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Most of Lee Tze-Fan's figure paintings are portraits of friends and family as well as aboriginal peoples. Lee's figure paintings focus on transmitting different cultural auras and lifestyles represented by the people portrayed. Consequently, one sees less emphasis on the detail than that found in photo-realism, but each work instead echoes and portrays the personality and lifestyle of the subject. Lee Tze-Fan sensitively captured the life, surroundings, and concern for various people in Taiwan, truthfully reflecting their special appearance or way of life.
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Miss Li
Lee Tze-Fan (1907-1989), dated 1950
Watercolors on paper, 76 x 59 cm
Collection of the Lee Tze-Fan Memorial Art Gallery |
This painting won the Cultural Properties Prize at the fifth Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition. The subject is the daughter of the artist's colleague, and the location is in an art classroom at Hsinchu Normal College.
The effect of light and shadow created by the light hitting the subject suggests subtle shades of meaning for an extremely personal effect. The location of the figure is not in the usual one for portraits, but is rather shown facing forward but to the left, close to the artist. As a result, the subject's feet do not appear in the painting. The treatment of the background, on the other hand, is quite detailed. The vase, plaster casts, paintings, and even the small chairs are all included. The small chair partially seen in the lower right originally may not look very significant, but in the painting it serves as a balance and is therefore essential compositionally.
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In Crimson
Lee Tze-Fan (1907-1989), dated 1964
Watercolors on paper, 75 x 54 cm
Collection of the Lee Tze-Fan Memorial Art Gallery |
This is a portrait of an aboriginal girl done in a very fluid and energetic manner. The crimson clothing of the Atayal tribe along with her beautiful ornaments, combined with the artist's bold and spirited brushwork, create for an unusually lively atmosphere in an otherwise static scene. The reddish cheeks of the girl brim with the energy of youth as the artist strived to use a combination of hues to express this effect. The background consists of a flowerbed of blue and white, as the large and distinct brush strokes extend into the background for an increasingly out-of-focus effect, suggesting endless space and giving the painting even more life.
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