HUNG TUNG

HUNG TUNG
(1920-1987 | TAIWAN)

Hung Tung was born in 1920, in a small fishing village near Tainan, in the south of Taiwan. The land was poor and people’s lives were very hard. Hung Tung’s father was dead when he was born and his mother died when he was four. With no money in the family he could not go to school, and began working at a very young age, keeping cows, carrying water, doing any small job to earn money. At 17 or 18 he left the village to find a job in Kaohsiung, the biggest city in South Taiwan. He went back to the village in 1945, after the island was handed over by Japan to China. He married and had three sons and two daughters, but continued to rely on small jobs in the village to earn a living and support his family. When Hung Tung was fifty years old, he decided he would become an artist. One day, he simply told his wife he was going to devote his life to painting. His wife did not understand his motives and others in his village simply thought he was mad. 

HUNG TUNG
(1920-1987 | TAIWAN)

Hung Tung è nato nel 1920 in un piccolo villaggio di pescatori vicino Tainan, nel sud del Taiwan. La sua terra natia era povera e la gente viveva di stenti. Entrambi i genitori morirono quando Hung Tung era piccolo. Iniziò a lavorare rinunciando alla scuola, svolgendo piccole mansioni per guadagnare spiccioli e mantenersi. All’età di 18 anni lasciò il villaggio per trovare lavoro a Kaohsiung, la più grande città nel sud del Taiwan. Tornò al villaggio nel 1945, dopo che l’isola venne consegnata alla Cina dal Giappone. Si sposò ed ebbe 3 figli maschi e 2 figlie femmine, ma continuò a sopravvivere grazie a piccoli lavori nel villaggio. A 50 anni decise che sarebbe diventato un artista. Un giorno disse semplicemente alla moglie che voleva dedicare la sua vita alla pittura. Sua moglie non capì le motivazioni e lo credette pazzo.