Huang Ching-cheng (; 1912–1943) was a Taiwanese sculptor. He is counted among the important pioneers of Taiwanese modern art.Hsien-tsung Lai (= pinyin: Shen-chon Lai) calls the artists Huang Ching-cheng, De-wang Chen (陳德旺), Rui-lin Hong (洪瑞麟), Wan-chuan Zhang (張萬傳) etc., who had formed an artists’ group consisting of painters and sculptors, “clear,” “innovative,” and “anti-establishment”. See: Hsien-tsung Lai, “Chaoyue fushi de yishu guanghua” (The Glory of Transcendent Art 超越浮世的藝術光華 ), in The Liberty Times (Taipei), 3 November 2005 [print edition]. – According to Ya-li Chen, Huang Ching-cheng must be acknowledged as a pioneer of modern sculpture in Taiwan and as one of the four "most important sculptors" of the Colonial period that ended in 1945. The others named by Ya-li Chen were: Tu-shui Huang(黃土水), Hsia-yu Chen(陳夏雨) and Tien-sheng Pu(蒲添生) See: Ya-li. Chen, “Taiwanese sculptors during the Japanese Occupation period,” in: Taiwan Culture (A publication edited and published by the Ministry of Culture, No.30-1, Beiping E. Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 10049, Taiwan (ROC)), 20 October 2009 Lai Hsien-tsung mentions him in one breath with Ju Ming.See Hsien-tsung Lai, ibidem. – Ju Ming (b. 1938) is of course a much younger and different artist but it gives us an idea of the importance attributed to Huang by a professor (and head of department at National Taipei University) who specializes in the philosophy of art. Huang's sculpture "Study of a Head" (頭像 ‘tóuxiàng’) was the first modern work of art in Taiwan that was declared a part of the island's cultural heritage that is protected by a new law passed in 2009.See: Mei-xue Ling (staff reporter), “Xiàndài yìshù zuòpǐn shǒu lì huángqīngchéng diāosù zhǐdìng wéi zhòngyào gǔwù 現代藝術作品首例 黃清埕雕塑指定為重要古物 (Huang Ching-cheng's Sculpture is the first modern art work designated as an important national heritage )”, in: The Liberty Times, 25 March 2009. See also website of the Ministry of Culture, Bureau of the Cultural Heritage which gives the following explanation for the designation of ‘Touxiang’ by Huang Ching-cheng as an important, specially protected cultural heritage: “Specific reasons” for designation: 1. The art work shows “important features of the times, with respect to technique and genre”, 2. it reveals “important artistic skills”, 3.it is of “excellent quality and scarce”, 4. it has “important historical, cultural and artistic value.” The decision to protect the work was taken on the basis of Cultural Heritage Preservation Law, Article 66. Section Two. It is exhibited in the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.See: Mei-xue Ling, ibidem. See also: Kaohsiung Museum of Modern Art; website.
