Richard Lin (British, 1933-2011), (Lin Show-Yu)
林壽宇14-MAY-1959
1959

signed, titled and dated 14-MAY-59 on the overlap; signed, titled and dated 14-MAY-59 on the stretcher
oil on canvas

127 x 76.3 cm (50 x 30 in)
注脚This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by The Estate of Richard Lin Show Yu.

Provenance
Marlborough Fine Art, London
Ernő and Ursula Goldfinger Collection (acquired in 1960 from the above)
Private Collection, UK (by descent from the above)
Sale: Olympia Sotheby's 20th century British and Ireland art, 23 November 2005, lot 198
Private Collection, UK

林壽宇
14-MAY-1959
油彩畫布
1959年作

背面簽名：14-MAY-59
背面畫布框簽名：14-MAY-59

此作將收錄於由林壽宇藝術資產正籌備編篡的《林壽宇作品編年集》

來源
倫敦馬博羅畫廊
Ernő and Ursula Goldfinger收藏 (約在1960年購自上述畫廊)
英國私人收藏 （由其家屬繼承）
拍賣: 倫敦奧林匹亞蘇富比，「20世紀英國與愛爾蘭藝術」，2005年11月23日，拍品編號198
英國私人收藏

Master of Minimalism - Richard Lin

Richard Lin's creative evolution can be divided into three periods. Having experimented with representational paintings at first, Lin increasingly simplified his approach to a more reduced, paired down aesthetic starting in the late 1950s. Repetition, serenity, and creative endurance form the basis of Lin's artistic cultivation. He has once stated, "Stillness is very important to me. Painting is my religious expression. It's my altarpiece, something untouched by human hands. Therefore, all gestures disappeared."

Richard Lin's disciplined pursuit of simplicity and balance is made evident by the time he spent on many of his works. The present lot 17, Cadmium Green, characterized by cool abstraction and subtle introduction of yellow and green lines of various weight, depicts surrounding landscapes which are reduced into linear abstractions. After many years in London's buzzing artistic scene, Lin decided to move to the farm Gwynfryn in Wales in 1969 to seek a more tranquil and spacious work environment. Cadmium Green depicts the recurring influence of landscapes seen in his compositions from the 60s and the 70s after his "White Series" and after his move to the rural west Wales. Lin painted pastoral scenes of fields and flowers, and the boundless meadows, in his own unique landscape style through a linear construction. Using masking tape, Lin creates yellow and green lines with awareness to his bodily stance, exuding attentive energy, force, grace and freedom. What results is a geometric simplification of line and equalization of texture at first glance, which transition into a mesmerizing composition with a sense of the sublime upon closer inspection. Appearing on the market for the first time in more than forty years and coming from a private collection, Cadmium Green serves as an epitome of Lin's abstract landscapes.

Vertical in orientation, 14-May-1959 (lot 18) is characterized by Lin's distinctive use of black oil pigments and early experimentation with his lyrical abstraction series. Each variation of black paint oscillates between absence and presence depending on its surroundings and environment. Cascading washes of black in subtle tonal gradations, the present lot exuberates a deeply contemplative cosmic aura and radiance, drawing viewers to the darkest black strip of the canvas. Drawing inspiration for his works from unconstrained and infinite force of nature, Lin highlights the energetic essence of the universe, especially the idea of the eclipse, which is central to Lin's oeuvre as seen in his Sun and Moon series.

What initially appears as a two-dimensional canvas, is actually a composition of a multi-dimensional space, displaying connections with the "three distances" in Chinese landscape paintings – flat distance, high distance and deep distance. 14-May-1959, the effect is created through variating tonal gradations of black, highlighted with accents of faint white and gold. Advancing and receding in a multi dimensional space, each subtle difference creates an optical effect of multiple layers on a flat canvas. Reminiscent of Chinese ink and wash methods in traditional shanshui landscape paintings, the present lot highlights Lin's unique approach to Western oil painting reabsorbed through a Chinese philosophical mode of thought.

