Ink wash painter Lee Yih-hong (李義弘) passed away on Nov. 13 at the age of 82. Upon hearing this news, Culture Minister Shih Che offered his condolences. The Minister commended the artist for his contribution, saying that Lee’s paintings are full of pioneering spirit and that he transformed traditional ink paintings into a way of expression with contemporary visual imagery.
Born in 1941 in Xigang District (西港區), Tainan City, Lee studied in the Fine Art Department of the National School of Arts and graduated in 1966. He then taught at Keelung Municipal Zhong Shan Junior High School (中山國中) and Da-de Junior High School (大德國中). Having been mentored by famous painter Chiang Chao-shen (江兆申), he consequently focused his career on creating. From 1984 to 2007, he taught at the National Institute of the Arts (now Taipei National University of the Arts, TNUA).
Starting from traditional ink wash painting, Lee’s works blended his interest in photography and personal traveling experiences, creating natural landscapes full of literati moods and sentiments. He had published a book titled “Nature and Painting (自然與畫意).” In his later years, he developed paintings with a sense of three-dimensionality and spatial structure, which established a unique style of modern ink wash art.
The acclaimed painter’s works were collected by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, National Museum of History, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts.
His contributions and accomplishments were widely recognized as he was the recipient of multiple awards such as the Sun Yat-sen Art Creation Award (中山文藝創作獎) in 1980 and the Wu San-lien Award (吳三連文藝獎) in 1983. Besides, he also received an honorary doctorate from TNUA in 2017.