礡抽象幾何的不銹鋼景觀雕塑，透過霧面與亮面曲凹映射著天光環影，洗練簡潔的刀勢線痕表徵著儒道精神，天人相應、陰陽虛實的哲思與美學觀。

為追求生命力起源而履跡遍歷世界，多次深入非洲、南美洲寫生的臺灣藝術家吳炫三（1942 ~），以自然圖騰為元素，呈現熾情能量爆發的原始藝術，令觀者深刻感受其強烈的色彩、筆調對比及生態造形的奔放狂野。因加拿大卑斯省的溫哥華與臺灣皆相同擁有原住民族鮮明的圖騰符號，從吳炫三「紅、黑、白」粗獷勁筆的疊彩油畫表現，讓不同國度區域觀者賞析暨凝視著人文反思，一方是追求抽象，一方是追求具象，雖然兩地藝術家擇選的材質、風格及象徵寓意皆不相同，但創作者的主觀思維和情感賦予，卻影響力深遠。

二、視覺藝術形式的情意內容：

藝術形式由藝術家所創造，其情意內容為藝術家創作時的心境、情感、意興、美學涵養及個人感知的特徵表現。

東方中國水墨繪畫相傳始於唐朝，成於五代，興盛於宋元，明清文人畫及近代以來續為發展至今，其行筆用墨濡染厚薄的獨立特性，不僅是一種展現繪畫語言的方式，同時亦是一種強化民族精神的載體。唐．孫過庭（648～709）於《書譜》寫道：「窮變態於毫端，合情調於紙上。」窮變態，極盡字體線形筆態力度變化於筆端；合情調，敏銳融合記錄畫者情感意緒於紙上。因此，「筆墨」一直被視為中國繪畫的核心，墨象氣韻傳達著畫家的文化素養，筆簡清逸體現著豐富的內蘊變化，活墨有光寄寓著濃厚的抒情浪漫。誠如李奇茂大師認為：「藝術源⾃⽣活，⽣命本質的事才是真正觸動⼈⼼的，唯有把⽂化融⼊畫中裡，⼼印感動才會出來。」閱讀李大師的每一幅畫，都是他對宏觀宇宙自然、微觀人生感受的詮釋，不僅含蘊人文情懷生命的靈魂，亦是令人驚艷藝趣無窮的時代感。

嶺南畫派以「折衷中外，融合古今」為標榜，其方法則是「師法自然，重視寫生。」即是將寫生過程進行鍛鍊筆墨與熟悉造形之法；而歐豪年具有深厚學養，書與畫皆出於自學，從寫生、寫意創造到追求自然的精神所在與藝術境界的自然造化。賞析歐大師的山水、人物、走獸畫作及寫境抒情狂放咨肆字體造形美的即興詩作，流露著人與天地交融，空靈而意遠，優美而隽永。因此，日本藝評家植村鷹千代（1911~ 1998）推崇讚譽：「歐⽒畫作在表現近代感中，更使⼈感到中國⼈的豪邁與莊嚴。」故歐大師亦自謙：「我的畫，就是呈現歐豪年的個性、⽣命，要⽤中國的筆墨，畫出中國的⽂學，中國的學術思想與趣味」。

雕塑是具有長、寬及高之造形藝術。義大利美學家貝里德托．克羅齊（Benedetto Croce,1866~1952）名言：「藝術是⼀種直覺。Art as intuition」亦是一種孕育著美好造形的情緒。因此，雕塑的形成即是藝術家必須思考其展示之空間、質感及量體的連結。出生臺灣宜蘭日治時期的楊英風，先後受業於中國北平（輔仁大學美術系）、日本東京（東京美術學校建築科）及臺灣臺北（台灣師大藝術系）等三地名師暨人文的薰陶，二戰結束後因前往山西大同雲岡石窟賞遊，深受「魏晉美學」、「佛像雕刻」及中國傳統文化經典和書法線質藝術的影響，間接引領作品表現由具象提煉走向意象，又將充滿動感和韻律的抽象語彙，概括儒道精神注入多元媒材與雷射藝術的呈現；這種具象與抽象的形式融合，使得楊大師的作品既具觀念性，又具視覺衝擊力。

