Tong Yang-tze (born 1942), also known as Grace Tong, is a Taiwanese artist. She is one of
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
’s foremost
calligrapher
Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...
s. She is known for creating very large works in a very small studio.
Personal life and career
Tong was born in 1942 in
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
and began practicing art at an early age.
Her study of calligraphy began when she was eight.
She received a fine arts degree from
National Taiwan Normal University
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) is a National university, national comprehensive university in Taipei and New Taipei City, Taiwan.
The university enrolls approximately 17,000 students each year. Approximately 1,600 students are Intern ...
before further
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...
education in the United States at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...
where she received a M.F.A in oil painting and ceramics.
After studying in America she returned to Taiwan and began to take an experimental approach which fused Western theories of painting with the traditional lines and brushstrokes of
Chinese calligraphy
Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely Visual arts, visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held ...
.
From 1990 to 2000 her calligraphy grew increasingly expressive with a lot of influence from traditional painting. Since the late 1990s she has produced a number of works on a grand scale.
Her work pushes the boundaries of traditional Chinese calligraphy as art.
She is the 2020 Wong Chai Lok Calligraphy Fellow at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
.
She has a daughter who works as a
jewelry design
Jewellery design is the art or profession of designing and creating jewellery. It is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7,000 years to the oldest-known human societies in Indus Valley Civilization, Mesopota ...
er.
Exhibitions
In 1997 “The Living Brush” Four Masters along with
C.C. Wang,
Wang Fang Yu, and
Tseng Yuho at the
Pacific Heritage Museum in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
In 1998 at the Michael Goedhuis Gallery in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.
In 2000 at the Mountain Art Museum in Kaohsiung, the
National Central University Art Centre in Chung-Li, and the
National Museum of History
The National Museum of History (NMH; ) is located in the Nanhai Academy in Zhongzheng District, Taipei, Taiwan. After the Republic of China government moved to Taiwan, the National Museum of History was the first museum to be established in Tai ...
in Taipei.
In 2001 at the
City University of Hong Kong
The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...
, the
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991, it was the territory's third institution to be granted university status, and the firs ...
, Goedhuis Contemporary in London, and Goedhuis Contemporary at Sotheby's in New York.
In 2002 at Da-Ai Television in Taipei.
In 2003 at the
National Theater Taipei, the Cultural Center in
Taichung
Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...
, and the County Cultural Bureau in
Hsinchu
Hsinchu (, ), officially Hsinchu City, is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan that is not a special municipality, with estimated 450,655 inhabitants. Hsinchu is a coastal city bordering the Taiwan ...
.
In 2004 at Goedhuis Contemporary in New York, Goedhuis Contemporary at The Annex in New York, and the
Taipei Fine Arts Museum
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM; ) is a museum in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is in the Taipei Expo Park. The museum first opened on August 8, 1983, at the former site of the United States Taiwan Defense Command. It was the first ...
.
In 2005 at Goedhuis Contemporary in New York.
In 2006 and 2008 at Eslite Vision Gallery in Taipei.
In 2009 at the
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA; ) is a museum in West District, Taichung, West District, Taichung, Taiwan. NTMoFA was established in 1988 and is the first and the only national-grade fine arts museum in Taiwan. The major collec ...
, and
Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei
The Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (MoCA Taipei; ) is a museum of contemporary art, located in Datong District, Taipei, Taiwan.
History
The museum building was built during the Japanese rule in 1921 for what became . After the handover of ...
.
In 2020 her piece ''Immortal at the River'' was exhibited at Cornell's
Johnson Museum of Art. ''Immortal at the River'' is a 54-meter-long cursive-script calligraphy of the poem by the same name by
Yang Shen
Yang Shen (; 1488–1559) was a poet in the Chinese Ming dynasty. His courtesy name was Yongxiu (); his art names included Sheng'an (), Bonan Shanren () and Diannan Shushi ().
Yang Shen was the son of Yang Tinghe and originally lived in Chengd ...
which prefaces the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...
. It was created in 2003.
In 2024 she had a commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In media
She was the subject of Wang Yen-ni's
documentary
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
''Solitary Joy''.
See also
*
Art in Taiwan
The artistic heritage of Taiwan is extremely diverse with multiple major influences and periods. Traditionally most arts were practiced for religious or ceremonial purposes. Art was first formalized under the Japanese but did not flourish until th ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tong, Yang-tze
Taiwanese women artists
Taiwanese calligraphers
Women calligraphers
1942 births
Artists from Shanghai
Living people
20th-century women artists
21st-century women artists
20th-century calligraphers
21st-century calligraphers
National Taiwan Normal University alumni
University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni