Yang Yu-Yu (1926-1997) was born in Yilan, Taiwan. Yang’s parents moved to Beijing for business when he was still a child, and he enrolled in school there. After graduating from middle school, he went to Japan and took the entrance examination for the Tokyo School of the Arts, but returned to Beijing during the turmoil of World War ll, where he enrolled in the Art Department of Fu Jen Catholic University. Later, he entered the Department of Sculpture at the Accademia di Bele Arti of Rome, Italy, where he studied under the supervision of Pictro Giampoli (1898-1998). Recommended by Giampoli as the first Taiwanese member, Yang was invited to join an “Italian Association for Bronze Coin Making Artists.”

He was later forced to leave his parents and went back to Taiwan. Here he enrolled in Taiwan Provincial College of Education (now National Taiwan Normal University). Yang studied traditional painting techniques, architecture, and sculpture in Beijing, Tokyo, Taipei, and Rome. Over an art career spanning more than 60 years, he held numerous large and small solo exhibitions and dozens of joint exhibitions. Yang saw the modernization and internationalization of Taiwan art, and his art works were the leading force for innovation. Collectively, they mirror the development of Taiwanese modern art.

While Yang was in charge of artistic design for Harvest Magazine, he portrayed the simple and honest lives of people living in Taiwan’s traditional agricultural society. When Taiwan’s economy began to expand, he began to devote himself to landscape development for a number of public spaces, becoming a pioneer in public art in Taiwan. His use of stainless steel in his sculptures showed his respect for both nature and the arts, and many of his works have now become local landmarks.