Popularization of paintings through book and magazine covers: the literary and artistic practice of painter Wu Yaozhong
CHEN Jui-Hua (Translated by Mon WONG)
[excerpts]
How to define a painter’s status in art history? By his or her award records, affiliating art group, the style s/he pioneers, or the impression and effects generated by the painter’s paintings among the viewers? In Taiwan’s art history, Wu Yaozhong (1937-1987) is probably the painter whose artworks have been most widely circulated. During the Debate over Taiwan Native Literature in the late 1970s, his paintings were used as numerous prominent writers’ book covers, while in the early 1980s, with the opening up of political discursive space, he painted cover arts for many publications of political commentaries and dissident magazines. Within the ten years from 1975 to 1984, Wu’s paintings were introduced through book and magazine covers to a whole generation of youths who loved arts and literatures.
Author’s biography
CHEN Jui-Hua [陳瑞樺] is an assistant professor of Sociology at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Translator’s biography
Mon WONG is a freelance translator.