Life and career Early life
Huang was born in Chidong Village (池東村), Xiyu, Hōko Prefecture.The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts gives the following information: "Pool East (or E. Pond) Village, Siyu Township, Penghu 澎湖西嶼鄉池東村 ". See "Artist's biography 藝 術 家 小 傳", in: "Huang Ching-cheng: Study of A Head 黃清埕 頭像.", Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts ( 高雄市立美術館館長 ) website.- See also: Xiāo Cǎihuá 蕭彩華 (author), "黃清呈 Ching Cheng Huang" (article), in: Encyclopedia of Taiwan . This island group had been ceded to Japan by the Chinese government in 1895, like the rest of Taiwan and the Ryu-Kyo Islands, after the First Sino-Japanese War. Huang's father owned a pharmacy.See: "Artist's biography 藝 術 家 小 傳", in: "Huang Ching-cheng: Study of A Head 黃清埕 頭像.", Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts website. Huang, who was raised in a fairly wealthy family, showed an interest in creative activity at an early age. As a boy, he already did small figures made of clay, his elder brother later remembered.He "liked to pinch clay" in order to do so. See: Cǎihuá Xiāo (蕭彩華)(author), "黃清呈 Ching Cheng Huang" (article), in: Encyclopedia of Taiwan, ibidem. He also painted, showing considerable talent which prompted a teacher to encourage him."During his childhood, he revealed a talent for painting. After elementary school, he encountered the teacher Liu Qingrong who appreciated his artistic talent very much and who encouraged him, often giving him guidance." "Artist's biography 藝 術 家 小 傳", in: "Huang Ching-cheng: Study of A Head 黃清埕 頭像.", Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts website. Because the pharmacy was located in Kaohsiung, a major location in South Taiwan which was already a fairly big city, he was sent there in 1925, to attend Kaohsiung Senior High School.In the 1920s, Kaohsiung, then known as Takao, had become "the second largest city in Taiwan, ahead of Tainan and Keelung." Since 1931, the Japanese "intensified their investments on Taiwanese industries and transformed Takao (Kaohsiung)" into "the major industrial city in southern Taiwan." (An Overview of the Administration of Kaohsiung City Government (2010), book publication. Partly republished in: Kaohsiung City Government website: http://rdec.kcg.gov.tw/newspics/4ee0b5044e08b/99_en.pdf). He dropped out, however, because he dedicated too much time to painting."In 1925, Huang was admitted to Kaohsiung Senior High School, but was submerged in painting and abandoned his studies." See:"Artist's biography 藝 術 家 小 傳", in: "Huang Ching-cheng: Study of A Head 黃清埕 頭像.", ibidem. Therefore, his father had him educated by a private teacher.Huang "withdrew to a private school of Ching dynasty scholar Liu after having returned home (to Penghu)." See: "Artist's biography 藝 術 家 小 傳", in: "Huang Ching-cheng: Study of A Head 黃清埕 頭像.", ibidem. Because his father wanted him to become a pharmacist, he was sent to a teacher of pharmacology in 1933. Then, he went on to Tokyo, for advanced studies in pharmacology."He was supposed to study pharmacology due to its father's decision, in order to inherit his father's pharmacy later on. Thus his father sent him in 1933 to study with Liu Qingrong as appropriate teacher and then also to Tokyo for advanced studies." See: "Artist's biography 藝 術 家 小 傳", in: "Huang Ching-cheng: Study of A Head 黃清埕, 頭像.", ibidem.
Study of art in Tokyo
Huang's desire was to be an artist, however. In 1936, being just 24, Huang was admitted to a Japanese art academy, the Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō (東京美術学校) or Tokyo School of Fine Arts, an art academy that had a good reputation.”The Tokyo School of Fine Arts was one of Japan's most prestigious art institutions”, according to Xiao Caihua. See: Xiāo Cǎihuá 蕭彩華 (author), “黃清呈 Ching Cheng Huang”(article), ibidem. The Japanese sculptor Kōtarō Takamura (b. 1883) had studied modern, Western-influenced art at this academy. And so had the sculptor Ryumon Yasuda (b. 1891) as well as the painters Kawai Gyokudō (b. 1873), Kanzan Shimomura (b. 1873), Hishida Shunsō (b. 1874) and Ryōhei Koiso (b. 1903) – to name but a few well-known artists. Tu-shui Huang(黃土水), a sculptor born in 1895 when China was forced to cede Taiwan to the Japanese empire, had been the first student from the new colony to be admitted to this academy. Tu-shui Huang died young, at age 36. But he was acknowledge by that time (1930) as a fine artist, largely because of the recognition he had received in Japan. His example may have influenced Huang Ching-cheng who was only 18 when Tu-shui died. Another artists from Taiwan, the painter Shih-chiao Lee (李石樵), also had studied there, though more recently. Shih-chiao Lee who hailed from the Taipei district, was admitted by the academy in 1931 and graduated in 1935, a year before Huang began his academic studies, enrolling in the sculpture department.
