Ahura

《張義雄》，台中：哥德藝術中心、德美術館，2011。

by Cheng Chun-De

Preface 

I have known Chang Yi Hsiung for over 30 years. Whenever I see his art pieces I am unknowingly attracted by them. He is quite the character and we have a special mentor/friendship type bond. In the art gallery world, we go way back and he is considered a genius painter. Whenever the teacher mentions that his fingerprints resemble Picasso, I discover that each person has a certain destiny and his destiny was to go on the path of painting. Leading a rich childhood and a family's expectation of him becoming a doctor in the future did not change his will to paint. It might be said that art has spread within his heart at an early age which led to him becoming a real painter later on.

Chang Yi Hsiung's pursuance of education wasn't quite successful and in addition, he lived a drifting life. One setback usually transforms a person's life but Chang Yi-Hsiung never bowed down to this fate. Instead, he transfigured his sorrows into determination and this is what differentiates him between other artists.

Painting endlessly is Chang's pursuit in creating masterpieces. He displays a different aura. From Taiwan to Japan and even pursuing his career in Paris; he is constantly chasing his goal of creating even more great art works for people. His love for animals, turning magic tricks, and playing hand instruments cultivates Chang's motif.

The mainstream of Tai Yang Association has long overlooked the silent determination and ideology of art talents like Chang Wan-Chuan (張萬傳), Chen Teh-Wang (陳德旺), Hong Rui-Lin (洪瑞麟), Chang Yi-Hsiung, Liao De-Cheng (廖德政) and etc. Therefore, through endless encouragement to each other and strong will-power; they represent Taiwan's earnest side which in turn, hopefully one day will achieve a status in history.

From all the members in Chin-Yun and Era, Chang Yi Hsiung is considered the most legendary character with the most stubborn personality, distinctive love and hate differentiations which results in a clumsy attitude but in turn, with no regrets; wholeheartedly devote himself into painting. Even though he gave up his rich family background and met several obstacles within the process of pursuing his dreams, the teacher mentioned himself that "Whatever I try to accomplish, I use one method; which is persistence.

In order to publish this art catalog, I spent 3 years into it hoping that people in this industry can have a more in-depth knowledge of Master Chang Yi Hsiung. In addition, I wish to provide my meager support of Taiwanese painting heritage and the witness of the mark of history.

I. Artists' childhood, 'I want to become a Painter' (1914-1928) 

Chang Yi Hsiung was born in 1914 from the East Gate family of Jiayi City. His grandfather Chang Yuan Rong was a scholar, father Chang Ding Ji was an instructor and mother Huang Ching Lan. His family was well-off and provided much love and support towards him. Chang placed second in his family and his older brother was named Chang Jia Ying. If you combine the letters of Chang and his brother's name, it turns out to be "hero" (in Chinese). You can tell that Chang's parents were very proud of their heritage and also hoping that one day their children will make them proud. Displaying true talent at a young age, Chang's love of art began to show at the age of 4. He also fed several reptiles and other weird creatures. At the age of 6, when he saw white walls, he would use his excrements to paint on the walls. By the time he reached the age of 60, he inadvertently read a book by Freud. The book mentioned that children who were eccentric grew up in becoming great artists. This thus proves the teacher's innate quality.

As a child, the teacher's learning abilities in school wasn't good. The only subject he excelled at was art and he often represented the school to go to art competitions. When he was 10, there was a substitute teacher that came to his school. The teacher drew a beautiful goldfish at quick speed, the eyes of the goldfish sparkled with laughter which appeared cute and lively. The substitute teacher would not believe that a child who had no interest in his studies could draw this type of painting. He also thought that he probably traced it from some book and slapped him across the face which caused great damage towards Chang's young soul. This also planted a seed in Chang's rebellious nature but time will prove that kids who paint will never turn bad.

In 1924, next to the center fountain of West Gate in Jiayi City, he initially met Cheng Chen-Po (陳澄波) at the age of 10. Second uncle Chang Ding-Ju (張鼎駒) was originally Cheng Chen-Po's elementary school teacher. Maybe it was destiny, but at the time Cheng Chen-Po wore a round hat and had long hair drawing still life/landscape paintings on the street. That image of Cheng instantly caught Chang's attention which motivated his passion in becoming an artist.

His father had expectations of Chang Yi Hsiung becoming a doctor. In the year of 1926 at the age of 12, Chang told his father that he wanted to become a painter. His father saw his determination and advised him by saying “Mr. Cheng stayed up numerous nights to paint which resulted in fatigue of the body and even spewing out blood on occasion. With strong willpower and some natural talent did he achieve his goal. There are great obstacles to overcome in order to become a painter.” Later on, he brought Chang to an art supply shop in Tainan to pick up tools and even sent him to a sculpture academy there. Although this became Chang's specialized skill in the future, but his true desire was to wear a French beret and paint. Perhaps from a secular vision, this was a form of painting that wouldn't make any money whatsoever. Just when everything was ready except for the lack of time, he had the opportunity to meet Cheng Chen-Po yet again and due to his relation with Chang's uncle did Chang have the privilege to be under the guidance of Cheng which led to the fulfillment of his dream. 