三、視覺藝術形式的貢獻內容：

從1969年國軍新文藝輔導委員會出版李奇茂恭繪的〈國民生活須知〉、1971年國立歷史博物館特邀展覽的〈國父畫傳〉、1981 年與國立歷史博物館策劃的182x6608公分巨幅〈寶島長春圖〉及1984年180x6600公分的〈抗戰八年國史圖〉長卷、2002 年〈赤壁賦〉、2012 年〈北淡捷運〉、2019 年〈天馬〉；李奇茂終身奉獻水墨畫與美育薪傳的神聖任務，以及積極熱忱推動東方媒材的水墨畫於國際文化交流貢獻，特別將「臺灣采風」系列的水墨藝術形式表現，傳達自己對這塊長居數十年土地的熱愛，藉由將各種社會現象與人生百態賦予（connote）意義而轉向建構隱喻（metaphor）的目的–文化思想脈絡中跨界時代語境與研究的整合，猶如呈現我們所處臺灣歷史現狀最明暸的文獻。實足值得做為後輩晚生們學習的風範，尤其大師常鼓勵學生以造境取代陳腐題材來振興當代東方水墨藝術的新視野，並以「藝術可以把握技術，技術不可把握藝術」的教學理念賜予學生分享。亦誠如黃光男博士特別為2012 年第七屆中國高唐書畫博覽會暨李奇茂美術館開館撰文《筆墨天地人間事 — 李奇茂畫展記》文中所說：

李奇茂承繼了中華⽂化的傳承，並開拓東⽅繪畫美學的新境界，不論在⾃我實踐上有明確⼜精采的繪畫創作，或是教育上引領臺灣⽔墨畫⾵格的形成，以泱泱⼤度的畫⾵記載半世紀以來的⽔墨畫藝術發展，都是值得推崇與表彰的對象。對於⼀位開創臺灣⾵格的藝術創作者，李奇茂該是納川於海，泰⼭迎⽇的⾧者，也是畫壇不屈不撓的勇者。

近代荷蘭人類學家約翰尼斯．法比安（Johannes Fabian, 1937~）提出了「視覺主義」（Visualism）的定義：「將⼀種⽂化或社會予以視覺化的能⼒」。換言之，社會因時代而發生變遷，時代變遷卻源於文化嬗變；李大師自一九七○年歐遊返國後，特別強調中國畫必具中國情，若欲將當代東方水墨畫造就成蔚為壯觀的文化景觀，唯有主張「繪畫的民族性」、「人文的時代性」及「視覺的獨創性」三者內在深層的相互關連、相互影響及相互促進。

筆墨是東方水墨畫最可貴的情感表徵，它不僅呈現繪畫藝術的形式語言，還承載了中華民族審美哲理的修身與視覺記憶的情趣。藝術家山水與花鳥意象思維的創作過程，即是筆在墨在、墨在筆在，筆和墨相互交疊、相互為用所予以的「氣韻生動」及「遷想妙得」，進而成就了中國美學史上極其重要的範疇。「氣韻生動」如同藝術創作者表達出形象內部「生命的節奏」，然「遷想妙得」憑藉藝術創作者想像遷入對象內部「思想的情感」。

歐豪年十七歲師從於嶺南名師趙少昂，不僅繼承了嶺南畫派的精髓，而且在傳統與現代之間架起了一座橋樑；以攝情之筆，寫山川神韻，將寫生之法的所見、所知、所想鎔鑄成詩意盎然的胸中丘壑而訴諸筆墨：或淋漓滿紙大氣磅礡，或蘊藉秀雅蕭散簡遠，集眾美而有象，寫意境而無窮。因此，創作了大量為人們所喜愛且具時代氣息的山水、人物、走獸畫作。當再次觀看閱讀歐大師的畫作時，猶如浮現一種說不上來的凝視，清新明快的題跋憶寫，墨跡與朱紅鈐印組成的線性「符號」，讓東方水墨畫中景、情、詩、趣的融合美學形式，轉換為引導視覺閱讀、調整重心而同感畫家思想和凝結畫家的藝術見解，讓觀者激起感通藝術創作者「得於象外」的生命律動，為臺灣的書畫藝術革新發展作出了卓越的貢獻，提升東方水墨藝術的國際影響力。

雕塑製作的過程，如同將原來任意的存在形式，改變呈現一種理想的存在形式。然而，楊英風的多元藝術創作，亦隨著平面、立體涵蓋著「形象」、「意象」、「意念」及「觀念」四個時期的演變。1970年配合日本大阪世界博覽會中國館而設計的巨型雕塑〈鳳凰來儀〉為楊英風的代表作之一，以其巨大的體量和抽象的造形，成為臺灣公共藝術景觀雕塑的經典。作品以鳳凰的形象，象徵中華民族的復興，同時也表達了對和平與繁榮的祈願。作品〈山魂〉以山為主題，表現了臺灣山川的雄偉壯麗。作品採用不鏽鋼材質，通過簡潔的線條和光滑的表面，營造出山峰的堅韌與力量。設計〈金馬獎〉獎座，以仰首奔馬的形象，表現了演藝人員生命的活力與無限的可能。楊大師的作品常常強調空間感。他善於探索虛實相生、留白等手法，營造出深邃而神秘的空間氛圍。而這種空間感不僅體現在作品的內部，也體現在人與空間，人與人之間所帶來更多的思考與互動之中。

輔仁大學自1925年由美國本篤會於北京創辦，至1964年在臺復校。楊英風以北平輔仁大學校友身份陪同于斌主教前往梵諦岡覲見教宗若望保祿六世，感謝羅馬教廷支持輔仁大學在臺復校，此後便留在義大利近三年多的時間，於此時第一手接觸西方現代藝術的思潮，並開啟了以不鏽鋼為創作媒材，於40 不惑之歲數的1965 年完成首件〈歡迎訪問的太陽〉。然而，歐豪年與輔仁大學的緣分始於1960 年期間捐賑畫作義賣募款，他不僅支持于斌總主教為輔大在臺復校籌募基金，並於2012年起擔任輔仁大學駐校藝術家， 2014年獲頒名譽博士，2019年慨捐50 多幅畫作於輔大成立「歐豪年美術館」。另外，李奇茂早年亦曾受于斌樞機總主教力邀，赴教廷參與文化藝術交流，所以與輔大淵源匪淺。2014年獲頒名譽博士，且同時於大力支持輔大附設醫院興建計畫，提供畫作供義賣之餘，並授權經典作品作為「輔大附設醫院開工紀念酒」包裝，也揮毫勾勒一幅名為《築願》的輔大醫院外觀畫作以茲紀念，2017年輔仁大學附設醫院正式啟用。2022年成立李奇茂數位美術館。

時光飛逝，如今李奇茂、歐豪年及楊英風三位大師皆已仙遊，回顧前次的攜手聯展時間，也已經跨越超過了四分之一個世紀。2025年適逢輔大百年之際，輔大藝術中心特別策展「墨韵詩情．氣韻風華」－ 李奇茂、歐豪年、楊英風聯展，期盼大師們的作品再次地重現超凡脫俗、精彩內斂的大度風範。

後記－

1997 年適逢加拿大APEC 高峰會「亞太年」，在櫻花盛開季節的市中心，距離溫哥華美術館不到百公尺的「精藝軒」舉行「當代中西藝術四家聯展」－李奇茂、歐豪年、楊英風、吳炫三。此次四位大師級藝術家的展覽不僅被譽為聲勢彷彿世界級三大男高音多明哥、卡列拉斯及帕華洛帝等在溫哥華的聯袂演唱會，亦是加拿大西岸首次集結東方美學頂級藝術家們的齊聚。

當日與會開幕貴賓有來自加拿大政要、經辦處長官，華商會長及議員。另有學術界著名漢學家博士王健教授（Jan Walls）, 溫哥華華人藝術家協會創會會長暨顧問周士心教授1923~2021、謝琰教授1936~2018、理事長鄭勝天（精藝軒藝術顧問暨策展人）及華裔書畫家黎沃文1949~2013、胡玲達1938~2014、雕塑家程樹人及書篆名家陳風子1912~2008、李光啟，台灣旅加藝術家姜宗望1930~2017、梁丹美、張俊傑、周澄1941~2022、羅世長及藝專加西校友盧月鉛、傅尚芬、王海蘋、潘建中、葉玉霞、何堯智⋯⋯，亦有遠從北美西雅圖前來共襄盛舉的畫會代表與喜愛四位大師作品的藝術家們。於展覽前後期間同時旅駐溫哥華的嶺南畫家楊善深1913~2004、關山月1912~2000、司徒乃鍾、盧清遠等，兩岸三地名家也隨著歷史的機運互融交流，心靈契合。且展覽呈現匯集了二戰後至當代時期臺灣四家的藝術精品，相信讓北美地區藝術的愛好者對臺灣人文采風與東方美學意境為之難忘。

