Jhuang Jhe was born in 1934. His father Jhuang Yan was a former deputy director of the National Palace Museum. Jhuang graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University in 1958 and became an important member of the Salon de Mai. In 1960, the artist replaced a figurative painting style with an abstract one. He would spread the paint from the center to the left and right to compose a picture. He used fewer and fewer harsh drawing lines, but smooth and tender ones. He also applied more ink wash and large areas of paint in his works. By 1963, however, he developed a tendency to paint a heavy, composed picture instead of a flowy, carefree, romantic one. The thick heavy lines in his works, which are supposedly painted with a broad brush, convey certain metaphysical strength. Such strength is concentrated although under-toned. It brings forward a grand vision. Jhuang tried to add sentences from ancient Chinese poetry to his works in 1956, but soon gave up on the attempt. In retrospect, since Jhuang started to pursue “oriental abstraction” in the 1950s, he has not made major changes to his expressive approach, which is abstraction, although he had experimented on a variety of things. He basically sticks with modern abstraction to express or capture the spirit of Chinese landscape painting. Such is also his life-long artistic pursuit. It can be said that, from the 1950s until the 1980s, Jhuang has not changed much when it comes to pursuing the abstract form. It should also be noted that, although he expresses the spirit of Chinese landscapes through an abstract approach, he has been largely inspired by oriental calligraphy in terms of lines and composition.

Abstraction for Jhuang is a way to bring all elements together in a painting. By integrating various elements from nature and his inner thoughts through an exact use of colors and fine texture, Jhuang comes up with an “orientalized abstract artwork” and a “westernize landscape painting.”

While his father worked for the National Palace Museum, Jhuang was able to appreciate works by master artists as a small child, and learned with renowned painters Liu Er-shi and Huang Yi. After he graduated from the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, Jhuang joined the Salon de Mai when modern art was being promoted in the art community of Taiwan. Young artists of this time felt they were responsible for reforming traditional Chinese painting. Like most fellow artists, Jhuang also thought about how to combine Chinese painting with western art. He quickly accepted abstract impressionism as his main artistic approach. However, while he is basically a painter of the abstract school, he doesn’t care what kind of an artist he is at all. Be it abstract or not, what really matters is how to deliver the artist’s thoughts. In all, Jhuang is dedicated to bringing tradition into modern painting. He also reflects the nature a lot in his artworks. By integrating various natural elements at once, he manages to express oriental philosophy in a western visual style.