Nationalist patriarchy and women painters in Taiwan under the Guomindang

Abstract

The distinctions of works by women artists in Taiwan in recent years are usually linked with influences of feminism and the lifting of martial law in 1987. In truth, women artists in Taiwan have been active since the beginning of the twentieth century and many more became influential after World War II during the period when Madame Chiang Kai-shek and her husbands Guomindang government directed cultural policies. The efforts of these early artists have been neglected in art historical studies because their works were mostly traditional and not innovative. This article will re-evaluate the meaning of these artists in Taiwan art history from alternate perspectives of modernity, namely, the importance of traditionalism in modern art and the role of patriarchal nationalism in defining a national art form.