Chinese Name: 彭瑞麟
Born: 1904
Died: 1984
Birthplace: Hsinchu County (Northern Taiwan)
Peng Ruey-lin was born in 1904 into a traditional Chinese medicine household in Hsinchu’s Zhudong Township. At 15 he took up studies at Taihoku Normal School (now National Taipei University of Education). Around the age of 20 he learned painting from Kinichiro Ishikawa (石川欽一郎), who taught at the school, and later became friends with artists Liao Chi-chun (廖繼春, 1902-1976), Li Mei-shu (李梅樹, 1902-1983), Li Shih-chiao (李石樵, 1908-1995) and Ran In-ting (藍蔭鼎, 1903-1979).
(Peng and his teacher, Ishikawa)
At Ishikawa’s suggestion, Peng in 1928 entered Japan’s premier photography school of the day, the Konishi Professional School of Photography (today Tokyo Polytechnic University) to study photography. During his time there, the dauntless Peng Ruey-lin used the technique of three-color carbon print to shoot a picture of a flower pot still life that was chosen for exhibition by the Tokyo Shashin Kenkyukai (Tokyo Photographic Research Society), which made quite a stir at the school.
Peng showed his perseverance of Hakka spirit in graduating with honors to become Taiwan’s first Bachelor of Photography. His earnestness also impressed the school’s principal, Rinzo Yuki (結城林藏), who taught him the specialized gold lacquer photo technique with which Peng would create “The Women of Taroko (太魯閣之女),” a work that saw him selected for the Japan Photography Fine Art Exhibition in 1938.
(Peng’s work “The Women of Taroko”on a book cover)
Peng Ruey-lin was a master of portrait photography, but whether portraits, landscapes or still lifes, all his work conveys a melancholy but elegant aesthetic mood. Inspired by the trend for western modern photography, Peng’s 1934 scenery series intentionally blurred the images like a painting, giving them something of an early 20th century pictorialism feel.
The greatly talented Peng also took photos of Japanese imperial household officials and even had the chance to take up a palace position or go to the United States for further studies. But while big things were expected of him in Japan, Peng was mindful of his marriage engagement back home and chose to return to Taiwan to marry his intended.
(A portrait photo of a court lady by Peng in Tokyo, 1931)
At the end of 1931, the 27-year-old Peng opened a photography studio in Taipei. During his time running the studio, he actively experimented with various types of photographic techniques from the late part of the 19th century, seeking to combine his skills with disciplines outside of photography like traditional Chinese medicine and X-rays to create a center that would cover medicine, science and imaging.
As well as running the studio, he was also engaged as a photographer for the Taiwan Daily News, Taiwan’s first major media outlet at that time. In addition, he dedicated his energies to teaching photography, sparing no effort to help the next generation and attracting many admiring students. He personally taught photographic techniques, organized exhibitions and encouraged students to submit their work for publication. In May 1945, barely three months before the end of World War II, the studio had the misfortune to be designated as an air raid dispersal site and was demolished.
The upheaval of the war meant Peng had no choice but to temporarily suspend his photography work and turn to practicing traditional Chinese medicine and teaching in order to feed his seven children. In his later years, Peng opened a Chinese/Western medical clinic in Miaoli County’s Tongxiao Township together with his son. He passed away in 1984 at the age of 80.
Like a painter who often paints self-portraits, Peng Ruey-lin also took pictures of himself over the span of many decades. The Peng revealed in his photos appears leisurely, confident and passionate about photography. With his many identities, as photographer, teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, Peng Ruey-lin was a multi-discipline artist with an experimental spirit, a pioneer who blazed a trail for photography in Taiwan.