Pu Tiansheng (or Pu Tian-shen, Chinese: 蒲添生, 1912.06.19~1996.05.31) was a well-known Taiwanese sculptor. He created Taiwan's first ever likeness of

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

, today on display in front of Taipei

Zhongshan Hall Zhongshan Hall () is a historical building which originally functioned as the Taipei (Taihoku) City Public Auditorium (public hall). It is located at 98 Yanping South Road in the Ximending neighborhood of Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. In 1 ...

. He was a pioneer of modern sculpture in Taiwan, founder of Taiwan's first bronze casting factory.

Early life

Born into a family of traditional painters in 1912, Pu Tiansheng's father Pu Ying ran the Wenjin picture framing shop on Chiayi's Mei Street (renamed Chengren St. after the war). Pu Tiansheng's talents in painting were directly influenced by his childhood environment. At the age of fourteen, his glue color painting ''Gamecock''（''鬥雞''）won first place at the Hsinchu Art Exhibition. In 1929, he joined the Chun-Meng Painting Society established by his neighbor Lin Yushan and Pan Chunyuan, a painter from Tainan. Members of the Chun-Meng Painting Society group were devoted to the study of Oriental painting, and included artists such as Zhu Futing and Xu Qinglian.

Education

In 1931, Pu Tiansheng went to study abroad in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

where he entered the Kawabata Painting School. He was admitted to the Japanese painting division of Imperial Art School (today's

Musashino Art University or is a private university in Kodaira, Western Tokyo, founded in 1962 with roots going back to 1929. It is known as one of the leading art universities in Japan. History In October 1929, was founded. In December 1948, it became , and in ...

) in the following year, and later transferred to the Sculpting division. In 1934, he left school and entered the Asakura Sculpting Studio to continue his art studies. This private school was founded by the noted sculptor Fumio Asakura. Asakura also instructed Huang Tushui when Huang was studying in the graduate school at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Pu Tiansheng spent eight years at the Asakura Sculpture Studio and, in 1940, his work ''People of the Sea''（''海民''） was selected for the 2600th Kōki Anniversary Art Exhibition (this was the Ministry of Education Art Exhibition, but the name of the event changed for this particular year in commemoration of the anniversary of the founding of Japan's Imperial line).

Work and Public Life

In 1941, he returned to Taiwan and assisted in establishing the sculpting division of the Tai-Yang Art Exhibition. He also submitted his work 'Wife' for the exhibition. In 1945, Pu and his family moved from

Chiayi Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical name i ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

and established Taiwan's first bronze casting factory. Through his father-in-law Chen Cheng-po's introduction, he began to work on memorial images of government officials and create
Taiwan's first ever likeness of Sun Yat-sen
today on display in front of Taipei

. Pu Tiansheng also served as a juror for the Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition and lectured on sculpting at the Provincial Education Building's Sculpting Seminar. He was a pioneer of modern sculpture in Taiwan. His famous works included: ''Poet''（''詩人''）, his rendering o
Lu Xun's contemplative pose
a female nude work entitle
''Light of Spring''
��''春之光''）, selected for 1957 Japan Fine Art Exhibition (Nitten); and, hi
''Movement''
��''運動系列''）, inspired by the female gymnastic movements.

References

External links

Starting Out from 23.5°N: Chen Cheng-po, Academia Sinica Digital Center (ASDC)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pu, Tiansheng Taiwanese sculptors 1912 births 1996 deaths