Description/
To the right of the painting in the foreground, the giant canopy of a tree takes up almost a quarter of the composition. The fiery sun seeps through the leaves to create a stark contrast of light and shadow on the dirt road in the foreground. Under the shade, a woman is walking away from the hospital with a parasol. The Western-style building behind her is Chiayi Hospital, then under the jurisdiction of the Taiwan Governor-General's Office and the first public hospital to be built in the area. Chiayi was very hot and suffered frequent outbreaks of plague and malaria during the Japanese colonial period, so besides providing modernized medical services, Chiayi Hospital also had the mandate of promoting public health policies and preventing epidemics. The hospital did not have its own building complex at first. When Chiayi was scourged during the great Meishan Earthquake in 1906, the Governor-General's Office reorganized the city and constructed a fenced hospital complex in wood on the former site of a Qing-dynasty Confucius temple. Chen Cheng-po's painting here depicts that new complex built in 1906. He outlines in a concise and skillful manner the blend of Japanese and Western architectural elements: the Japanese-style gabled corridor at the entry gives way to a facade featuring Western-style windows and roofs.
Bibliography/
- Chunxi Wang, “A Study on the Architecture of Taiwan Governor-General's Hospital during the Japanese Colonial Period” (Master's thesis, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, 2002), 2-3, 2-20.
- Shuchin Zheng, “The Development of Western Medicine in Chiayi during the Japanese Colonial Period— Focusing on Chiayi Hospital (1895-1920)” (Master's thesis, Graduate School of History, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, 2003).
- Chongray Hsiao, "Ilha Formosa! The Lush Forests and Trees of Taiwan as Portrayed by Chen Cheng-Po," in Nostalgia in the Vast Universe: Commemorative Exhibition of Chen Cheng Po, ed. Huifang Wu and Meichen Tseng (Kaohsiung City: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, 2011), 18-24.
- Anonymous author, “Chiayi Hospital.” Digital Taiwan, Taiwan e-learning and Digital Archives Program
- Qingyan Zhang, “Three-Dimensional Photography—The Front Door of Chiayi Hospital.” Digital Taiwan, Taiwan e-learning and Digital Archives Program
Foliage (Chiayi Hospital)
1934
Materials & Techniques：Oil on canvas
Dimension：80x100 cm
Private Collection
Location:Chiayi Hospital (today's Chiayi Culture Plaza, surrounded by Wenhua Rd, Beirong St., Xingzhong St. and Minquan Rd., , East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan)
