Taiwan Today

Shiy De-jinn is one of the Republic of China's finest artists in any medium or subject mat­ter. This summer, at the age of 60 by Chinese reckoning, he held what may be his last exhibition. Doctors at the Taiwan University Hospital say he has incurable cancer and only a brief time to live. That has not kept Shiy from his work. He has kept right on painting and went ahead with his one-man show at three galleries. Shiy De-jinn was born in Szechwan Province on the Chinese mainland, became a protege of Lin Feng-mien and was graduated from the Hangchow National Art Academy in 1948. His Taiwan period began with the Com­munist usurpation of the mainland. He taught and painted while coming to realize that the mountains and other landscapes of Taiwan are no less inspiring for the painter than the scenic grandeurs of North China. He has traveled the world and shows Western influences mixed with the great painting style of China. The work above is an oil; that bottom is a watercolor. Shih De-jinn excels in both and is competent in wash drawing and calligraphy.

 

 

 

Shiy studied in the United States for a year and in France for three years. Returning, he found renewed inspiration in the scenes of Taiwan. Although he is perhaps best known as a painter of landscapes, he is also among the very best portrait painters of modern China. He has enjoyed painting young boys, leaving a touch of melancholy in their expressions. Shiy's watercolors are replete with luminous color. His flowers lose the stiff­ness to be found in much Chinese representation. A cri­tic has written that "Each blossom, each leaf, even the stems which pattern much of the surface, have an explosive intensity that immediately competes for the view­er's attention." His other subjects include houses and usual objects of Chinese life. Landscapes are never dull. They have an inner glow that gives mountains and mists a merging wholeness rare in Chinese painting today. His trees reflect centuries of Chinese tradition and his buildings are clearly of Chinese style architecture.

In the view of Shiy De-jinn, "The natural land­scape in Taiwan surpasses that of southern main­land China in variety and at least equals it in beauty. This is the most precious place in south­ western China." The painter has found early morning and dusk to be his favorite times of the day. He leaves city and studio for the mountains that he loves so well and paints so majestically. His art arises from the land and people in the same manner as a long line of Chinese painters stretch­ing back through hundreds of years of history. He will be sorely missed in China, not only for his work but also for an inspiring career of teaching.