百代過客，上個世紀末的「四家聯展」重量展演，綜觀其各大師之創作獨特藝術的表現形式，博大精深，源遠流長在時代觀者視覺記憶與生命記憶之中；而承上所列之藝術家們雖已多半仙逝，但他們在藝事的天性、探索及學養，視野寬廣，貢獻卓著。故而這場「抒懷暢藝，情聚雲城（Vancouver）」的章篇，也應該被閃耀載入藝術史冊。

Poetic Passion and Artistic Splendor: The Joint Exhibition of Masters Chi-Mao Li, Ho-Nien Au and Yuyu Yang

Yao-Chih Ho
D.F.A., University of East London/Professor, Department of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, National Taiwan University of Arts

“Contemporary art is not about depiction, but about philosophy.”
—David Walsh

The 1990s was an era of the great rising of contemporary art. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the handover of Hong Kong, the Asian Financial Crisis, and the changing paradigm of modern and postmodern art, 1997 is an unforgettable year. The year also marked a major breakthrough in Taiwanese art history because Art Beatus Gallery in Vancouver, Canada, inaugurated “A Joint Exhibition by Four Taiwan Masters: Li Chi-mao, Au Ho-nien, Yang Yu-yu and Wu A-sun.”
With the storming success of the Art Galleries Fair of ROC held in Taipei in 1992, the Fair, which was originally a local event in Taiwan, tapped into the international art market in 1995 with Taipei Art Fair International TAF’95 and introduced works of Taiwanese artists to international commercial galleries. In addition, with the participation of 62 Taiwanese galleries and 17 international galleries, TAF’95 helped broaden the horizon of art. For a long time, Hong Kong has been the center of the art market in Asia. The renowned Art Beatus Gallery, which was established by Dr. Annie Wong Leung Kit-wah in 1992, stimulated cultural appreciation and refined the taste for different art forms. In 1996, Dr. Leung established the second Art Beatus Gallery in Vancouver, Canada, with funding from Annie Wong Art Foundation to more systematically promote the reputation of Chinese artists in the international art market as well as encourage exchanges between Chinese and Western arts. She has contributed significantly to raising the prominence of Chinese artists.
“The more local, the more international” The Nativistic Movement of Taiwanese Literature in the 1970s inspired artists to reflect on their aesthetics and rediscover the artworks born locally at home. Concurrently, the art world in the West embraced radical developments of op art, minimal art, and post-painterly abstraction. Artists who wanted to create works that engaged in dialogues between local cultural characters, regional spirit, and trends on the international stage were directly challenged. They had to balance between national character, artistic media and vocabularies, and the evolving aesthetic philosophy. At the fin de siècle, artists in the East and the modernist movement in contemporary aesthetics tended to explore the relationships between humans and nature, society, and their own cultures. Before its exhibition at Beatus Gallery in Vancouver, Canada, “A Joint Exhibition by Four Taiwan Masters: Li Chi-mao, Au Ho-nien, Yang Yu-yu and Wu A-sun” was shown first at the National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. Dr. Tsun-yun Kao, former Director of the Memorial Hall, remarked in his preface to the exhibition album, “These four artists excel in different forms of art. They are not only famous in Taiwan but are highly respected in the international art circle. They are also the masters who have shed the light of Chinese art and culture upon the international art stage.” Artists of the new era should work on consolidating their own creativity and values embedded in traditional Chinese culture to manifest the vitality of their artistic creations.
Revisiting “A Joint Exhibition by Four Taiwan Masters,” I found multiple layers of meanings. The audience who walked into the exhibition not only had a chance to appreciate the artworks of different generations of artists but also their works created at different stages of their lives. The exhibition epitomized the historic development of Taiwanese art from the post-war era of the 1950s to 1997. In the following, I would like to re-examine the exhibition from three perspectives:
1. The Aesthetic Content of Visual Art Forms:
Visual arts involve artists creating objects with formalistic features by using different materials or media, and they also convey what the artists think and perceive. The physical materials used become the vessel, which carry their mental and sensual perception. The works presented at “A Joint Exhibition by Four Taiwan Masters” include prints, traditional ink-and-brush paintings, oil paintings, and sculptures. Internationally acclaimed ink-and-brush master Chi-Mao Li 1925–2019 represented the visual culture and the new aesthetics of “Microcosmic View and Macrocosmic Outlook.” Both the large-scale works with radical brushing and intricate layering and the minuscule works with refined outlining and extraterrestrial miniatures encapsulate moving power for the audience.
Like the President of Beatus Gallery, Dr. Annie Wong Leung Kit-wah, Ho-nien Au 1935–2024 also studied with Shao-an Chao, and their works bear the trademark of Lingnan School. Ho-nien Au excelled in painting, calligraphy, and poetry and is especially known for his energetic and vigorous landscape paintings. His works are structured upon simulacrum, which seeks to express understanding of true pleasure and aesthetic perception. The objective sceneries serve as symbols for the artist when the feelings and spectacles in the landscapes are to be fused as one. Whether landscape, portrait, or animal paintings, the utmost important aspect is to adequately exercise the techniques, modes, and lines with pen and ink to render life to the profoundly complex world.
Yuyu Yang 1926–1997, the forerunner in contemporary sculptural art, established a unique personal style by fusing traditional oriental aesthetics and the Western modern art movement. He is a well-rounded artist whose works include prints as well as three-dimensional sculptures, which eloquently demonstrate the beauty of Chinese culture. With the alternating use of glossy and matte surfaces, the curved exterior reflecting the environment, and precise and simple cutting, his steel sculptural works speak of the spirit of Confucianism. His aesthetics features dialogues between heaven and earth as well as between the virtual and the real.
To search for the origin of the vitality of life, A-Sun Wu 1942– traveled deep into tribal regions in Africa and South America for artistic inspiration. Basic elements for his creation include totems from nature, primitive art of exuberant energy, use of intense colors, sharp contrasts, as well as wild and unrestricted figures. As the Province of British Columbia and Taiwan both have rich indigenous cultural heritage, A-Sun Wu used intense layering of the colors red, black, and white to provoke the audience into penetrating reflection. One seeks abstraction, the other figurative. Even though the materials, style, and meanings chosen by artists in the two countries are worlds apart, the thoughts and feelings expressed through their works are enduring.
2. The Emotional Content of the Visual Art Forms
Artists create works to express their emotions, feelings, intentions, aesthetics, as well as their personal insights.
Eastern ink-painting found its root in the Tang Dynasty, matured during the Five Dynasties, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and continued to unfold during the Ming and Qing dynasties and into contemporary time. The art form, formulated upon the exquisite command over thin or thick inking, not only contains a completely different set of artistic vocabularies and techniques but also serves as a strong vessel of national identity. The influential Tang Calligrapher Sun Guo-ting 648–709 remarked in Shu Pu literally, “Treatise on Calligraphy” that “the artist must reach the artistic effect by showing the rich changes of the ink on the tip of brush pen to match the rhythm on paper.” Therefore, ink and pen are often seen as the core of Chinese painting because the spirit of the ink is identical to the cultural literacy of the artist; the simplicity and precision accommodate variations, and the rhythmic inking subsumes lyrical feelings. As Master Chi-mao Li proposed, “Art must originate from life. It is the very essence of life which can be emotionally moving for the audience. And it is not until culture is incorporated into the paintings that the works can emote.” Each and every painting by Master Li embodies his macrocosmic view of nature and universe as well as his microscopic interpretations of his lived experience. Therefore, these works portray the soul of humanism and possess stunning marks of time.
The benchmark of Lingnan School is “to reconcile between the East and West and to integrate the old and new,” and its methodology is “to learn from nature and to master life drawing.” It is a training process that aims at practicing the use of pen and ink and at familiarizing the method of figuration. Master Ho-nien Au is equipped with profound learning and cultivation, and his calligraphy and painting are based upon his solid training. His sketches from nature and freehand brush works pursue the spirit of nature and the sublimity of art. To appreciate the landscapes, portraits, animals, and the unrestrained lyrical beauty of his calligraphy, we almost experience the communion of heaven and earth and the ethereal and the eternal. Uemura Chiyoda 1911–1998, the highly esteemed Japanese art critic, praised Master Au, saying, “It is in his works which express a sense of modernity that make people feel all the more acutely the boldness and solemnity of the Chinese people.” Thus, the master humbly said, “My paintings disclose the personality, the life stories of Ho-nien Au. I use the Chinese pen and ink to delineate Chinese literature, Chinese academic discipline, and merriment.”
