Watercolor Wonders
Anew exhibit for the summer at the Maridon Museum features 22 watercolors by the late Taiwanese artist Ran In-Ting.
The exhibit is possible because of a loan from a friend of the museum who wishes to remain anonymous.
This private collection has never been on public display.
Ran was born in 1902 near Yilan on Taiwan's northeast coast, according to the Maridon.
From age 3, he showed an unusual interest in creating things of beauty and was always mixing anything colorful in water.
His father, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty in China, first taught Ran ink painting as a child, and he reportedly painted his first picture at age 13. By age 18, his skills had garnered him a position as an art teacher in a public school.
After several years of teaching, he began to study painting with western-style Japanese watercolorist Kinichiro Ishikawa. He spent several years studying in Tokyo and France.
Chinese painters used only brush and black ink for thousands of years, but Ran believed in the use of bold color like the French impressionists chose.
He developed his own techniques to mix colors using jade powder, granite, limestone and other minerals plentiful in Taiwan.
He came up with the idea to use sugarcane as a brush. He would chew on the stalk and wield it to achieve the effect of bamboo.
He stamped all his work with a red image of the ting, a three-legged bronze ceremonial vessel. The symbol for “ting” happens to be the third character of his name.
Ran did not believe in art just for art's sake, according to the Maridon. He believed that a painting must give the viewer a sense of beauty and must be easily understood.
The exhibit will continue through Aug. 31 at the Maridon, 322 N. McKean St. The museum, marking its 10th anniversary this year, features a collection of Asian art and pieces of German Meissen porcelain.
<B>WHEN: Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays<B>WHERE: </B>322 N. McKean St.<B>INFO:</B>724-282-0123 or visit maridon.org.
