Taiwan Cross-Island Highway (Section 2)

Description

China, 1906–1987
Taiwan Cross-Island Highway
1967
Set of four hanging scrolls, ink and color on paper
Gift of Dr. Cheng-Yang and Mrs. Shirley Chang, 2006/1.104.1-4
This monumental work is comprised of four hanging scrolls, known as the screen
of connected scenes, or sea curtain format. It offers an awe-inspiring panoramic
view of Taroko Gorge, now one of Taiwan’s national parks. Chang was
classically trained and here he uses traditional brushwork to convey the
precipitous nature of the mountains and suggest the flourishing, moist vegetation.
At the same time, the painting has a refreshingly expressive quality not found in
traditional painting. The intense green and wet ink tones allow the viewer to
almost feel the freshness emitted by the lush plants and the vapor rising from the
rushing creeks in the deep valley. Yet this is not a faithful depiction of an actual
landscape. The painting is, rather, a synthesis of both the objective visual
appearance of the subject and the artist’s subjective experience of it. The artist
altered what he saw in order to convey both the most important qualities of the
place and the feelings it evoked in him. He notes in his inscription, “sublime and
bright—what opens in this enormous curtain.”