HONG KONG.- Bonhams presents a retrospective exhibition of 30 rare works by the renowned Taiwan-born minimalist artist Richard Lin (1933-2011). Open to the public, the exhibition – Richard Lin Show Yu | A Retrospective of Major Works from the 1950s to 70s – runs from Monday 18 March to Saturday 30 March 2019 at Bonhams Hong Kong gallery at One Pacific Place, coinciding with Art Basel in Hong Kong.

Following the first European retrospective exhibition of Richard Lin held in October 2018 at Bonhams London, the upcoming exhibition features works from the artist’s estate as well as a selection of works from important private collections.

Among the collection is 1.3.1964 – Painting Relief, an exceptional work that was exhibited as one of only three major works at the leading contemporary art show documenta III in 1964 in Kassel, Germany, which will be unveiled in Asia for the very first time. Richard Lin was the first Chinese artist ever to feature at the hugely important documenta projects.

This piece will later be offered at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art sale in Hong Kong on 27 May, 2019 (refer to the department for the estimate).

Born in Taiwan in 1933, Richard Lin was schooled in Hong Kong and the UK before studying architecture and fine arts in London. Graduating in 1958, he quickly made his mark with solo shows including his first solo show at Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in 1958 and represented Britain in the leading contemporary art show, documenta III in Kassel in 1964. Influenced by Western abstraction as well as traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, Lin gradually developed a highly reductive and formal minimalist style in pursuit of simplicity and balance. The emergence of his White Series during the 1960s established this unique style and redefined the artist’s interpretation of Chinese landscape painting.

Recent pieces sold at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art sale on 26 November 2018 included two sourced directly from Richard Lin’s estate – Painting Relief (1961) which sold for HK$3,940,000 against a pre-sale estimate of HK$1,000,000-2,000,000 and Untitled (The Black Sun) (1958-1960), selling for HK$3,460,000, against an estimate of HK$850,000-1,250,000. A third piece, Untitled (1967), sold for HK$2,000,000, against a pre-sale estimate of HK$650,000-850,000.