Draft:Tamsui Landscape

Tamsui Landscape is an oil painting by Taiwanese painter Tan Teng-pho in 1935. This painting depicts the landscape of Tamsui. It is archived at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (1) and designated as an essential antiquity of the Republic of China (2)(3).

History

In 1933, Tan Teng-pho returned to Taiwan and devoted himself to painting scenic spots in various places throughout the country, among which Tamsui Landscape was one of the Tamsui series painted at this stage (4). In 1936, Tamsui Landscape was exhibited for the first time in the 2 nd Taiyang Art Exhibition held in Taipei City’s Taiwan Education Association Building.The full painting of Tamsui Landscape represents the landscape of Tamsui from the

perspective of overlooking. This painting primarily depicts local houses in Tamsui built along the mountains and water. A mountain road in the middle extends to the back of the village and then turns to connect with the Tamsui River in the distance on the right. The styles of the houses are Western- and Taiwanese-style architecture and the colors are juxtaposed red and green. In this painting, mountains and rivers stand side-by-side, forming a half-arc composition at the top, bottom, left, and right, accentuating the central chimney as the focus of the entire painting. The painting comprises several representative buildings of Tamsui, including the red brick building on the right, Tamsui Red Castle, and the buildings below, Kinoshita Jingya Former Residence in Tamsui and Tamsui White Building (5)(6).