Well trained in traditional ink painting, YUAN Jai was also once a researcher at Taiwan’s National Palace Museum. Her familiarity with traditional art and its lineage is reflected in her richly colored paintings on silk. Fitting into the category of “art historic,” Yuan’s earlier paintings reminds one of Chinese ink masters such as Dong Qi-chang from the late Ming Dynasty. Yuan, however, has imbued her paintings with fresh new elements. Not only is her sense of color exceptional, her works are both refined and glamorous, making her a modern pioneer in reviving Chinese traditional ink paintings. Her works are also often a mixture of new and old, East and West, presenting a multitude of possibilities that a contemporary Chinese painting could offer.

EDUCATION

• 1941    Native Changsha, Hunan Province, China; Born in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, China
• 1962    B.A., majoring in Chinese Painting, Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
• 1962-1963 B.A. Archeology and History of Art Department, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium
• 1963-1966 M.A., Archeology and History of Art Department, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium
• 1964 Graduate Studies, Pennsylvania State University, USA
• 1965-1968 Pre-Doctoral Studies, Royal Institute for the Study and Conservation of Belgium's Artistic Heritage, Brussels, Belgium
• 1969-1982  Associate Research Fellow, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
• 1983-2001 Research Fellow & Chief, Department of Conservation, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2006
•  ESLITE GALLERY, Taipei, Taiwan

2005
•  ESLITE GALLERY, Taipei, Taiwan

2003
• Mulan Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

2000
• “Yuan Jai”, He Xiangning Art Gallery, Shenzhen, China
• Hanart T Z Gallery, Hong Kong, China; Taipei, Taiwan
• Center for the Arts, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China

1998
•  "Paintings by Yuan Jai", Hanart T Z Gallery, Hong Kong, China
• Lung Men Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan

1997
• "Yuan Jai 1995-97", Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

1995
• "Yuan Jai 1993-95", National Gallery of the National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan

1993
• "Yuan Jai 1993", Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

GROUP EXHIBITION

2005
• "Hsia Yan VS. Yuan Jai", ESLITE GALLERY, Taipei, Taiwan

2004
• "The Yellow Box: Contemporary Calligraphy and Painting in Taiwan", Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
• "Obscured Traces: The Art of Ink Painting after the End of the History of Art", ESLITE GALLERY, Taipei, Taiwan
• "The Multiform Nineties: Taiwan' s Art Branches Out", Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
• "Contemporary Ink Painting and the State of the Ink", Taipei Fine Arts Museum,Taipei, Taiwan
• Lee Mingwei's "Through Masters' Eyes", The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA

2001
• “China Without Borders”, Sotheby’s Galleries, New York, USA
• “Waves Striking: One Hundred Years of Taiwanese Arts”, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei/ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan

2000
• “2nd Shenzhen International Ink Painting Biennial”, Shenzhen, China
• “The Disintegration of Ink Calligraphy”, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Hong Kong, China
• “The Art of the World”, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France

1999
• “Visions of Pluralism: Contemporary Art in Taiwan, 1988-1999”, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China; Mountain Art Museum, Kaohsiung/National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan
• “Nouveaux Reflets de la Terre Natale-Six Peintres de Taiwan”, Taipei Cultural Center, Paris, France

1998
• “Inside Out: New Chinese Art”, Asia Society Galleries, New York /San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
• “On the Edge of Tradition: Broadening the Vision of Contemporary Ink Art”, Dimension Endowment of Art, Taipei, Taiwan