Name Lin Kegong | ||
Lin Kegong (Chinese: 林克恭; Wade–Giles: Lin K'e-kung; 1901 – 1992) was a Taiwanese modern painter.
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Biography
Lin was born in Banqiao into the notable Lin Ben Yuan Family during Japanese rule. He was first educated in Hong Kong's St Stephen’s College. From 1921 to 1925 he studied abroad at Cambridge University studying law and economics. It was during his school life at Cambridge that he began to pay special attention to artistic activities out of his own interest.
He joined the Cambridge Arts Society when taking the alternative courses in the Cambridge Arts College at the same time. He even made use of his summer vacation to learn more about arts at St John’s Service Arts College.
Upon his graduation as a Bachelor in 1925, he was officially admitted by the David Slade Arts College, London University. In the same year, his works were also accepted to the Royal Academy Exhibition in the UK.
Finally in 1931, Lin came back to Taiwan 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 Arts College headmaster.
In 1973, Lin was chosen as the Jury of the Brazil St Paul Biennial Exhibition.
In 1949, Lin Kegong returned to Taiwan via Hong Kong. Out of Mr. Liang Dingming’s invitation, Lin began his teaching career in the Arts College of Political Warfare School, which lasted for seventeen years or so, in 1956.
Finally in the year of 1991, he was rewarded by the Council for Cultural Affairs with the Achievement Reward in the category of Culture and Arts, which became a lifetime honor for Lin Kegong.
Style of the Artist
Thanks to the wholesome environment where he was brought up, Lin Kegong, a highly gifted talent with humble and generous nature, developed his own creation style and living attitude which differ greatly from the public. Lin regarded music as an important part of creation that is sure to induce great impact, when trying his best to pursue the simple nature. Actually, a great deal of Lin’s works was inspired by his careful observation on the nature and his personal understanding in the relationship between the nature and the personal life. All in all, no matter his realistic painting or the abstract works were of unique style of his own.
The color used by artists after the Impressionism is generally rich in its layer and there used to be subtle change with difference.
Brushwork: similar to the Chinese painting, the oil painting is depicted step by step instead of through smearing all around. Branches of the trees, fishing pod, and even the inverted images in the water can reflect the most whether the artist is gifted enough or not. Given Lin Kegong’s case, he attached much importance to the background. As a result, before drawing the whole picture, he was used to sketch the background out. It was also by doing so that Lin was able to complete the structure of the picture in a whole.
Works of the Artist
Among all the heritage of Lin Kegong, “The Countryside in the UK” was the earliest that can be seen by us. In this picture, the beautiful of a river in Bristow, UK was depicted. Attracted by light reflected by the river, Lin Kegong applied the perspective line disappearance method to show the near sight and the distant view. Then he showed the actual distance by means of the size of the crossing waterway and the bridge. In this picture, the leveling method is applied while quite a few marks can be traced out of its subtlety and sensitivity. The vigorous and glossy traces also reflected that such a method is a most widely used method in watercolor painting.
Though not commonly adopted as the theme of the painting, such a painting revealed the attic scenery of a European Building. Passing through the window from outside the house, the light was like the window paper that was embedded on the window inside the classroom and gave us a comfortable atmosphere, enabling all the audience to have a sense of peace and loneliness. Last but not least, a spiritual empty was disclosed because of the skillful dealings of the light on the stair top, intensive bright and dark comparison, and the injection of the shades.