建設巴別塔—試論李石樵的 《建設》及其人物群像畫

Abstract

Between 1945-49, Shi-Chau Lee produced some of his most significant paintings, especially like "The Market" (1946) and "Construction" (1947). Both contain multiple social meanings. But we can also trace back to his earlier works, such as "The Yang’s Family" (1933) in which he expresses his ideas about the kinship or the sense of community, and "The Chorus" (1943) which is a mirror of the condition of social life under the Japanese Occupation. After the end of the World War II, the government in Taiwan was incapable to coordinate the economics and thus caused the serious inflation. In response to this situation, Lee points out the conflicts existing in the society by his "The Market". Then, he created monumental "Construction" which expresses his ideology as for the necessity of constructing the political community in order to ensure social stability. We will center our thesis upon these two paintings and try to show the coherence between the individual political conviction of Lee and his works. We will also examine the social conditions before the 228 Incident to see how the civil society was ruined under the political apparatus. In this crucial historical moment, as an artist, Lee still tried to transmit his conviction by the art works. Through the example, we also attempt to clarify the dialectical relationship between artistic choice of expression and socio-political background.