Chen Jin

Chen Chin (; November 2, 1907 March 27, 1998), also written as Ch'en Chin, was a Taiwanese painter, known for her paintings of women (bijin). She is said to be the first Taiwanese woman painter to earn national recognition. Life and career Chen was born into an affluent family in Kōzan, Shinchiku, during Japanese rule of Taiwan. Her father was an official in the Japanese colonial government. A patron of the arts, he supported his daughter's pursuit of an artistic education, an unconventional path for women at the time. Chen studied at the Taihoku Prefectural Taihoku Third Girls' High School, where she painted for the first time. Under the recognition and encouragement of her teacher, , she went abroad to study painting in Japan. By 1925, she was accepted into the Normal Education Division in Japanese Painting at Tokyo Women's Academy of Fine Arts, becoming the first Taiwanese female artist to study in Japan. She began to study under teachers such as Yuuki Somei and Endou Kyouzou. In 1928, she became acquainted with the Taiwan Art Exhibition juror, Matsubayashi Keigetsu. Through his introduction, she became pupil of the Japanese bijin-ga (美人畫, pictures of beautiful women) painter Kaburagi Kiyokata, and received instruction from Kaburagi’s disciples, Itou Shinsui and Yamakawa Shūhō. In 1927, the Taiwanese government sponsored the inaugural , the Taiwan Art Exhibition. Controversially, out of 92 total participants, three unknown 19-year-old artists were the only Taiwanese artists included: Chen, , and Lin Yushan. The trio became known as the "Three Youths in Taiten" and earned significant media attention, launching their careers. Chen's works were regularly selected for subsequent taiten exhibitions, where she won multiple awards. She later served as a juror at the exhibition.