page_title: Huang Tu-shui
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Huang Tu-shui / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: The Water Buffalo (水牛群像), completed in 1930 by Huang Tu-shui (1895–1930). Plaster cast.
context_page_description: Huang Tu-shui was a pioneer of modern sculptor in Taiwan. From his youth, Huang was familiar with the traditional carving of Taiwan, and was influenced by modern Western styles during his studies in Tokyo. These include the works that were included in the Japanese Imperial Exhibition of 1922, such as Mountain Child Playing Flute. He also went by the names Huáng Tǔshuǐ, Pe̍h-oē-jī, Ng Thóo-Suí.
context_section_description: Huang was born on 3 July 1895 in Mengjia (a.k.a. Manka), Taipei City, now known as Wanhua, and his father was a rickshaw repairman. He was a student at Da Daocheng Elementary School, now called Taiping Elementary School. Huang was trained in Tokyo, and later worked there, when Taiwan was part of the Japanese Empire. Six months after graduating from school, he was sponsored by a Taiwan Governor-General official to study carving at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He was the first Taiwanese student to attend the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, and also the first Taiwanese artist to be participate in the Imperial Art Exhibition of Japan (帝展, Teiten).
  During the last decade of his life, the focus of his works shifted more and more to local Taiwanese motifs, with Huang showing a particular taste for depicting water buffalo, a symbol of rural Taiwan. These works blended modern Western style with traditional Chinese elements. He died on 26 December 1930 in Japan, at the age of 36, after contracting peritonitis.
  Huang is best known for his mural South Land, also known as Water Buffalo, which was completed just before his death. The work is on permanent display at Zhongshan Hall in Taipei, and Taiwanese writer Zhang zhao Xuan has described it as 'a national treasure'.
caption: Huang's last and most famous work, The Water Buffalo (水牛群像; Shuǐniú Qúnxiàng, 1930). Plaster cast, located in Taipei's Zhongshan Hall
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