Born in 1908, Guo Xuehu belongs to the first generation of artists in Taiwan who grew up under the Japanese colonial rule and who achieved professional recognition at the annual Taiwan Fine Arts Exhibition (est. 1927). In 1931, Guo Xuehu traveled for the first time to Japan, visiting museums, temples, and artists in Kyoto and Tokyo. He returned to Japan in the 1950s and then moved there more permanently in 1964. In 1978 he settled in Richmond, California, and passed away in 2012 (ADD REF: Ex. cat. 1989 p. 25 + newer cat).

In comparison to a figure such as "migrant," which instantly evokes spatial imaginaries, the figure of an artist is less obviously defined in spatial terms. However, it is well documented that many artists traveled or resettled in search of art education, subject matter, or art markets. More importantly, place plays an important role in landscape and figure painting. It is also evoked through references to an artist's country of origin, nationality, or ethnicity. Art historians, often un-selfconsciously, mobilize these spatial categories when working within an established canon.

This pathway examines Guo Xuehu's early career to illuminate how the artistic infrastructures of the Japanese empire influenced his early development as an artist, and how in turn, his work shaped the boundaries of nihonga and tōyōga (ADD explanation of these terms or reference to other place where I explain them). Moreover, by using Guo Xuehu as an example, it reconstructs the figure of an artist in the Japanese empire in the 1920s and 1930s. 

Questions for the classroom:

• What are the points of convergence and the respective silences in the histories of modern Taiwanese and Japanese art?
• How would Japanese modern art history look like if it featured Guo Xuehu as one of its protagonists?
• Why would art historians of Japan include him in their history? Or shouldn't they (we)?