Putting his soul on canvas

One of the most popular painters of the 1970s, Shiy De-jinn (席德進) died before in 1981 at the age of 59, leaving many to speculate on the mysteries of his life and the works he might have done had he not died prematurely.

Accompanying the publication of Shiy's dairies by Unitas Publishing, the National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館) is currently hosting a show of his work, that may cast further light on the intriguing life and art of the painter from China who chose to make Taiwan his home.

The National Museum of History held two large-scale exhibitions of Shiy's work two decades ago. There has been renewed interest in Shiy and his distinctly local flavor, and many public museums and galleries have held solo exhibitions of Shiy's work in recent years.

Shiy, who moved from his hometown in Sichuan to rural Chiayi when he was 23, is most appreciated for a series of realistic oil paintings of the Taiwanese countryside. These are regarded as the best of Shiy's works and are especially valued for being among the first works by a Taiwanese artist to consciously present the natural beauty of the country. Shiy is also among the first to recognize the importance of preserving the cultural heritage in Taiwan.

Apart from landscape, Shiy's portraiture is increasingly celebrated. The small-scale exhibition "Spiritual Realism -- A selection of Shiy De-jinn's Portraits" (寫真神韻: 席德進肖像畫選展), consisting of 13 oil paintings and 24 sketches, focuses on Shiy's portraiture. Mostly on loan from private collectors, the show represents only a small portion of Shiy's works in this genre.

Boy in Red (紅衣少年) is probably Shiy's most famous portrait. According to the article Me and Shiy De-jinn by Zhuang Jia-cun (莊佳村), who modeled the painting and is a painter himself, Shiy painted the portrait while playing records of passionate Latin music, giving the picture sparkling glamour. "It's is youthful, vibrant and wild. It seems that it wasn't me in the painting but the painter himself." Shiy loved the painting so much that he refused to part with it and kept it near him all his life.

Shiy might have agreed. "A successful portrait is finished by the collaboration between the painter and the model. Its success is through the communication of the two minds," Shiy once wrote.

A passionate artist tortured by his closet homosexuality in conservative 1960s and 1970s Taiwan, Shiy is known to express himself through painting beautiful young men. In the current exhibition, however, the majority of the works are of Shiy's artist friends. The sketches and oil paintings of the same subjects are placed side by side to serve as comparisons.

Shiy's portraiture has the uncanny ability to express the consciousness of his models through depiction of their eyes and posture. These models, mostly artists on the brink of success in the 1960s and 1970s, include painters Wu Hao (吳昊), Li Shi-qi (李錫奇) and Chen Ting-shi (陳庭詩), all seem to be looking at their dreams and ambitions, which they later realized. Shiy managed to place them against seemingly simplified backgrounds that express how their minds intently scrutinize the world around them. Shiy's friendship with his models helped him produce these intimate depictions.

The Poet (詩人), a portrait of the reclusive poet Zhou Meng-die (周夢蝶), is another highlight of the show. The beautifully composed portrait, in which the subject placed as if in a state of nirvana, oblivious to his surroundings, is probably the best of the widely-acclaimed literary master who chose a life of poverty and solitude.