Lin Kegong (; 1901 – 1992) was a Taiwanese modern artist.

Biography

Lin was born in Banqiao during the period of

Japanese rule in Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-J ...

, into the Lin Ben Yuan Family. He was first educated in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

's St Stephen's College. From 1921 to 1925, he attended

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

to study law and economics, where he found that he had an interest in art. He joined the Cambridge Arts Society while simultaneously taking alternative courses in the Cambridge Arts College. During his summer vacation, he attended St John's Service Arts College to further pursue his interest in art. Upon graduating with a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1925, he was admitted to the David Slade Arts College at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In the same year, his artistic works were accepted to the Royal Academy Exhibition in the U.K. In 1931, Lin returned to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

to hold his own exhibition. Afterwards, some of his works, including “The Naked Body” and “The Beauty Under the Moon” were selected to be part of the 5th and 6th section of the Taiwan Arts Exhibition. In 1937, he was appointed as the headmaster of the Arts College. In 1949, Lin Kegong returned to Taiwan via

. At Liang Dingming's invitation, Lin began his teaching career in the Arts College of Political Warfare School in 1956. In 1973, he became a member of the jury at the

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial ( Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

and in 1991, he received the Achievement Reward in the category of Culture and Arts from the Council for Cultural Affairs.

Style

Lin considered music to be an important part of creation. A substantial portion of Lin's works were inspired by his careful observation on the nature and his personal understanding of the relationship between nature and personal life. His approach to brushwork bore similarities to

Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as , meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western styles of art which b ...

, emphasizing the background. Before drawing the whole composition, he typically sketched out the background, which allowed him to complete the structure of the work as a whole.

Works

Lin Kegong's “The Countryside in the UK” is his earliest extant painting. The piece depicts a river in Bristow, UK and the attic scenery of a European building. Attracted by the light's reflection by the river, Lin Kegong used the perspective line disappearance method to show both the immediate and distant views. He also used the size of the crossing waterway and bridge to convey the actual distances. In this work, the leveling method was applied, as in

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

.Commercial Press 2012

Notes

Sources

* Commercial Press. 2012. "Dictionary of Taiwanese History - Lin." http://nrch.cca.gov.tw/ccahome/website/site20/contents/008/cca220003-li-wpkbhisdict001525-0476-u.xml (accessed 4 10, 2013). * Encyclopedia of Taiwan. 2010. "Lin Kegung." https://archive.today/20130708074407/http://taiwanpedia.culture.tw/web/content?ID=4682 (accessed 4 10, 2013) * Kegong, Lin. 2012."Taiwan Teacher." https://web.archive.org/web/20070823095452/http://www.taiwanteacher.tw/utt_cd1/e16.htm (accessed 4 5, 2013). * Taiwan Art Museum. 2012 "Taiwanese Artists - Linkegong." .http://over.tngs.tn.edu.tw/arts/arts-004/arts-004-016/arts-004-016.htm (accessed 4 7, 2013). * 視覺素養學習網. "林克恭". http://vr.theatre.ntu.edu.tw/fineart/painter-tw/limkackeong/limkackeong.htm (accessed 4 12, 2013) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kegong, Lin 1992 deaths 1901 births 20th-century Taiwanese painters

Biography

Style

Works

See also

Notes

Sources