Taiwanese artist ran in-ting watercolors blend traditional scenes and modern techniques
When Mary Pixley discovered a sequence of watercolors by the late Taiwanese artist Ran In-Ting in the MU Museum of Art and Archaeology’s collection, she was struck by their beauty.
“They were masterpieces, and I required to sharing them with our community,” said Pixley, associate curator of European and American art for the museum.
The result is “Ran In-Ting‘s Watercolors, East and West Mix in similes of Rural Taiwan,” nine watercolors and four black ink paintings on show through mid August.
Ran, considered a national treasure of Taiwanese art, formed works that blend traditional Eastern art and current Western art. Born in 1903, he studied work of art in the late 1920s with Japanese watercolorist Ishikawa Kinichiro.
In 1959, the Chinese government awarded Ran the National Art Prize, the maximum honor an artist can be given at that time in that country. Ran died in 1979.
It is the first time the museum has shown these Oil paintings by Ran. They are part of 25 paintings donated to the museum by Howard Rusk Long, a lifelong Columbian who trained in the Missouri School of Journalism from 1940 to 1950, according to in order from the museum. He perhaps discovered Ran’s work when he traveled to Taiwan in the late 1950s, Pixley said.
One of the watercolors, “Dragon Dance,” shows the thrilling performance of a traditional Chinese dragon dance.
Another watercolor, “Market Place,” shows a conventional Taiwanese market. The pressure of Western art can be seen in the composition of the work. The large, white tents imitate the influence of modern art as they express the beauty of blank space, Pixley said.
Ran frequently used a painting techniques called layering, Pixley said. “Layering watercolors on top of each other is very tough to do,” she said.
paddies seem to harmonize with the curves of the mountains, and the painting is made more beautiful by the fluid variegation of color in the sky, Pixley said.
“Bus Stop” invites the viewer to be a part of its composition and explore the everyday sensations of waiting for the local bus. The people stand out thanks to the washed-out background. Each individual is depicted with a great amount of detail with different colors a complex task for a watercolorist, Pixley said.
She said the exhibition reveals why Ran is recognized as an exceptional watercolorist and solitary of Taiwan’s most famous artists. The watercolors show his mastery of the fluid medium and his endless originality.


















