臺灣雕塑家黃土水（1895-1930），出生於日治時期的臺灣，後來赴日本學習近代雕塑，並且入選日本官展。黃土水當時在日本雕塑界相當活躍，以具有臺灣特色的題材為創作主題，成為了臺灣近代美術之先驅。作為最早的臺灣近代藝術家，關於黃土水研究，1980年代之後在臺灣已經有相當的研究成果和討論。但是，由於資料的限制，以往研究缺少細緻分析黃土水作品與日本近代雕塑之潮流，以及東京美術學校裡的雕刻教育之間的關係。本文以這次新發現的一、二手資料為基礎，探討黃土水在日本留學時期的早期活動，以黃土水所學習的「近代雕塑」之內容和背景，試圖完整且正確地把握他的創作生涯。黃土水在東京美術學校裡，一方面認真從事以高村光雲為主導的，江戶時代以來之木雕修練，一方面學習如雕塑、西洋雕刻家的大理石石雕等，積極學習西方雕塑之新技術。到日本留學之前，黃土水已經具有臺灣漢人文化的傳統背景，然而，他面對日本大正時期雕塑界的變化，也開始摸索具有現代性的臺灣主題。明治時代以來，日本近代美術史重視日本古代佛像藝術，這也可能是1920年代初，黃土水在文章中否定臺灣過去的文化，並主張臺灣藝術現代化的背景之一。然而，黃土水這樣的主張，某方面和當時的日本對於「臺灣文化」的言論有了表面上的相似。黃土水的創作活動中所追求的，也是期望建立有臺灣特色的藝術。但是，這些追求現代性和臺灣特色的言行，也具有和日本統治者的看法相同的共通點。黃土水一方面因為在日本帝展舞臺上展示有臺灣特色的作品而受到肯定，但另一方面也可以認為是，臺灣在帝國絕對的優勢下，這些活動符合了臺灣作為一個「地方」收歸於帝國內部的過程。

Taiwanese sculptor Huang Tu-Shui (1895-1930) was born in Taipei under Japanese rule. He went to Japan to study modern sculpture and he was selected for the Imperial Art Exhibition in Tokyo. He not only succeeded in the world of sculpture at that time in Japan, but, as he chose Taiwanese motifs for the main subjects in his creations, Huang Tu-Shui was also a pioneer in Taiwanese art. As one of the earliest modern Taiwanese artists, studies and discussion of Huang Tu-Shui have already developed to a certain extent in Taiwan, especially since the 1980s. However, due to the limitations of materials and records, past studies were not able to fully analyze the relationships between Huang Tu-Shui's works and the elements of Japanese modern sculpture or the influence of his education in sculpture at the Tokyo Fine Arts School. This paper, based on several primary and newly found secondary sources, inquires into Huang Tu-Shui's early activities during his school days in Japan, as analyzing the background and substance of the “modern sculpture” that he studied, aims to accurately comprehend his artistic career. At the Tokyo Fine Arts School, Huang Tu-Shui worked some in the study of traditional Edo-style wood sculpture begun by Takamura K un, simultaneously also learning the skills of westernstyle sculpture, such as modeling in clay and sculpting in marble. Before he came to Japan, Huang Tu-Shui was close to traditional Chinese culture in Taiwan, but when he faced changing trends in Japanese sculpture, he also began to seek more modern Taiwanese motifs. From the beginning of Japanese modern art history in the Meiji era, ancient Japanese arts and sculpture were greatly respected; this might be the appropriate background for the consideration of Huang Tu-Shui's denial of the Taiwanese culture of the past and advocacy of the modernization of Taiwanese art at the beginning of the 1920s. This attitude of questing modernization and seeking out of characteristics of Taiwan in the fine arts was similar in certain aspects to the attitudes of some Japanese intellectuals during the colonial period. Huang Tu-Shui exhibited several works having Taiwanese motives in the Imperial Art Exhibition and came to prominence. On the other hand, in Taiwan under the dominance of the Imperial Japanese forces, his activities also were in accord with the process that Taiwan was included in the Japanese Empire as one of its regions.