14-May-1959 was previously collected by couple Erno and Ursula Goldfinger, who acquired the painting from Marlborough Fine Art in London circa 1960. Erno Goldfinger was a Hungarian-born architect and furniture designer, who moved to England in the 1930s. A leading figure of the Modernist architectural movement, Goldfinger was influential in designing tower block housing, characterized by geometric and functional concrete forms. The couple realized the appeal of Lin's canvases, gathering similarities to the artist. Executed in 1959, 14-May-1959 displays Lin's mathematical precision in forms and his early experimentation with geometric abstraction. Here, we have a composition that is minimal in a holistic and unitary effect. It is this sense of wholeness that is fundamental to Lin's oeuvre, which is captured with a fluid sensibility in the present lot.

極簡主義大師 – 林壽宇

林壽宇的創作歷程可分為三個階段，從嘗試具象繪畫創作後，便在50年代晚期快速發展出更去蕪存菁，簡約的美學。林壽宇的藝術靈感源自心境的穩定和持續的創作練習。他曾經表示：「對於我而言，靜止是十分重要的。繪畫是我的信仰表現，是我的祭壇畫，某種未曾被凡人之手碰觸過的事物。因此，所有的姿態皆消失不見。」

在許多林壽宇的作品中，可以看見他在藝術上追求純粹性和平衡感的意念。此作繪於他離開倫敦後，定居格威弗林莊園的期間，是林壽宇突破西方單點透視的限制，用線條來詮釋東方對自然奧妙的理解，層疊的線條產生多角度的視野與東方對宇宙多重空間的理解相互交映。大自然的奧秘在林壽宇巧妙的創作方式下表現的淋漓盡致。《鎘綠》拍品編號17體現了當時林氏身處的田園風景，運用黃色及綠色的線條，巧妙佈局出延展俯瞰視野的水平線，最終畫面呈現由線條縮影的林氏山水風景。經過四十餘年，這件來自私人收藏的作品首次現身藝術市場，《鎘綠》實為林壽宇抽象風景的經典之作。

此幅直幅構圖的《14-May-1959》拍品編號18是林壽宇罕見使用黑色油彩創作的代表作之一，抒情抽象時期的重要作品。不同深度的黑色顏料反映出在畫布空間的空無和存在感，展開了虛空與存有之間的對話。漸層的黑色暈染，細緻地分出深淺層次，本拍品充溢著深度冥思的宇宙靈氣與光輝，將觀者帶入無限深沉的黑線空閒裡。大自然不受限制，無窮盡的能量是林壽宇的創作靈感，特別是「蝕」的概念，如同在其「日月系列」中所展現的宇宙能量，是林壽宇一直以來創作的中心思想。

一開始看似是二次元的畫作，事實上是多次元空間的結構，呈現中國山水畫裡「三遠」之間的聯結—平遠、高遠、深遠。這件作品中，距離的效果是藉由黑色的深淺色調變化鋪展而成，其間綴以細微的白與金。進退於多次元空間之內，每一處難以捉模的差異，都在畫布上創造出多層次的視覺效果。彷若中國傳統山水裡的水墨渲染技法，本拍品突顯了林壽宇透過中國哲思轉化而來，進行西方油彩繪畫創作的獨特路徑。

本拍品來自於厄諾與烏蘇拉．葛芬格（Erno and Ursula Goldfinger）伉儷的收藏，他們在1960年前後在倫敦的馬博羅畫廊購藏此作。厄諾．葛芬格是位匈牙利出生的建築師暨家具設計師，他在1930年代移居英國。作為現代主義建築的領導人物，葛芬格在集合式住宅大樓的設計方面具有相當的影響力，其設計的特色為幾何性與功能性的水泥結構。葛芬格夫婦在林壽宇的作品裡找到共鳴，領會他們與藝術家之間的共通之處。繪於1959年，本拍品涵納林壽宇數學般精密的形式與藝術家早期關於幾何抽象的實驗所得。在此，我們看見了一幅完整自足的極簡畫作。這份完整性正是林壽宇藝術的核心，以一種流動的情感形式呈現在這件作品裡。