II. Study, Grievance and Alternatives (1929-1941)

Chang graduated from elementary school and was brought to Kyoto, Japan to study at a private school. Luckily, his art teacher was classmates with Mr. Cheng Chen-Po. He gave special attention towards Chang which helped his talent to grow. However in the other subjects of his classes, Chang wasn't able to keep up. He only studied in Japan for a year and returned to Taiwan once again. After his return to Taiwan, he transferred to another school because of his uncle's connection but once again was not able to complete his studies. Later on he was expelled from school because he cut class to watch a movie "Under the roof of Paris." Till this day, Chang recalls the song from that movie and this was probably the beginning of Chang's yearning for Paris.

In 1932, at the age of 19 was the year when Chang hit a traumatic blow. Not only did he violate school regulations and lose his beloved father within the same year, he also experienced life's hard lessons which created a series of twists in his life. In the same year, Chang traveled to Japan by himself and entered into Tokyo Art School. He met his elder peer Hong Rui-Lin and Lin Chi-Chu (林之助) whom also graduated from the same school. In 1933, Chang transferred into Kyoto's Multilingual Foreign School as a 4th year student. When he had no income to pay for tuition, the principal at that school became his benefactor. He required Chang to paint an art piece for exchange of his education. Not only did he offer this to Chang but also gave him a small amount of living expenses. On the day of Chang's graduation he told him, “Yoshio, you have to become the world famous Chang Yi Hsiung one day.” Maybe it was due to that line or other consequences that Chang could persist all the way towards fame.

Kawabata Painting School was a private tutoring class and several elder artists' studied there before. Chang was tutored there for several years and to survive for a living he did every inferior job possible. In 1935, Chang Yi Hsiung collaborated with Cheng Chen-Po, Liu Shin-Lu (劉新祿), Ong Kun-De (翁崑德), Lin Ying-Jie (林英杰) and etc. to create Qing Chen Assosciation. Although this organization didn't last long, they still held a 3 person joint exhibition.

“The Moon and Sixpence” describes Gauguin's fictional pursuit of his dream which gave Chang enormous courage and firm belief that by creating art was the only ideal life in mind. Although there was a constant struggle between a spiritual choice of materiality and poverty, an idea was often drilled in his mind that “An artist can wander the streets but can never leave his canvas.”

In 1939, in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district, Chang and Liao De-Chen (廖德政) rented adjacent homes together. Liao, six years younger than Zhang, was tall, reserved, and quiet—a sharp contrast to the short, ruggedly tenacious Chang, whose style exuded grassroots vitality. Despite their differences, they shared a common pursuit of artistic ideals, forging a bond through shared joys and struggles.

The following year, Chang, who had repeatedly re-taken the entrance exams four or five times, and the self-taught Liao De-Chen took the Tokyo Fine Arts School exam together for the first time. When the results were announced, it was Liao who "made the list." This unexpected turn set their paths diverging—marking a fateful parting from which Chang's connection with Tokyo Fine Arts School was permanently severed.

Chang Yi Hsiung mentioned before that "The beans the Emperor ate are big and never seen before." You can only imagine that Chang's disposition of materialistic things never overcame him; instead provided him energy to fight through every obstacle which is quite admirable.

III. Beijing, Most treasured model "Wife" (1942-1945) 

During the 2nd year of the outbreak of World War II in 1942, Chang fled to seek refuge in Beijing, China. He applied for a position at East Asia Transportation Relations Company. Their main objective was to propagate the violence of the American army. On the side, he could also paint during his free time and broaden his vision. Due to the casualties of war, the paintings during this period for Chang were rarely seen.

Chang believed that behind every successful man is an important woman's support. Jiang Bao-Zhu (江寶珠) (Chang's wife) was abandoned next to a well as a child and a kind Samaritan rescued her. When she was 10 years old, her stepfather passed away and she followed her stepmom's remarriage as a child bride; thus following Chang at an early age. Due to her upbringing with traditional Chinese virtues and having lived through various types of lives, she could live through any obstacles. To others this was an unobtainable happiness but keeping him company for a lifetime with no worries was considered the ultimate precious model in Chang's life.

In 1941, although the painting "Wife" didn't get selected in the competition and due to the relocation of his home he had to edit the size of the painting which only left the top portion. When his income improved later on, he bought a better condition frame for it in order to display his love for that painting. In 1943 due to an air raid, Jiang Bao Zhu's house in Japan was compensated for 200 yen and she ran to Beijing to hand the money to Chang. Chang was deeply touched by this and married her in 1945, they returned to Taiwan after the war ended.