Research

The research work of the museum is mainly based on the principles of the museum's operation as a museum of art history. The KMFA's researches can be divided into two main categories: commissioned researches and researches by its own research staff. The first type of researches are commissioned to scholars and experts outside the museum who produce finding reports and papers when the researches complete. Those of the second type are designed and carried out by the research staff of the museum. The researches of the KMFA last year can be divided into the following types based on their orientations:

1.   Research on History of Art Development in Taiwan

In addition to the already established “ Development of Modern Taiwanese Sculpture ”  exhibit room which still continued with further researches on related topics, the museum also launched many research-oriented exhibitions on Taiwan's art development and contemporary arts in order accumulate and compile more historical data of art development in Taiwan. The wealth of collected data can be used to further facilitate future researches. The planning of “Development of Taiwanese Paintings” exhibit room is also continuing and it is expected to start the first exhibition in 2004.

2.   Research on Art Development in Kaohsiung Area:

To keep a detailed record of the art development, the museum has curated a series of exhibitions on related topics, such as the “Gallery for Citizens” and the “Art of Kaohsiung” which included “Hsieh Te-cheng: Inside N.Y. from W.T.C.,” Tsai Kao-ming: A Journey Around Native Soil,” “Chang Chu-chun: Exploration and Reappearance” and “Art of Kaohsiung 2003 － Ink and Mind: Creation without Limits.” All the research data and documents about the works and creating artists gather during the process of exhibition implementation were compiled and integrated into the museum's artist data archive.

3. Research on Collections of the Museum

Researches on the museum's collections were conducted by its research staff and all the research findings were presented to the public in the form of exhibitions, such as the “Impression of the Age—The Museum Photographic Collection.”

4. Research Paper Publication together with the Exhibitions

During the two years from January 2003 to December 2004, the museum published totally 32 research papers along with some of its exhibitions. Among the papers, 28 were written by scholars outside the museum and four by museum research staff.

5. Establishment of Artist Data Archive

Seeing the needs of research on the art history in Kaohsiung, the museum established a national artist archive which contains all its existing texts, such as background introductions, creation concepts and related news clippings about most artists in Taiwan. The archive is intended to build a comprehensive collection files about artist information in Taiwan, which can be applied conveniently for future researches on art history.

6.   Research Commissioned

To facilitate the development of the museum, these researches were commissioned to university scholars. Up to the end of last year, the completed researches of this category include “An Exploration of Taiwanese and Japanese Sculpturing Styles (1895-1945)” by Lee Mei-rong, Associate Professor of the Department of Art Education at Taipei Municipal Teachers College, and “The Application of Calligraphy in Seal Making” hosted by Lin Chin-chung, Professor of the Department of Chinese Paintings at National Taiwan University of Art. There are now two commissioned researches still in progress, the “Calligraphy and Life” by Lin Chang-hu, Dean of the Fin Arts College at Taipei National University of the Arts and “A Study of Sculpturing Art and Education of He Ming-chi” by Wang Hsui-chi, Associate Professor of the Tamkang Unviersity. This year, there will be two research to be commissioned: “Contemporary Sculpturing Art of the Original Tribes in Taiwan” and “A Study on Service Behaviors and Visitor Satisfactory of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.”