Sculptural art operates in the three dimensions of height, width, and depth. The Italian aesthetician Benedetto Croce 1866–1952 said “art as intuition” and thus, it is emotion which nourishes beautiful forms. Consequently, the formation of sculptures involves the artists penetrating the correlations between display space, materiality, as well as volume. Born in Yilan, Taiwan, during the Japanese Colonial period, Yuyu Yang received art education, first in the Department of Art at Fu Jen Catholic University in Beijing, then the Department of Architecture at Tokyo University of the Arts, and the Department of Art at National Taiwan Normal University. After the end of World War II, he made an excursion to Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province, and was immediately enchanted by the aesthetics of the Northern Wei dynasty, the Buddhist sculptures, and the linear art of classical Chinese calligraphy. The exposure inspired him so profoundly that he abandoned the figurative to favor the abstract. With dynamic and rhythmic use of abstract artistic vocabularies, he instilled the spirit of Confucianism into multimedia and laser artworks. The combination of figurative and abstract forms renders the works of Yuyu Yang with conceptual and visual impact.
3. The Contribution to Visual Art Forms
Throughout his life, Master Chi-Mao Li committed himself to the promotion of ink-and-brush paintings and the mission to pass on the heritage of Chinese art. His fervor and devotion in introducing Chinese ink-and-brush to a greater international audience is especially lauded. “A Collection of Taiwanese Miens” presents the local colors of life in Taiwan through artworks of ink-and-brush expressing the ardent love he felt for the land he lived in for decades. His portrayals of the myriads of social impressions and personal encounters become metaphors—through the integration of cross-disciplinary and transcendental media of art and research within the cultural context, his works are the most faithful documents which reflect the Taiwanese society of our time. Chi-Mao Li established himself as a role model for the new generation of art students, inspiring them to create new context instead of dwelling on insipid subject matters in order to broaden the horizon for oriental art. “Art should be in command, not techniques” is the motto that he cherished and shared with students.
Johannes Fabian 1937–, the contemporary anthropologist from the Netherlands, developed the theory of visualism, which he defines as “the ability to visualize a culture or a society.” In other words, society changes because of time, and time changes originate from those of culture. After Master Li returned to Taiwan from Europe, he came to understand the significance of local culture for an artist, so he emphasized, “Chinese paintings must express Chinese sentiments.” If we want to expand the cultural landscape of eastern ink-and-brush paintings, we can only achieve it by advocating “the nationalism in paintings, the sense of time of humanism, and the originality in visual effects”; these three aspects are interrelated with mutual influence and promotion.
Chinese ink-and-brush is characterized by its capacity to express sentiments, which not only displays the formal language for the art of painting but also represents the national aesthetics composed of personal formation and visual memories. For Chinese artists, the creative process for painting landscapes or flora and fauna involves the interwoven layerings of pen and ink. The mutual interactions generate rhythmic vitality and imaginative thoughts, which ultimately constitute the most important paradigm of art in Chinese art history. Whereas rhythmic vitality resembles the internal tempo of life of objects portrayed by the artists, imaginative thoughts involve feelings which the artists instill into the objects.
Ho-nien Au was apprenticed to the renowned Lingnan School Artist Shao-Ang Chao at the age of 17. He has not only inherited the true spirit of Lingnan School but also served as a bridge between tradition and modernity. With his impassioned pens, he was able to capture the stamina of mountains and rivers. With sketches of what he saw, felt, and thought, he was able to cast the exuberant poetry in his heart into his ink-and-brush works. Either colossal works or exquisite miniatures, his paintings assemble the beauty embedded in the imageries of objects and seize upon inexhaustible prehension. He has created a large number of landscapes, portraits, and animals which were inscribed with the style of his era and were very popular with the audience. The experience of revisiting the works of Master Au is to be shrouded by an unspeakable gaze. The compositional arrangement of rapid inscriptions and postscripts, the linear symbols composed of black inks and vermillion seals unveiling the oriental aesthetics, brings scenery, sentiments, poetry, and pleasure into one. It transforms into a pilot guiding visual interpretation, escorting viewers to enter into the world of condensed thoughts of the artist, which ultimately helps us penetrate into the vital source of the artist. He contributed to the renaissance of the art of calligraphy and Chinese paintings and enhanced the visibility and impact of eastern art on the stage of international art.
