“The Thundering Fame of Color Ink Painting—Du Deng-yin 95-year-old Retrospective Exhibition” was grandly held by National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Ministry of Culture, at its Chungshan National Gallery from June 20 to July 28, and the opening ceremony was held at 1:30 PM on June 21.
Besides the collection of more than hundred Du Deng-yin’s large and small great works reflecting his rich life, this time “The Thundering Fame of Color Ink Painting—Du Deng-yin 95-year-old Retrospective Exhibition” also includes his teaching scripts and diverse sketching scripts, which present Du Deng-yin’s artistic achievement and his contribution to the promotion of art and cultural education in Taiwan.
The senior famous ink painter, Du Deng-yin, was born in Yuan Dong Village, Jimo, Shandong, in 1927. After retiring from the army in 1970, he made a living by teaching painting and selling paintings. He gave classes at the corporations such as Taiwan Railways Administration, National Museum of History, Taiwan Fertilizer Co. Ltd., and Li Ming Cultural Enterprise Co. Ltd., guiding many ink painting lovers without the fine arts educational background into the world of flower and bird painting. He has kept teaching until 2019, engaging in fine arts education for a long time and having students all over the world.
Today (June 21) Deputy Minister of Culture, Peng Jun-heng, was present on behalf of Minister Lee Yung-te and expressed the sincere respect and gratitude to Mr. Du for devoting his life to fine arts education and contributing deeply to the solid foundation and development of ink art in Taiwan through apprenticeship. Deputy Minister Peng said Ministry of Culture has been devoted to reconstructing Taiwan art history and constructing the complete art and cultural ecology to support the artists’ creation so that there will be more diverse development in the art environment of Taiwan that shows the uniqueness of art creation in Taiwan. Besides actively gathering, collecting, and exhibiting the works of the Taiwanese artists in the national museums, the local governments and civilian groups are also encouraged to explore more about the local art creation, research, and interpretation. Ministry of Culture will continue to collaborate with the different industries to reconstruct Taiwan art history so that more Taiwanese artists’ stories will be seen by the world.
Director-general of National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Liang Yung-fei, said the success of the exhibition has to be attributed to the support from the Du family and the great assistance of Mr. Du’s student, Chen Bo-nan, and other disciples. He also expressed the gratitude to the curator, Prof. Xiong Yi-jing, for his instruction and participation. Mr. Du has made us deeply feel that the greatness of one man’s life neither lies in the fame nor in the wealth but the devotion of life to his own likes, interest, career, and passion. Through the down-to-earth practice not affected by fame and wealth, one can cultivate the clean and pure mind and elevated character in the plain, ordinary, simple, and peaceful life. A brush paints an extraordinary life.
Director-general Liang has proposed the following interpretations of the exhibition and the artist, Mr. Du:
1. “He spends a half of his life holding guns and the other half of life holding brushes.” However, his brushes are sharper than guns. The momentum expressed with a brush outweighs thousands of soldiers and horses: Mr. Du was born in Yuan Dong Village, Jimo, Shandong, in 1927. When he was eighteen, he joined the army by responding to “Ten Thousand Youths, Ten Thousands Soldiers.” In 1949, he moved to Taiwan with the troops in 1949. He served as a drawing officer in the army, and he refused promotion for many times so that he could concentrate on painting until he left the army at the age of 44. He made a living by mounting paintings and running a gallery. He followed the masters, Hu Ke-min, Yu Zhong-lin, Yao Meng-gu, and Ren Bo-wu. In 1977, he held the first exhibition at National Museum of History. After 43 years, this time the exhibition is held in the national art venue, Chungshan National Gallery. One can hold a major exhibition for his beloved painting after 43 years of waiting. Only Mr. Du has such patience in the art circle.
2. Mr. Du’s connection with the hall started with the co-painting of the great work: The co-painted great work, “Pine and Cypress in Spring,” of National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall has a history of forty years. Recommended by the convener, Dean Luo Zheng-xian, in 2019, he accepted the invitation of the hall to join the co-painting of the great work “Taiwan Scenery” featuring the representative Taiwanese scenes with ten contemporary famous ink painters. Mr. Du, at a ripe age of 93, joined the painting in good spirits, painting several camellia flowers on the lower right corner of the picture with the powerful strokes and elegant ink colors. The co-painting has facilitated the beautiful thing and unveiled Mr. Du’s contribution to ink art in Taiwan. Therefore, we invite Mr. Du to hold an exhibition at Chungshan National Gallery.
3. Appreciate the character, and appreciate the paintings. The elegance and integrity can be felt in the art works: Mr. Du cherishes his works even more than wealth and life. With genius, hard work, and humanity, he takes the righteous way, shows loyalty, and keeps chivalry, perseverance, and strength. At the same time, he gets along with the world and people harmoniously, and therefore he can see, realize, and endure what others can’t. He proposes four creative concepts: physics, property, state, and feeling, painting the lively and vivid world of creatures by integrating the objective appearances and the subjective feelings. He also proposes the three principles of innovation, “new atmosphere,” “new material,” and “new technique.” He reflects on himself and paints every day, making innovations each and every day to make advances and looking at the world with his perspective. Everything he sees can be the endless inspiration used by him.
4. His art achievement is like the thunder after long reticence: The title of the exhibition “thundering fame” comes from the horizontal scroll given by the famous ink calligrapher, Yao Meng-gu, to Mr. Du Deng-yin, “Yuan Mo Lei Sheng Zhi Lu (Dwelling of Thunder after Reticence).” It originates from “Zai You” of Zhuangzi, “Appear like a dragon from a listless life. The thunder sounds after reticence.” Mr. Du is reticent but impresses people deeply like an abyss. After the long accumulation of the calligraphy and painting abilities, the shocking energy is expressed like the thunder. The humble gentleman never shows off his talents and always keeps the virtues and stayed reserved and discreet, avoiding faults to enjoy eternal peach and health. He is convinced that the endless reticence will contribute to the lasting thunder.
5. Look back on the past 95 years and leave assets behind: The exhibition collects more than one hundred Mr. Du’s great creative works. Besides more than one hundred splendid large and small works all over his life, it also includes the teaching scripts and the diverse sketching scripts to have an overall presentation of Mr. Du’s artistic achievements and his contribution to the promotion of art and cultural education in Taiwan. The exhibition includes 99 ink works, 4 calligraphy works, 47 seals, 6 painting volumes, 10 sketching books, 3 early imitation documents, 24 painting scripts, and 41 photos. The largest work is “Life Returns,” and the smallest work is “Kong Rong Shares the Pears.” We sincerely invite the art lovers to share with us.
The curator, Prof. Xiong Yi-jing, expressed the gratitude to Mr. Du for leaving us such abundant art works and such complete creative experience. The most important part of the retrospective exhibition is to remind the young men who intend to engage in art creation that there is no shortcut for art and art can’t be achieved in a flash through Mr. Du’s pursuit for art and the process of practice for all life. On by sticking to the earnest attitude of marching forward bravely and reproducing the deep and solid foundation of the basic ink style can a real artist fulfill the dream. For the public, they can also deeply understand the true meaning of “making art close to life and making life close to art.”
To promote culture and art and respond to the exhibition theme, the exhibition also specially invited Prof. Luo Zheng-xian, Prof. Huang Zhi-yang, Prof. Liu Xiao-ling, and the curator Prof. Xiong Yi-jing to the symposium, “Mr. Du Deng-yin’s Art Contribution” held at Chungshan Lecture Hall at 2:30PM on the opening day.
For more information, please visit the website of National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall www.yatsen.gov.tw or call the service counter of the hall (02)27588008, ext. 545, 546.