Watercolor

1986

Length:54 x Width:78.5 (cm)

Chien Chia-Chu (b. 1938, Dapi Township, Yunlin County) entered Taichung Normal School (now National Taichung University of Education) in 1956, where he studied under Lin Chih-Chu (1917-2008) and Chang Hsi-Ching (1909-2000). In 1962, he enrolled at National Taiwan Normal University, receiving instruction from noted artists Liu Wen-Wei (1931-2022), Chen Yin-Hui (1931-2024), and Lee Tze-Fan (1907-1989). He later taught at Taichung Normal School and was active in several art associations, including the Central Taiwan Fine Arts Association, the Taiwan Watercolor Painting Association, and the Tai-Yang Fine Arts Association.
Red Dress (Fantasy of a Third-Year Fine Arts Student) portrays a female model, then a junior in the Department of Fine Arts at Tunghai University, seated sideways in a chair, her head resting on her hand in quiet contemplation. Executed in opaque watercolor with thick application and richly layered colors, the work achieves an effect reminiscent of oil painting. The folds of her garment are used to articulate her posture, while the green background intensifies the vivid red of her dress. Direct light falls across her face and arm, heightening the contrast and drawing attention to these areas. The composition reveals Chien’s emphasis on detail and chiaroscuro, blending the Fauvist tendencies of Taiwanese painters since the Japanese colonial period with a strong preference for dramatic light-and-dark contrasts.

Accession number:20160100003