The Age of Splendor in the Academic Practice of Gouache Art

　The sociopolitical change in the 1945’s Taiwan had a tremendous effect on the development of gouache art. After the end of WWII, several art schools and departments were founded with a main purpose to train artists as well as art teachers. However, since gouache painting was not included in the curriculum, private studios and tutorship thus became the only possible access to the practice. It made the development of gouache painting particularly difficult, if not possible. It was until 1985, when gouache painting was almost about to disappear in our culture that Tunghai University invited Lin Chih-Chu, who had just retired from National Taichung University of Education, to teach gouache painting in its Department of Fine Art and gouache painting was then included in the academic studies. With more and more art departments and schools offering gouache art courses, gouache art was no longer limited to private training but welcome by the academic system. Meanwhile, exhibition and academic conferences held by different institutions and departments encouraged its accessibility to the whole society. The increasing number of gouache painters and students marked the revival of gouache art in Taiwan.