From around the mid-1920s, artist groups where Taiwanese painters played a part or a leading part came into being in succession, of which the western painting societies were especially dynamic. Between 1924 and 1932, watercolorist Kinichiro Ishikawa was twice based at the Taihoku Normal School in Taipei, giving lectures at art workshops on campus and guiding students in outdoor sketching. His works generated over time artistic trends distinct from the traditional calligraphy and painting.

However, throughout the 50 years of Japanese colonial rule, there was never a school geared toward a formal art education in Taiwan. Aspirational youths mostly traveled abroad in search of opportunities for training. From 1915-20 onward, these included Huang Tu-Shui, Liu Chin-Tang, Chang Qiu-Hai, Yen Hsuei-Long, Liao Chi-Chun, Chen Cheng-Po, Chen Chih-Chi, He Te-Lai and others who went to Japan in turn to study in the Western Painting Department or the normal school curriculum of the Tokyo Fine Arts School. Perhaps as a result of their immersion in the flourishing Japanese painting exhibitions, these idealistic Taiwanese western painters came up with the idea of organizing painting groups for the residents of Taiwan. Spearheaded by the highly charismatic Chen Chih-Chi and mediated by Chen Cheng-Po and others, a campaign calling on others to promote art education and exhibitions began.

1. The Chi Hsing (Seven Stars) Painting Group
In 1926, Chen Cheng-Po was selected into the Western Painting Division of the Imperial Art Exhibition of Japan (Teiten) with his work Outside the Chiayi Street, greatly to the excitement of contemporary Taiwanese artistic circles; in the same year, there appeared the first artist group in Taiwan composed of the indigenous residents, namely the Chi Hsing (Seven Stars) Painting Group of Chen Chih-Chi along with Ni Chiang-Huai, Lan Yin-Ting, Chen Ying-Sheng, Chen Cheng-Fan, Chen Yin-Yung and others. With a focus on oil and watercolor paintings and under the tutelage of Kinichiro Ishikawa, the group held exhibitions annually between 1926 and 1928. According to The Taiwan Daily News, successive exhibitions involved ever more painters, including members of the group who studied in Japan and returned to Taiwan during the summer as well as members of the Chi-Yang (Red Sun) Western Painting Society (founded in 1927) such as Liao Chi-Chun and He Te-Lai. Although the Chi Hsing (Seven Stars) Painting Group did not last long, it was already flowing with shining talents in the later stages of its development. The beginning of collaboration through greater mutual communication and observation among many represented a milestone in the burgeoning Taiwanese art circles’ partaking in activities for modern art.

 

2.The Chidao (Red Island) Group
By the autumn of 1928, with the news of Chen Chih-Chi and Liao Chi-Chun both gaining a place in the Teiten, the Taiwanese painting circles received another significant boost. In the passionate belief that art helped to enrich people’s lives, Chen Chih-Chi in the next year began organizing a large Taiwanese artist group, inviting gifted western painters from across Taiwan for what would become the Chidao (Red Island) Group in the spring of 1929 that planned to hold an exhibition each spring to mirror the Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition (abbreviated to Taiten) in the autumn. Its founding members included those belonging to the Chi Hsing (Seven Stars) Painting Group but also those of the Chi-Yang (Red Sun) Western Painting Society and other youthful painters such as Liao Chi-Chun, Chang Qiu-Hai, Kuo Po-Chuan, Yang San-Lang, Chen Hui-Kun, Chen Ching-Fen, Lee Mei-Shu and others. The Chidao (Red Island) Group primarily worked with watercolor and oil paintings. It reportedly once sought to incorporate Japanese Painting/Toyoga and sculpture to form a comprehensive artist group but the attempt was unsuccessful for various reasons.

At its inception, the Chidao (Red Island) Group encountered some obstacles with its exhibitions due to the sensitive nature of the word “red” as those were characterized by the media as running counter to the Taiten. Nevertheless, after August 1929, the Chidao (Red Island) Group eventually managed to hold in total three exhibitions of its members’ works in Taipei as well as traveling exhibitions in Taichung and Tainan, gaining support from the gentry and intellectuals like Yang Zhao-Jia, Lin Xian-Tang, Tsai Pei-Huo and others.

And yet, on the last day of the Taichung exhibition, Chen Chih-Chi, who had taken a leading role in it, died of illness. It was indubitably a huge blow to the painting group. The Taiwan Daily News reported that the memorial was hosted by the Chidao (Red Island) Group and the condolences were delivered by Ni Chiang-Huai. By the next year, deprived of its mainstay, the Chidao (Red Island) Group was all but disbanded. The joint artistic effort, taking so much to take shape, faded with its members scattered across the borders working on their own careers.