Preface from the Curator   

Watercolor painting is one of the oldest types in the history of human painting. In the early years, many art teachers in the elementary and middle schools in Taiwan taught students to paint watercolors because compared to other paintings, the supplies required for watercolor painting were relatively simple. To create a landscape or still life that is infiltrated and changeable in color, you just need a few watercolor pigments, several watercolor pens, a palette, a small bucket of water and a piece of drawing paper. Some scholars believe that watercolor painting in Taiwan’s school art education was due to Ishikawa Kinichiro’s coming to teach watercolor in 1907, and the emergence of "Taiwan Exhibition" and "Fu Exhibition" in 1918. In addition, many Japanese teachers in Taiwan’s schools specialized in Western and Eastern painting; therefore, watercolor painting, which belongs to the field of Western painting, began to take root in Taiwan.

The works of local artists such as Li Ze-Fan and Lan Yin-Ding, who have contributed much to Taiwan’s watercolor painting, are compiled in Taiwan’s early school art textbooks. Since 1946, respectable senior artists such as Ma Bai-Shui, Wang Lan, Xi De-Jin, Liu Qi-Wei, Wu Cheng-Yan, Liang Dan-Feng and even Professor Jian Jia-Zhu, who keeps creating new paintings, have had a considerable influence on the development of Taiwan’s watercolor paintings.

In the past two years, the Art Center of National Chin-yi University of Technology exhibited oil painting, ink painting, seal cutting, pottery and other types of art works. This time, the three artists from the central Taiwan, Chien, Chia- Chu, Chi, Bau-Huo, and Chang, Chin-Chung, are invited to jointly exhibit their watercolor works. In this joint exhibition, Chien, Chia- Chu 's works cover figures, flowers, and domestic and foreign landscape themes. The color and moisture of the screen are precisely controlled, and the unique stacked brushstrokes show the beauty of its thick colors. Chi, Bau-Huo's works range from the depiction of Yungang Grottoes to the beauty of the waves on the coast of Taiwan, each of which shows the aura and dazzlingness of watercolor. Chang, Chin-Chung's works show the graceful temperament of women; you can always see the beauty of the infiltration of colors in her works of landscapes and flowers.

At the beginning of summer, we wish to offer this beautiful feast of "2021 Watercolor Joint Exhibition" to share the delicate beauty of watercolor paintings with teachers and students in the school and friends who love art from all walks of life.

 Director of the Art Center of National Chin-Yi University of Technology

Chen, Xian-Lian