周瑛畫旅 ............
山外山
周林長 我的父親 民國十一年生
一個福建西部山中 唸過教會幼稚園 讀過聖經 極有可能被培養成牧師的的客家少年
為了婚姻自主 於長汀縣城初中畢業後 離家出走 走出了大山（民國二十八年）
周林長 原是祖母希望 聖母媽祖 林默娘 能庇祐成長之意 可留家鄉守業守家
自出走後
改名 周瑛 號 亞南
因家中不告知生日 為證件故 自選國父誕辰為生日 從此每年此日放假慶祝
周瑛 變成了個英氣勃勃刻苦追求藝術與燦爛人生的永安師範藝術科一年級的文藝青年學生
師範三年畢業後（民國三十一年）先後於龍岩中學明溪中學任職美術教師
抗戰勝利後考入福建師專藝術科 民國三十七年畢業 與同校史地科女友吳菊英女士赴台
任教於台北師範並短期任教於政工幹校
民國三十九年二月十日於北師附小禮堂舉行結婚典禮
自此居住於和平東路北師校內 並歷經台北師範 師專 師院時期共四十年
至民國七十七年教授退休為止
育子女六人 教導培育中小學美術教師無數
以上是家母周吳菊英女士口述年輕時的周瑛
當然家母也是老師 來台後在北投中學教英文 北師附小（短期）大安初中國中教地理至退休 亦是桃李無數
民國四十四年後我當了周家的兒子排行老四 才有我親身認識記憶感知的周瑛 點點滴滴 歷歷在目
當然 還要等到民國四十八年我三歲半後 ...............
他............ 一面教我一面說 媽媽要生弟弟囉要學會自己扣扣子囉 ............ 几乎每晚家中學生穿流不息高談闊論評畫改
畫眉飛色舞 ............ 偶而籃球場上雙手胸前投籃 ............ 乒乓桌前和學生拚球的亂髮............大禮堂導話劇弄佈景...........
和我們扛著籐椅去操場看大白布電影............................ 電影放映反光中抽新樂園的臉.............. 颱風來襲前一會儿映著異
常淒美晚霞一會儿狂風暴雨的老紅樓前........... 站在房子屋頂接著三兄弟一路傳上竹梯頂的舊磚瓦石壓瓦片............. 領著
我們用學校報廢的爛乒乓桌板長板凳木板釘封住殘破的宿舍格窗................夜裏風雨狂嘯站在菜油燈盤或燭光前映在蚊
帳上晃動的守夜背影 ............ 永遠跑在腳踏車後扶著推著加油指點非常有勁直到六個小孩都教會（當然數十年後才知他
不會騎）........... 經常深夜黎明前熬夜為了貼補家用畫著紡織布樣設計圖案彎著的背...........非常厚的黑框大眼鏡....... 冬天
穿藍布長棉袍加白圍巾旁邊圍著一堆學生.......... 暑假帶草帽或帶斗笠一面釣魚一面水彩寫生微笑的嘴角........................
當然還有我或哥哥們提著的兩個大奶粉罐 一個洗筆一裝魚................................他喜歡啍聖母頌也愛聽卡門.......... 他喜歡
James Dean（不難想像） ............喜歡評電視中演員的演技.......舞蹈的身段......戲劇的奇妙段落.................................他也會
一直告誡想從事藝術的我................藝術是很難的............................
