Lin Show-Yu

Lin Show-Yu (January 31, 1933 – December 31, 2011), courtesy name Mu-Sheng, art names Ding-Shan and Ru-Jieh, was an artist born in Wufeng, Taichung, Taiwan and a descendant of Lin Zi-Biao from the Xia-Cuo branch of the Wufeng Lin family. Lin Show-Yu had been an expatriate artist living in Europe for 30 years since the 1950s. His painting style reflected Piet Mondrian’s influence. He returned to Taiwan in the early 1980s.
==Life==
Lin Show-Yu, courtesy name Mu-Sheng, art names Ding-Shan and Ru-Jieh, was born in the direct line of descent of the Wufeng Lin family. Lin Wen-Cha (Xia-Cuo branch), Lin Chao-Dong, and Lin Rui-Teng were respectively his great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, and grandfather. His father Lin Zheng-Lin was born in Shanghai, China. His mother Wang Ke-Chun was a daughter of Wang Da-Zhen, a vice-director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce in the Qing dynasty. Lin Show-Yu enjoyed a special status in the family since his grandfather and parents doted on him. A year before Lin Show-Yu was born, Lin Pan-Long from the Ding-Cuo branch of the Wufeng Lin family founded the “Wufeng Yixin Society.” Therefore, at his tender age, Lin Show-Yu lived a life of nobility with servants, and learned both oriental and occidental cultures by osmosis. At the age of six, Lin Show-Yu was enrolled at Asahi Elementary School in Taipei (now Taipei Municipal Dongmen Primary School), a Japanese elite boarding school at that time. Then he went on to attend Chien Kuo High School and the Affiliated High School of Taiwan Provincial Teachers’ College.
As Taiwan entered the White Terror period in 1949, Lin Show-Yu was a freshman at the Affiliated High School. His family arranged for him as a stowaway from the Port of Keelung to Hong Kong that year. In 1952, he graduated from Diocesan Boys’ School in Hong Kong and went to the United Kingdom, where he completed the sixth form at Mildert School and enrolled in the Department of Architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster) with a minor in fine arts. During his enrolment at the Polytechnic, Lin Show-Yu was cut off from his family’s financial support because he married his first French wife, which prompted him to consider selling his paintings for a living. In 1958, Lin Show-Yu became a painter represented by the London-based art gallery Gimpel Fils, and staged his first solo exhibition in March of the following year. He thenceforth established a constant presence in the international art scene by the name Lin Show-Yu. Since 1961, when Lin Show-Yu won the Encouragement Award from the Institute of Contemporary Arts, his works had been awarded frequently in the following decade and began to be exhibited around the world.
In 1963, Lin Show-Yu renamed himself Richard Lin and served as a mentor at the Royal College of Art. In 1964, he became the first Taiwanese artist being invited to present his works at the Documenta in Kassel, Germany, one of the most prestigious contemporary art exhibitions in the world at that time. In 1965, Francis Bacon and Lin represented the UK at the Pittsburgh Biennial. In 1967, Lin was selected for the 44th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, the US together with Chu Teh-Chun, Chuang Che, Hu Chi-Chung, Walasse Ting, and Zao Wou-Ki.
During his stay in London, Lin had interacted with many internationally renowned artists. Between 1959 and 1960, Mark Rothko, Lucio Fontana, and Sam Francis visited Lin’s atelier in succession. In 1966, Spanish Surrealist painter Joan Miró praised Lin highly for his White Series. In 1969, Lin moved from London to an ancient castle in the Welsh countryside, where he led an aristocratic life with his second English wife and three daughters. In 1975, Lin terminated his contract with the Marlborough New London Gallery because he was unwilling to adjust his painting style to cater to the market. In the 1980s, Lin returned to Taiwan and continued to pursue his career. In 1982, the Taipei-based Longmen Gallery organized Lin’s first solo exhibition in Taiwan. Featuring his White Series, this exhibition sparked animated discussions on “geometric abstraction” and “minimalism” in the Taiwanese art scene. In 1983, Lin donated his work Painting Relief Diptych to the National Palace Museum, which made him the first living artist to have his work collected by that museum. The donation ceremony was hosted by Yen Chia-Kan, the then Vice President of the Republic of China.
In 1984, Lin declared that “painting is dead” and converted to installation art. In 2002, Lin resettled in Taichung County with his third wife Yen Xiao-Liang. He died of illness in Taichung at 00:22 on December 31, 2012 at the age of 79. According to Lin’s instructions before his death, the funeral arrangements were kept simple. No public memorial service was held. Only the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts was entrusted by his family to issue his obituary notice.
Category:1933 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:Taiwanese people
Category:Artists