Nanjō Hiroaki, the late Japanese painter (birth and death dates uncertain), taught at Shinchiku Middle School (now National Hsinchu Senior High School) during the period of Japanese colonial rule. Nanjō’s work Morning Outside the Southern Gate was awarded in the first Taiwan Art Exhibition—Western Painting category, organized by the then-Government-General of Taiwan; his work is considered to be closely related to the rise of Western-style painting in Hsinchu. Photos that he took when he was in Taiwan were passed through many hands, before finally being collected in the Hsinchu County Archives. The artist’s descendants visited Taiwan yesterday (June 3rd), including admiring old photos and searching for more information about their ancestor who had resided in Taiwan. They expressed a hope to contact students of Mr. Nanjō, to hold a Taiwan-Japan Art Exchange Exhibition.
Lee Anyu, Director General of Hsinchu County Government's Cultural Affairs Bureau, explained that Mr. Nanjō, who was a Japanese citizen, taught at what was then called Shinchiku Middle School from 1924 to 1932. He headed the Aspen Art Research Society, the first association to study Western-style paintings in Hsinchu, and served as a consultant after the Society was reorganized into the Hsinchu Art Research Association. In 1927, his work Morning Outside South Gate was awarded in the first Taiwan Art Exhibition—Western Painting Category organized by the then-Government-General of Taiwan. When the Second World War ended and Japanese people in Taiwan moved back to Japan, the offspring of Nanjō Hiroaki handed photos taken by Mr. Nanjō during his stay in Taiwan to Mr. Chung Ting-lin of Zhudong. In 2003, the descendants of Mr. Chung duplicated the photos, and selected 62 particular outstanding images to be added to the Hsinchu County Archives. These photos, which are available for viewing on the Ministry of Culture’s website, were found by a great-great-grandson of Nanjō who is studying history at Meiji University in Japan. This has, by happy accident, created a wonderful cross-border, multi-generational Taiwan-Japan connection that spans nearly eight decades.
The content of the 62 photos taken by Nanjō Hiroaki and collected by Hsinchu County Archive is rich and diverse, and they reflect the unique eye that Nanjō had. The photos’ themes include a visit to Taiwan by Crown Prince Hirohito, before he became the Shōwa Emperor; Hirohito’s visit the exterior of the office of the Government-General of Taiwan (now the Presidential Office Building); sports meets at Shinchiku Middle School; works on display in an Aspen Society painting exhibition; and photos of Nanjō and his friends. There is also a wonderful selection of photos of Atayal Indigenous people in the early Shōwa era, and of coniferous forest on the mountains.
Nanjō Hiroaki’s grandson Katayama Shigekazu, granddaughter Onodera Yukiko, and two other people came to Taiwan to learn more about their grandfather’s life in Taiwan. They visited The Hsinchu County Archives yesterday, and paged through old photos taken by their grandfather. The Hsinchu County Archives also thoughtfully duplicated these photos and collected them into a photo album for Mr. Katayama to keep. The Archives also invited descendants of Chung Ting-lin to participate in the event. During his visit to Taiwan, Mr. Katayama, who is a painter himself, indicated that he hoped to be able to contact his grandfather’s students and descendants of painters who were in the Aspen Art Research Society. Together with these inheritors of art and history, Katayama hopes to hold a Taiwan-Japan painting exchange exhibition.