Shiy De-jinn favored landscape painting. He once wrote, The reason I insist on painting in the face of nature is because of the changes that occur there. In that kind of atmosphere, magical colors exist that can never be painted or confined as in a studio; it can never be dreamt of by painters who recreate nature.

Shiy went to many places—mountains, rural areas—to create the landscape paintings and sketches of his life journey “Discovering Taiwan.” He never tired from his artistic journey. Completed around 1980, “Old Houses under the Mountains” is tinted primarily in hues of green and purple. The painting illustrates well a couple of quiet and graceful houses located in green high mountains and on the lush green plain.

Let Life Be Beautiful Like Summer Flowers [Written by Odile Chen]

2013 marked the 90th birthday anniversary of the late artist, Shiy De-jinn. To commemorate the artist, Ravenel held two special auctions of work by Shiy De-jinn in the Spring and Fall drawn from an extensive collection of his work—spanning over three decades—amassed by his close friend, Mr. L, calling to mind the memories of countless collectors. Shiy, an artist with an almost celebrity-like status during the 1960s and 1970s, was thrust back into the limelight once more, capturing the attention of collectors and the mass media. This spring, the Finale of Special Auction of Works by Shiy De-jinn: His Close Friend's Collection of 30 Years, will offer one last opportunity for collectors to acquire work from the collection of Shiy De-jinn’s close friend, Mr. L. In addition to witnessing the lifelong friendship of these two special men, the auction—presented in a special three-part format—also underscores the consummate mastery of artist Shiy De-jinn.

The third and final auction features eight beautiful flower paintings, four animal paintings, and fifteen Chinese landscape paintings, along with three small works by Yuan Shu-zhen and others. From Lot 141 to 171, each painting is replete with the reminiscence of Mr. L, and many pieces were created when Shiy stayed at Mr. L’s home in Taichung overnight or on the campus where he worked, representing artistic mementos of the pair’s excursions.

While Shiy was born in Sichuan province, studied in Hangzhou Art Academy, and studied abroad in America and France, he spent more than half of his life in Taiwan, an island full of unique southern scenery. His paintings were also dedicated to Taiwan, where he depicted mountains, flora, fauna, architecture, and its pristine and candid characteristics. The last stage of Shiy De-jinn’s career as an artist is marked by a strong focus on flowers and Chinese landscape paintings. This final auction presents a rare opportunity for collectors to own a piece of some of Shiy’s most magnificent works from an exceedingly unique period in the artist’s life.

Shiy De-jinn: Mr. L's Long-Time Mentor and Trusted Friend

One month before Shiy De-jinn passed away, his close friend Mr. L wrote an article, Born as Bright and Dazzling as a Summer Blossom: My Best Wishes to Shiy De-jinn, which was published in the Taiwan Daily News on July 5, 1981. The article illustrated his lifelong friendship with the artist Shiy De-jinn, who was like family to him. In Shiy, Mr. L saw a great passion for beauty, and he emphasized how Shiy could always discover “something extraordinary from the ordinary”. Several excerpts from Mr. L’s article recall those wonderful memories and offer a window to Taiwan’s past:

“The first thing should be mentioned is his love for Taiwan; and even more, the amazing passion he has for every small aspect of daily life. He loves frequenting Taiwan’s famed food stalls. A young artist used to tell me, ‘If someone wants to know which food stand has the best street food, Shiy is the man to talk to!’ His love for Taiwan ranges from its forests, villages, old courtyard houses, quaint temples, water buffaloes, egrets, mountains, rice fields, flora, to its countless fruits. The more ordinary something is, the more appreciates it.”

“Artists back then were young and naïve. They complained that the branches of Taiwanese acacia were too disheveled; rice field looked too dull; the mountains were situated too close to each other; water buffaloes looked dumb; the colors and designs of temples were too gaudy; banyan trees always looked the same year round; kapok trees appeared to be too sparse, and so on. Meanwhile, Shiy De-jinn was chewing on sugar cane from Puli, eating Tainan milkfish soup, and lying out on the beach all night to create art. At last, he came to a realization through his unbridled love for Taiwan and down-to-earth attitude that, in fact, a majestic aesthetic was hidden within this ‘ordinary’ scenery all along.