The procedure of sculpting involves transforming amorphous mass into an idealized form. Nevertheless, the multifaceted creations of two- and three-dimensional forms encompass a four-stage procedure: form, imagery, idea, and concept. In 1970, “Advent of the Phoenix,” a large-size work created for the Chinese Pavilion at the Japan World Exposition, Osaka, 1970, is one of the most representative works of Yuyu Yang. With its colossal size and abstract form, it became an immediate classic for landscape sculpture of public art. The work, based upon the image of a phoenix, symbolizes the rebirth of the Chinese and expresses the wish for peace and prosperity. “The Soul of the Mountain” centers on the subject of mountains and illustrates the magnificence and sublimity of mountain ranges in Taiwan. Built with stainless steel, the work recreates the resilience and power of the mountains with simple precise lines and well-rounded surfaces. In his design for the trophy of “Golden Horse Award,” he drew upon the image of a galloping horse with its head held tall to denote the vitality and unbounded potential in the lives of actors and performers. Master Yang’s works often emphasize the volume of space. He excels in exploring the interrelations between emptiness, substantiality, and negative space in order to add an ambience of mystery. This sense of space is not only manifested in the exterior form but further pondered from within the work, which ultimately reflects the relationships not only between humans and space, but also those between human beings.
Fu Jen Catholic University was first established in Beijing by the Benedictine monks from the United States in 1925 and was re-established in Taiwan in 1961. In his capacity as a Fu Jen alumnus from Beijing, Yuyu Yang escorted then-Archbishop Paul Yu Pin to the Vatican to thank the authorities of the Vatican for supporting the re-establishment of Fu Jen in Taiwan. They were received by His Holiness Pope Paul VI. After the papal audience, Yuyu Yang stayed in Italy for about three years and came into direct contact with the artistic movement in the Western world for the first time. The exposure initiated him to create artworks using stainless steel. At the age of 40, he completed his first stainless steel sculpture, entitled “Welcome to the Visiting Sun,” in 1965. Ho-Nien Au’s affinity with Fu Jen also began in the early 1960s. When Archbishop Paul Yu Pin started the re-establishment of Fu Jen in Taiwan, there was great financial strain. Master Au organized charitable auctions of his works to raise funds for supporting the endeavor of the Archbishop. The relationship was further strengthened when Master Au started serving as Resident Artist of Fu Jen in 2012, received an honorary doctorate in 2014, and donated 50 paintings and calligraphy to the university for permanent collection and the establishment of the “Ho-Nien Au Museum.” Master Chi-Mao Li was also very much acquainted with Archbishop Paul Yu Pin. At the recommendation of the Archbishop, Master Li was able to participate in international exhibitions at the Vatican. To honor his achievement, Fu Jen Catholic University conferred an honorary doctorate of art upon him in 2014. Master Li was a zealous patron of the Fu Jen hospital construction project. In addition to donating his artworks for charitable sale, he authorized Fu Jen to use his paintings for designs on commemorative liquor bottles. His spontaneous drawing of the yet-to-be-constructed hospital, entitled “Building Hope,” is a treasured piece on display in the Office of the Superintendent after the Hospital opened its doors to serve patients in 2017. In 2022, Fu Jen Catholic University established the digital museum of Chi-Mao Li.
Time flies. Now Chi-Mao Li, Ho-Nien Au, and Yuyu Yang have all passed away. Their last joint exhibition was held more than a quarter of a century ago. Fu Jen Catholic University is celebrating its centennial jubilee in 2025. We are glad that the Center for the Arts of Fu Jen Catholic University curates “Poetic Passion and Artistic Splendor: The Joint Exhibition of Masters Chi-Mao Li, Ho-Nien Au and Yuyu Yang” so that these otherworldly, subdued but captivating classics can be appreciated anew.