The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMOFA) has joined the Google Arts & Culture platform, with more than 100 pieces from the museum’s collection, as well as seven special exhibits, on display.
“NTMOFA is the first public art museum in Taiwan to join the Google Arts & Culture platform,” the Taichung-based museum said in a statement last week.
It is among the more than 1,400 cultural institutions in 70 countries or regions that have partnered with Google Arts & Culture — a Google Cultural Institute project — to allow users to search and browse works of art, landmarks and cultural relics online, and learn the stories behind museum collections through digital exhibitions, the museum said.
A total of 150 pieces from the museum’s collection were chosen to be displayed on the platform, including oil, watercolor, gouache and ink paintings, and calligraphy, photography and sculptures, it said.
Unlike viewing exhibitions in person, where audiences must maintain a safe distance from the works of art and might not be able to look at them closely due to the size of a piece, the high-resolution images released on the Google Arts & Culture platform allow users to see them in detail and at a close range, the museum said.
Each piece is accompanied by a description to help viewers understand it, it said.
Lotus Pond (蓮池), a 1930 gouache painting by artist Lin Yu-shan (林玉山), and Tamsui Landscape (淡水風景) and Chiayi Park (嘉義遊園地), created by painter Tan Ting-pho (陳澄波) in 1935 and 1937 respectively, are among the works of art to be included on the museum’s page, the museum said.
Lotus Pond was the “first-ever modern painting to receive designation as a national treasure” in Taiwan, the Ministry of Culture said.
Pieces by Japanese artists such as Kinichiro Ishikawa, who promoted the systematization of modern art education in Taiwan, as well as artists Ni Chiang-huai (倪蔣懷) and Lu Tieh-chou (呂鐵州), and photographers Huang Tse-hsiu (黃則修), Den Nan-gwang (鄧南光) and Hsu Yuan-fu (許淵富), are also featured in the online exhibition, the museum said.
Alongside the images of pieces from its collection, the museum has also prepared seven online exhibitions, including one titled “Nine Artistic Figures from Taiwan that You Should Know.”
Ishikawa, Ni, Tan, Lin and Lu are among the artists included on that list.
Some of the other special exhibitions such as “Explore the Sculpture Park from Your Couch,” “Get on Children’s ‘Imagine Art Spaceship’!” and “Secret Corner in an Art Museum” introduce audiences to the museum’s indoor and outdoor spaces.
The museum has also created a 360-degree panoramic view of its interior with the support of Google Street View, it said.
People who want to view the museum’s Google Arts & Culture site, can visit artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-taiwan-museum-of-fine-arts.
The 360-degree panorama of the museum is available at bit.ly/3n2w5qA.
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