When Huang Ching-cheng had departed for Tokyo in 1936, the Second Sino-Japanese War was less than a year away, and the terrible Nanking massacre would happen in November 1937. Chauvinism and militarist sentiments were on the rise.Regarding the increasingly repressive, militarist and chauvinist atmosphere that grew in importance and effect in the years leading up to the war against China (1937) and even more in the war years (1937–45), see: Saburo Ienaga, Taiheyo Senso (=The Pacific War). Tokyo (Iwanami Shoten) 1968. There also exists an English version. As this author notes with regard to the Thirties, “(t)he prewar state kept the populace in a powerful vise: on one side were the internal security laws with their restriction on freedom of speech and thought; on the other side was the conformist education that blocked the growth of free consciousness and purposive activity for political ends.” And when the country was at war, the repression got worse: “legal resistance could accomplish very little, and illegal antiwar activity was limited to sporadic and ineffective protests(…).” The situation deteriorated with the outbreak of the war against China (1937), and even more so since 1939/40 when the democracy that still had existed up to a point in the late 1930s, was rapidly suspended.
Huang Ching-cheng was violating the dominant ethical code that required filial piety when he was not studying pharmacology. This had consequences. "When his father became aware of this matter, in anger he stopped sending him money for his living expenses and tuition. (…) His brother Huang Qingshun (Ching-Shuan Huang) secretly lent him money, however, and this aid helped him, in part, to complete his studies.""Artist's biography 藝 術 家 小 傳", in: “Huang Ching-cheng: Study of A Head 黃清埕, 頭像.”, ibidem.
Early work and the influence of Beethoven
The fact that in an expensive city like Tokyo, his brother's financial support proved insufficient had a good side effect. The young man was compelled to work professionally as an artist while still in art school.“The fact that money mattered is elucidated by Chuan-ying Yen. Comparing the situation of two other Taiwanese art students in Tokyo, Chen Jin 陳進 (1907–98), and Li Shiqiao 李石樵 (1908–95), Chuan-ying Yen writes, “Li suffered especially straitened circumstances following his admission to the art academy in Tokyo. On the other hand, Chen Jin had ample resources and never had to worry about living expenses, enabling her to concentrate on mastering the Japanese style (…).” See: Chuan-ying Yen,“Self-Portraits, Family Portraits, and the Issue of Identity: An Analysis of Three Taiwanese Painters of the Japanese Colonial Period”, in: Southeast Review of Asian Studies, Vol.33 (2011), p.36. – With respect to Huang Ching-cheng, Ya-li Chen flatly states: When his father “refused to provide him with any financial support”, the “result” was that “the young artist made his living as a part-time sculptor, accepting commissions to produce a wide variety of statues (…)” See: Ya-li Chen, “Huang Qingcheng” (paragraph of: “Taiwanese sculptors during the Japanese Occupation period”), in: Taiwan Culture, (ed. and published by the Ministry of Culture, Taipei), 20 Oct,. 2009. In these highly productive years, he created a considerable number of art works, among them various busts. He also did “full body sculptures” and “seated sculptures.”“ See: Ya-li Chen, “Huang Qingcheng”, ibidem.
Among the works created by Huang Ching-cheng, there were a number of sculptures of Beethoven.Y.-L.Hsueh, an art historian working at the National Museum of Fine Arts, confirms that "Huang Ching-Cheng made quite a few copper statues of Beethoven as a token of homage to the great composer." See: Yen-ling Hsueh, “A Portrait of Ludwig v. Beethoven ( Huang Ching-cheng. Sculpture. 1940)”, in: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Collections, Digital Archives. http://collectionweb.ntmofa.gov.tw/eng98/02_fineworks_detail.aspx?RNO=09600165 . Beethoven was a composer whom the artist greatly admired, as his elder brother confirmed later on.Y.-L. Hsueh writes that the sculpture “Beethoven” that is now in the National Museum of Fine Arts “was one of Huang Chin-Cheng's representative pieces during the course of his studies in Japan. According to the artist's eldest brother, Huang Ching-Shuan, Huang Ching-Cheng had a great passion for music aside from painting and sculpture.” See: Yen-ling Hsueh, ibidem.