"Li Mei-shu dedicated his life to art and stood steadfastly behind his belief and determination, as he endeavored to use the style of realism to portray the land and the people of Taiwan. He was also a driving force behind the localization of oil painting in the post-war era and developed artworks that demonstrated a self-awareness based on a subiective sense of Taiwanization. This exhibition breaks the convention of showcasing history through a time-based linear perspective and includes six subthemes to present important factors that impacted Li's choice of creative subject, style of painting, and art practice. The 1st subtheme, 'Impressions of Sann-kak-íng' , focuses on Li's hometown, Sanxia, and the area of Sann-kak-íng (or Sankakuyu in Japanese) where his family had settled in. This was the starting point and the root of Li's art. On view in the 2nd subtheme, 'Radiant Glories', are iconic artworks by Li that were shown in various major exhibitions from Taiwan's Japanese colonial period to the post-war era. The 3rd subtheme, 'Masterminding the Restoration of Qingshui Zushi Temple', presents rare pieces, including architectural plans, ink sketches of stone carvings, and other oil paintings, created when Li served as the director of Sanxia's Qingshui Zushi Temple's third restoration project, which saw the creation of 'An Eastern Palace of Art' as the project's mission. The determination that Li had for the project demonstrated his unwavering spirit of giving back to his hometown. The 4th subtheme, 'Documenting Moments in Daily Life', shows a select collection of art that captured everyday moments in the artist's life; using his paintbrush, Li depicted subjects that were important to him, which included his family, friends, and life's intricate details. The 5th subtheme, 'Lineage and Friendship', features Li's mentors and peers, with paintings by Li's teachers, Ishikawa Kinichiro and Okada Saburosuke, and his peers, Li Shih-chiao and Liao Chi-chun, and also his only officially recognized pupil, Wu Yao-chung jointly shown to present the relationships which Li had built throughout his art career with his mentors and friends. Besides his prolific oeuvre, Li also accumulated a large quantity of literature and documents throughout his over half-century-long art career, and presented in the 6th subtheme, 'Expansive Archive', is a compilation of archival documents from various periods of Li's career, providing glimpses into some of the most intricate parts of the artist's life."-- Foreword (page 7).
Reality through the paintbrush: art exhibition in commemoration of Li Mei-shu's 120th posthumous birthday
畫筆下的真實
Texts in both Chinese and English; with descriptive list of works only in Chinese.