山外山是我在今年（2013）九月十六日才發現的命名
在他 1996 也是最大的一張畫背後親筆寫下的畫名（原以
為是無題） 這張只在台中國美館個展及過世後北師大禮堂紀念展展過 我整理遺作近兩年 他藝術生命的每一個段落
的的思考活力與表現 每每讓我驚嘆不已 不斷的前進登高又不斷的再創高峰 作品呈現現代風貌和中國文化底蘊的美妙
融合
1996 年的 < 聚 > 180x240 公分 和 2002 年夏季後他最后兩張一黑一白的多媒材作品 < 聚 > 均為 120x120 公分
似章非印 如篆又如甲骨 極至化的呈現了另一大器象相 （此作品畫後有聚 94.3 字樣 但非 1994 年亦非民國 94 年西元
2005 年應是寫上草稿完成日而非畫作完成日） 1994 年時他仍著迷於 < 木之讚 > 系列 家中畫室並無此作品 2003 年起
身體狀況已不佳 無法如 <石之頌 > 與 < 木之讚 > 兩系列般將 < 聚 > 擴大成另一大系列 實在令人惋惜 ................< 聚 >
二張作品 罕為人知.......... 此次將展出 ......................... 另外 家父永安師範福建師專時之素描水彩木刻部份作品寄回長汀
老家由我叔炳榮冒險密藏保管數十年
至大陸開放後才輾轉托人送至台北 非常珍貴 也將首次與世人見面 準備近
兩年為了此次展覽 但仍無法將他所有作品一一呈現 只能將他各時期畫作適量展出
讓世人多了解些這位低調心誠
的藝術家
山外山
周瑛畫旅
道盡了他一生對家庭對學生無盡艱苦責任的承擔 也映照出他對藝術永遠的癡情堅持
一條挑戰自我藝術高峰的征途
人外有人 天外有天
山外山
山外永遠有大山
謹以此文獻給我認認真真的父親和母親
周子荐（周健）寫於歷史博物館展前
2013.9.20
Over the Mountain: CHOU Ying’s Art Expedition
CHOU Lin-chang, my father, was born in 1922.
A Haga mountain lad from the western part of Fujian, my father was schooled in a church
kindergarten and had the Bible in mind. With the biblical education he received, he was very
likely to become a pastor.
To fight for his freedom of marriage, far away from home he went, venturing outside of Dashan
after he finished junior high school in Changting County in the year of 1939.
CHOU Lin-chang was a name invested with expectation from my grandmother, a fondly mother
in the hope that her son would grow up peacefully to maintain family honor under the blessing of
Heavenly Holy Mother Mazu, LIN Moniang.
With determination, he left his hometown.
He changed his name into CHOU Ying, and nicknamed himself Ya-nan. Not being informed of
his birth of date, he made the birthday of Dr. SUN Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic
of China, his date of birth on application for official certificates. Hither he celebrated his
birthday with the whole nation every year.
CHOU Ying became an enthusiastic and dedicated art student and set out on his quest for art on
entering the Department of Fine Art, Yongan Teachers College,
Three years later (1942), he left Yongan Teachers College and taught art at Longyan and Mingxi
Middle School in turn.
After the War of Resistance against Japan, he gained admission to the department of Fine Arts,
Fujian Superior Normal School. In 1948, he graduated and came to Taiwan with Ms.WU Ju-ying,
his girl friend and co-worker who taught history and geography.
He then taught at National Taipei Teachers College (now the national Taipei University of
Education) and took a short-term teaching post at School for Political Warfare Officers (now the
Political Warfare Cadres Academy, also known as Fu Hsing Kang College).
On February 10th, 1950, he got married. The wedding ceremony was held in the chapel at Taipei
Normal School Affiliated Elementary School.
From then onwards, he lived on the campus of National Taipei Teachers College in Heping East
Road. For forty years, he saw the transition of the campus from Taiwan Provincial Junior
Teachers College to Taiwan Provincial Taipei Normal College and then to the National Taipei
Teachers College. In 1988, he retired from his departmental professorship.
He had six children and cultivated a great number of middle and high school art teachers.
Above is the young CHOU Ying portrayed in the narrative given by my mother, Ms. CHOU WU
Ju-ying.
Like my father, my mother was a teacher. After arriving in Taiwan, she had taught English at
Beitou Junior High School and for a short time at Taipei Normal School Affiliated Elementary
School. She then taught Geography at Daan Junior High School until her retirement. It is beyond
doubt that students benefited from her teaching are numerous.
I was born in 1955 as the fourth son in my family. It is at this moment that the vivid image of
CHOU Ying started to take shape in my memory. I remember every moment with him like it
happened yesterday.
Surely, it is not until 1959 when I was three-and-a-half years old that all my memories of my
father became vivid and began to take root. . . .