“He portrays the wild groves on the beaches, the kapok on the streets, wild water buffaloes, cottages in the middle of rice fields, Taiwanese acacia on the hillsides, and more. Not only did he find rich aesthetics in these ‘ordinary’ subjects that Taiwanese artists hesitated to acknowledge, he even captured their unique astonishing quality.”

In taking a closer look, Mr. L could identify the reason behind Shiy De-jinn’s success with deep understanding. He highly regarded the artist’s love for the land and his intense, unyielding commitment and dedication. Mr. L, Shiy’s long-term patron, often traveled back and forth between the north and south to spend time with the artist, whom he considered like family. Mr. L was a treasured friend who was at Shiy’s side the day he passed, helped carry out necessary funeral arrangements, and later established a charitable fund with several friends. Their lifelong friendship shall never be forgotten.

Seeing Flowers through Modern Eyes: Extolling Life and Power

In the lots of the final sale, in addition to Shiy’s masterful Chinese landscape paintings, it is worth noting the artist’s ingenious and creative ideas that are seen everywhere in the floral paintings which are full of vivacious images that are pleasing and charming.

In his opinion, “Paintings that purely focus on the floral theme only can be found in Chinese paintings. In western paintings, the flowers in the vase have been altered and arranged by man. However, Chinese respect nature and enjoy pursuing the beauty of it.” Shiy determined to transform the practices of his predecessors and give the flower a new life through a pair of modern spectacles with different materials through which the floral paintings were bestowed a new meaning. He stepped away from what classical Chinese paintings usually depict—such as plum blossoms and peonies—and instead chose local flora as his subjects, such as flame trees, Chinese sacred lily bauhinia, canna, coral bean flowers, cyclamen, salvia, poinsettia, and even the ordinary luffa flower, all of which show unparalleled beauty.

The author, Shiy Mu-rong, was entranced by Shiy De-jinn’s flower and commented, “What adjectives could I use to describe the flowers he portrays? The white orchard and red flame tree are presented with a kind of femininity; the dark and light green leaves feel like a kind of tender dream in which they seep into the paper. While the white flowers are graceful and fragrant, the red fine petals are heavy and solemn. The artist extols life with a merry ease and verve and articulates this sense of dynamism through everything roaring in nature with just the right amount of power.”

Shiy De-jinn once included a line from a poem by Tagore into his colored ink painting: “Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves.” This line resembles a snapshot of Shiy’s life. Life is short, and youth is not eternal. However, by cultivating himself, the artist constantly revisited the spring of life and, through art, made the flower of life blossom in its most splendid season.

The Entire Creation of Your Life Is One Big Piece of Art

Taiwan is Shiy De-jinn’s other hometown, and he appreciated the myriad changes of this island. He created many widely acclaimed landscape paintings in the later stage of his career. Shiy De-jinn once described his style of landscape painting thusly: “I don’t need to recreate what others have already attempted.” Instead, Shiy fully expressed his own art in a painstaking and innovative fashion. The aesthetician Chiang Hsun’s comment “Shiy De-jinn painted Taiwan into China’s tradition of landscape paintings” speaks clearly for his important accomplishment that cannot be overlooked.

In his youth, Shiy De-jinn received training for traditional works of art, western sketching, oil painting, pastel, and watercolor painting, and he deservedly earned his place in the Chinese art circle. Early on in his career, he focused on portraits and paintings of local landscape to show his passion for life, and he also began shifting his attention to reform Chinese painting. Later, he established a unique style of watercolor painting that underscores the accomplishments of his lifelong pursuit in art, leaving behind a splendid chapter in art history.

Shiy De-jinn used to say, “The entire creation of your life is one big piece of art.” In retrospect, it is admirable that the artist left abundant aesthetic thinking and creative insight behind during his 59 years of life. His art left behind a path that traces his artistic journey, and his work wrote his biography. The three-part series of the Special Auction of Works by Shiy De-jinn: His Close Friend's Collection of 30 Years is like a carefully crafted short novel that marks the wonderful and sincere friendship between the artist and his dear friend.