Eastern Gouache

1988

Length:445.2 x Width:144.4 (cm)

畫心尺寸:(單件:111.3x144.4 全:445.2x144.4),全尺寸:(單件:117.3x150.4x6 全:469.2x150.4x6)

Accession Number：20170300219

Liao Ta-Sheng (b. 1939, Qingshui, Taichung) studied at Taichung Normal School (now National Taichung University of Education), where he trained under nihonga master Lin Chih-Chu (1917-2008). Liao spent many years as a teacher in elementary and junior high schools and developed a distinctive style in nihonga painting. His works have been selected and awarded in numerous provincial art exhibitions, including the Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition, Central Taiwan Art Exhibition, and Provincial Teachers’ Art Exhibition. He has been active in various art associations, including the Central Taiwan Art Association, Niu-Ma-Tou Painting Society, Taiwan Nihonga Association, Taichung County Art Association, Taipei Green Water Nihonga Society, and the Huludun Fine Arts Research Society.
Garden of the Four Seasons is a large-scale polyptych that captures the changing ecology of a park across the four seasons. From right to left, the panels depict spring, summer, autumn, and winter, each characterized by its distinctive trees, flowers, and animals. Liao paints the vegetation in bright colors. The palette shifts with the seasons: spring greens, cool summer groves, autumn reds, and winter plum blossoms. The vertical alignment of trees, layered from front to back, adds spatial depth and a dynamic rhythm to the composition. This work continues the tradition of Japanese-era nihonga (Japanese-style painting), especially in its seasonal themes, its depiction of local flora and fauna, and its rich, saturated colors typical of bird-and-flower paintings.