Tan Teng-pho (; 2 February 1895 – 25 March 1947), was a
Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan (Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, r ...
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
and politician. In 1926, his
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest ...
''
Street of Chiayi'' was featured in the seventh in Japan, which was the first time a Taiwanese artist's work could be displayed at the exhibition.
Tan devoted his life to education and creation, and was greatly concerned about the development of humanist culture in Taiwan. He was not only devoted to the improvement of his own painting, but also to the promotion of the aesthetic education of the Taiwanese people. He was killed as a result of the
February 28 Incident, a 1947 uprising in Taiwan which was repressed by the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...
(KMT).
Early life
Tan was born in Kagi (
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 ...
), during the
Japanese colonial period, into a poor family that could not invest in his artist talents. After attending college in
Taihoku
Taihoku Prefecture (台北州; ''Taihoku-shū'') was an administrative division of Taiwan created in 1920, during Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Keelung, New Taipei City, Taipei and Yilan County. Its government office, ...
, he returned to his hometown to work as a teacher, a job he held for seven years. Tan then earned enough money to attend the
Tokyo University of the Arts
or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...
, and graduated in 1929. Upon graduation, he moved to
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
for four years, where he taught art. Tan returned to Kagi in 1933, and joined the city's Preparatory Committee to Welcome the
National Government in 1945. In 1946, Tan was elected as a member of the
Chiayi City Council
The Chiayi City Council (CYCC; ) is the elected city council of Chiayi City, Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific ...
and joined the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...
.
Education
He enrolled in the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School () in 1913, where he studied Western-style
watercolor painting
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...
under
Ishikawa Kinichiro. In 1924, he went to mainland Japan to receive formal academic training in art under Japanese oil painter Tanabe Itaru at the Normal Education Division in Painting of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (today's Tokyo University of the Arts). Tan also studied privately under Japanese luminarist Okada Saburosuke at his Hongō Painting Institute.
Work and public life
After completing his graduate program in 1929, he moved to
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
to teach at Xinhua Art College () and Changming Art School (). During his stay in Shanghai, he was influenced by the traditional Chinese painting of Ni Yunlin and Bada Shanren, and began to develop a distinctive style that fuses the lyrical essence of Chinese landscape painting with Western painting techniques. His work includes oil painting, glue color painting, and sketching while his themes center on landscapes and portraits, mostly inspired by everyday scenes around him.
In 1926, his work ''Street of Kagi'' was selected for the 7th , making him the first Taiwanese painter to have an oil painting accepted for the exhibition. His success continued after this initial breakthrough, and his works were selected several times for the Imperial Art Exhibition, , and , as well as exhibitions held by Japanese art groups outside the state-run exhibition circle like and . After returning to Taiwan, the focus of his work shifted to the scenery of his hometown, as he showcased the charm of the Taiwanese landscape with
plein-air
''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors.
This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
works painted in
Tamsui
Tamsui District (Hokkien POJ: ''Tām-chúi''; Hokkien Tâi-lô: ''Tām-tsuí''; Mandarin Pinyin: ''Dànshuǐ'') is a seaside district in New Taipei, Taiwan. It is named after the Tamsui River; the name means "fresh water". The town is popul ...
, Kagi and
Tainan
Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...
.
Painter has described Tan's artistic style as clumsy and awkward, which biographer Ko Tsung-min believed was intentional, comparing Tan's work to
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
and
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
's ''
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
''Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'' (''The Young Ladies of Avignon'', originally titled ''The Brothel of Avignon'') is a large oil painting created in 1907 by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The work, part of the permanent collection of the Museum o ...
''.
Besides painting, Tan was also actively involved in Taiwanese art movements. Among other art movement activities, he co-founded the Chi-Hsing Painting Society in 1926, co-founded the Tai-Yang Art Society with Yang Sanlang and
Liao Chi-chun
Liao Chi-chun (1902–1976) was a Taiwanese painter and sculptor.
Education
In 1918, he entered the Taiwan Governor-General's National Language School. By 1922, he graduated and began teaching at Fengyuan Public School (Fengyuan Kōgakkō). In 1 ...
in 1934, and helped young artists in Kagi establish the Qingchen Fine Art Association in 1940. His contributions to broadening the influence of art in Taiwan also extended to his service as a Chiayi City Councilor, and as a juror at the first Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition after the
handover of Taiwan in 1945.
Death
Due to the February 28 Incident, severe conflict occurred in 1947 between the Chiayi citizens and the KMT, whose military was trapped inside the city's airport. The "February 28 Incident Committee" was established, composed of Tan and five others who would approach the military as representatives of peace. The military, however, captured four of them, including Tan, and released the remaining two.
On the morning of 25 March 1947, after being tied up with wire, the four were forced to march from the city's police station to the train station, where the other three were
shot dead in public.
His son, Chen Shigemitsu (), recalled that as soon as hearing that his arrested father was paraded, he went onto the street and found his father on a military vehicle at Chiayi Fountain. He followed the contingent and realized what would happen when his sight suddenly met his father's.
When the vehicle stopped at
Chiayi Station
Chiayi () is a railway station in Chiayi, Taiwan served by Taiwan Railways Administration, Taiwan Railways and Alishan Forest Railway.
History
The station was firstly constructed in 1896 and opened on 20 April 1902 with service on the West C ...
, the army
strafed the square in front of the station, with bystanders fleeing in disorder. Tan Teng-pho was the last one pushed off the vehicle. Soldiers shot at him from three meters. The first shot missed but the second penetrated his chest, and Tan fell forward. The Kuomintang forbade the families from collecting the corpses immediately, so Tan's remains were left to decompose on the street for three days, until his wife and a photographer she had hired to take pictures of the aftermath collected them.
Legacy
Tan's work ''Chiayi Park'' was sold for $5,794,100
HKD at a
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...
on 28 April 2002.
''Tamsui'', an oil painting, was purchased in 2006 for $4.5 million (NT$144 million) by
Pierre Chen, setting a world record for an oil painting by an ethnically Chinese artist.
In 2015, a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
commemorated his 120th birthday.
His paintings form the artwork for
Lin Man-chiu's picture book 《戴帽子的女孩》
he Girl in the Hat
Tan's grandson Pu Hao-ming also became an artist. Pu is known for creating a statue of .
References
External links
Photograph of Chen's body after he was killedStarting Out from 23.5°N: Chen Cheng-po
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Teng-pho
1895 births
1947 deaths
20th-century executions by China
20th-century Taiwanese painters
Executed artists
Executed Republic of China people
Executed Taiwanese people
February 28 incident
Han Taiwanese
Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan
People executed by the Republic of China by firearm
People from Chiayi
Taiwanese city councilors
Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent
Tokyo University of the Arts alumni