All the flashbacks I have of him. . . . He told me Mother was pregnant with a baby boy while
teaching me how to button up my shirt. . . . Nearly every night, students streamed in and out of
our house for his comments on artwork and instruction on painting. So rapturously he enthused
over the subject of art. . . . For one time on the field he shot a basketball with both hands. . . . For
another time with hair running wild, he played table-tennis with students, fully engaged in the
game. . . . In the auditorium, he directed a play and set the stage scenery. . . . To an outdoor
cinema on the sports field he took us, all of us carrying a bamboo chair on our backs. During the
showing of the film, I saw him puffing on a New Paradise cigarette in the dim light. . . . Before
the coming of a typhoon, we stood in front of the Red house, awed by the melancholic beauty of
sunset that alternated with the howling wind and torrential rain. . . . Standing on the roof, he
fixed the tiles with the old bricks passed to him in turn from me and my two brothers who were
standing on a bamboo ladder. . . . It was he who taught us how to patch up the shaky window
frames of the faculty dormitory with the wood boards of table tennis tables and long benches that
were declared unserviceable by the school. . . . By the wavering light of a cooking oil lamp or
candles, we saw on the mosquito screen his silhouette when he kept a vigil in the night of a
howling storm. . . . He taught all of his six children how to ride a bike, never failing to urge each
one on by running and pushing the bike hard from behind. Not until a few decades later did we
realize the fact that he did not know how to ride a bike. . . . More often than not he would stay
up, bending his back while drawing textile and graphic design to earn extra income. . . . The pair
of large black thick-frame glasses he wore. . . . The blue cotton padded robe and white scarf he
wore in winter when surrounded by students. . . . The smile he wore on a fishing and watercolor
painting excursion in summer with a straw or bamboo hat . . . and me or my brothers who carried
two big milk buckets, one for washing brushes and the other for keeping fish. . . . He liked to
hum “Ave Maria,” so did he enjoy listening to “Carmen”. . . . He adored James Dean
(unsurprisingly). . . . He was fond of evaluating the acting of television stars. . . . the figures of
dancers. . . . . an fantastic episode in a play. . . . To me, who planned to go into the field of art,
he would always say, “The road to the art world is never easy and smooth.”
This August, on September 16th (2013), I came across the title “Over the Mountain” on one of
my father’s paintings. On the reverse side of this largest painting that was completed in 1996, I
found the title given under his hand. (It was thought to be untitled.) It had only been displayed in
the solo exhibition at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, and exhibited in the
auditorium of National Taipei University of Education. For nearly two years I have been
compiling my father’s artwork. His vigorous intellectual performance in every phase of his life
never ceases to amaze me—his artistic creation mounts upwards, and it keeps moving upwards
when you think it has reached the peak. Off he goes, plowing on with his quest of another
culmination. In his artwork I find the fascinating combination of modern spirits and Chinese
culture. The Reunion series shows his innovative and profound artistic characteristics. This series
includes one work that was created in 1996 (180x240 cm) as well as his last two multi-media
works (120x120cm) —one black and the other white—that were completed in the summer of
2002. The profoundness of these works is highlighted by its singular style, which gives a
seeming impression of inscription in the image of calligraphy similar to oracle bone and seal
script. On the back of this work I find a numerical mark, 94.3, which, I believe, represents
neither 1994 nor 2005 (94 on the ROC calendar). It is very likely the complete date of the sketch
rather than that of the work. In the year of 1994, he was still occupied with and fascinated by the
Ode to Wood series, which I did not find in our home studio. From 2003 onwards, his health
started to fail, which prevented him from expanding the Reunion series into a large one like Ode
to Stone and Ode to Wood. It is indeed a great pity. . . Two pieces of the Reunion series, which
were known to few, will be displayed this time. Also in this exhibition are some sketches, water
paintings and woodcut prints that my father made during his time at the Department of Fine Art,
Yongan Teachers College. My father had sent them back to Chanting, and my Uncle Bing-jung
secretly kept them for decades and went to a lot of trouble to send them to Taipei after the ban on
visiting mainland China was lifted. Thanks to him, these precious works will make their first
public appearance to the world. For about two years I have dedicated myself to the preparation
for this exhibition. Yet, I must confess my incapability of presenting to the world a whole picture
of my father’s art. What I can do is to show the world the representative artworks from different
phases of his life. In so doing, I hope the world will understand more about my father, the
dedicated and low-profile artist.
Over the mountain, no words serve better to portray his full dedication to his family and students.
Neither can other words reflect better his everlasting love of art.
CHOU Ying’s art expedition is a Herculean task he endeavored to complete with grim
determination.
Over the mountain are people who have overtaken us when we think we are the first to reach the
peak. Over the sky is the infinite firmament that we fail to perceive with our eyes. Over the
mountain are more mountain peaks for us to conquer.
To my devoted father and mother
Written before the exhibition at National Museum of History by C. Jessy Chou
2013.9.20