A study of the influence of the government policy and the fine arts museums on the contemporary visual arts in Taiwan from 1949 to 199

This research focuses on how the KMT government's art and culture policies influence the development of modern art and the public fine arts museums in Taiwan. There are seven chapters in this dissertation. In the first chapter, this researcher introduces the background of Taiwan, the growth of Western modern art in Taiwan, and current issues in Western art museums and Taiwan's public fine arts museums.;In the second chapter, this researcher analyzes Taiwan's political, social, economic, and diplomatic issues, and discusses how the constitution, the Executive Yuan, the Statute of Social Education, and the Council for Cultural Planning and Development influence the policies on art and culture. The main issue in the third chapter is to discuss the development of Taiwan's contemporary visual arts.;In the fourth chapter, this researcher examines the museum's role in society, the history of museums, the social education halls, and the cultural centers in Taiwan. Issues of Taiwan's public fine arts museums are stated in the fifth and sixth chapters. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum was founded in 1983. The Taiwan Museum of Art was established in 1988. The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts was opened to the public in 1994. The debated issues in these museums are the scholarly or political-oriented operation of the museums, how the museums define Chinese modern fine arts, and how the museums deal with the deficit of the low rank in the bureaucratic system.;In the final chapter, there are seven suggestions for present art and culture policies in Taiwan. The suggestions are: the government needs to respect the value of art and fine art museums in society; the level of the public fine art museums in the bureaucratic system must be advanced; "Regulations of Museums" and "Regulations of Art Education" need to be passed by the Legislative Yuan; improvement of the art education systems and the cultivation of museum professionals is imperative; the functions of collection and research in art museums needs to be reinforced; the influence of political ideology and confrontation on art museums must be decreased; exclusiveness and protectionism must be decreased significantly if Taiwan wants to learn how to run art museums based on Western experience.