Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) An iconic sculpture, which was lost for over half a century and is believed to be the first recorded nude statue in Taiwan’s art history, will be displayed in public for the first time later this year in Taipei, the Ministry of Culture announced Thursday.
The groundbreaking work, "Sweet Dew," by late Taiwanese sculptor Huang Tu-shui's (黃土水, 1895-1930), is set to be exhibited at the Museum of National Taipei University of Education (MoNTUE), with a tentative date set for December.
Praised as Taiwan’s Venus, the marble sculpture portrays a young woman, with a calm yet confident countenance, standing upright with her head tilted slightly backwards and both hands holding either side of a large shell behind her.
"It radiates an uplifting spirit, and is being imbued with the artist's imagination and anticipation for societal progress in Taiwan, marking a new chapter in Taiwanese art history," the Culture Ministry wrote on its Facebook page.
The 1.75 meter tall sculpture was discovered earlier this year, 50 years after it was last seen, by Professor Lin Mun-lee (林曼麗) from National Taipei University of Education and her team, according to the museum.
Lin searched for the work for 20 years. It was donated to the Ministry of Culture in September 2021, exactly a century after being completed and will be included in an upcoming exhibition at the MoNTUE.
"It is an explosive discovery," Lin Chen-ching (林振莖), an assistant research fellow at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, told United Daily News on Friday, upon seeing photos of the newly found statue.
Although modeled after the classic image of "The Birth of Venus," "Sweet Dew" reinterprets the goddess with a Taiwanese female form, ushering in a new art landscape for a new generation, as well as stunning the world with its eye-catching beauty, Lin Chen-ching said.
Created in 1921, the statue, named "Gan Lushui" (甘露水) in Chinese, was the second work by sculptor Huang Tu-shui to be displayed at the Imperial Art Exhibition in Japan, the most prestigious art event in the country at the time, where it received critical acclaim.
Born in 1895 in Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule, Huang was an iconic sculptor and the first Taiwanese artist to participate in the Imperial Art Exhibition in Japan. His works blend modern Western style with traditional Chinese elem
