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Cherishing my Mother ~by Hsiao Chen-Hsiun, Hsiao Chen-Chia

Looking back at her life as an artist devoted to gouache painting.  It is truly remarkable for her to succeed as she did, in a society tat undervalued women and their talents. While she was in high school, her talents were first discovered by a Japanese teacher, Gobara Koto. With encouragement from her teachers and her father, she traveled by herself to Japan for study. Her hard work and fierce determination did not disappoint her elders, and her works were selected for nine times at the Imperial Art Exhibition and the Ministry of Education Art Exhibition. Being selected for these exhibitions was a high honor for any Japanese artist, not to mention one from Taiwan. After the end of Japanese rule in Taiwan, she returned to Taiwan and continued to devote herself to gouache painting. When painters who came to Taiwan from China sparked off a controversy over whether “traditional Chinese painting” should mean gouache painting or ink painting, the gouache division of the Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition was suspended for ten years. Even so, my mother did not change her coourse and turn to Chinese ink painting. Instead, she stuck to her own principles and ideals of artistic creation. Gouache painting is complicated and requires numerous steps.  It is an extension of the ancient technique of the resplendent Tang Dynasty academic painting. Natural minerals such as jade and gold are ground into powder and mixed with animal-based glue, and then applied to a silk ground. The materials are difficult to procure, extremely expensive, and require a great deal of patience and attention to detail. It is very difficult to make any changes once you started, so a sketch has to be made before applying the mineral pigment. That is why the colors, mood, and meticulousness surpass that found in most oil paintings. When my mother was painting, she would not allow others to watch her.

My mother did not create a lot of works, and her subjects were things in her everyday environment, but every piece was painstakingly created. She sometimes changed a painting over and over. It could take a year before she was satisfied with it. She said “I don’t compare myself with others. I only compare my own works to see if I can have an artistic breakthrough and use fewer lines to create an even more beautiful painting.” I remember when my mother had heart trouble in her old age, I would still see her in the middle of the night and find her painting.  Seeing her devotion to her art, I couldn’t bring myself to make her go back to bed. Even to this day I feel a mixture of guilt and nostalgia when I think of those moments.

In 1997 my mother was granted the Cultural Award by the Executive Yuan. She added the prize money to her savings and used the savings to create a scholarship for later generations of artists, in the hope that they would carry on the gouache tradition and take it to an even higher and more glorious level.

Photo with Mr. Hsiao Chen-Chia
(Mrs. Chen Chin's son)
Photo with Mr. Hsiao Chen-Hsiun
(Mrs. Chen Chin's son)
Photo with Mrs. Chen Chin's daughter in law
From left to right are Mr. Hsiao Chen-Hsiun, Mr. Hsiao Zhen-Joan(Mrs. Chen Chin's husband), Mrs. Chen Chin, and Mrs. Chen Chin's daughter in law
Mrs. Chen Chin's house
(the first girl from left is Shaw Welly, the first from right is Mrs. Chen Chin)
Mrs. Chen Chin's 80 birthday

Cherishing my Grandmother ~by Shaw Welly

About Mrs. Chen Chin's life

What is your impression towards Mrs. Chen Chin?
Very patient
Is your grandmother keep a strict hand over the children?
Yes. Due to the Japanese education, she thought girls should be elegant, so we had to sit in a proper way.
What is your most memorable memory with her?
She always encouraged me to study abroad and be who I want to be.
Is your grandmother a traditional Japanese woman?
Yes. She taught us in the Japanese traditional way, and asked us to kneel down to pray every Chinese New Year.
Your grandmother in your point of view?
She is talented.
Can your grandmother cook?
Her best dish is pork strips with bamboo. Her favorite fruit is the tangerine.
Did she cook most of the time?
No. Most of the time our grandfather was cooking. She was busy painting and my grandfather didn’t want to bother her.
What is the most memorable event that happened?
Her 80 years old exhibition

About Mrs. Chen Chin's painting

What’s your favorite painting?
Ensemble
Did Mrs. Chen Chin ask for your help when she was painting? What are some special rules while she was painting?
Yes. She asked me to be one of the unimportant models. She said being a model cannot move and we cannot talk while she was painting.
Did your grandmother ever teach you how to paint?
Yes. She taught me how to draw her in pencil.
Did she see or give you advices when she saw the painting you’d paint in school?
She said I have potential. She told me when I’m painting, I should calm down and have keen observant.
Did your grandmother ever want you to become an artist just like her?
If I am interested in it.
How much times will she spent for painting one painting?
Sometimes if she had inspiration it would be fast. If fast, she could finish it in months. If slow, she could finish it in two years.
Did she usually get inspiration from the family?
Not always. When she was young, she painted girls in Tang Dynasty. In her later years, she painted flowers, temples, Buddha, and landscape.
Will she take you and the others go sketching outside with her?
Yes. We went to Long Shan Temple together.
Photo with Mrs. Shaw Welly
(Mrs. Chen Chin's granddaughter)
Mrs. Chen Chin's younger generation
Interviewing