Born: 1936 Singapore
Died: 1997 London, England
Year of Migration to the UK: 1954
Biography
Sculptor and printmaker Kim Lim was born to a family of Chinese descent in Singapore on 16 February 1936. She spent her early years in Singapore and the Malaysian states of Penang and Malacca. In the summer of 1954, at the age of 18, Lim relocated to London to study at St Martin’s School of Art (1954–56). However, feeling stifled by the school’s curricular emphasis on life drawing, she transferred to the Slade School of Art (1956–60). There, under the guidance of etcher Anthony Gross and lithographer Stanley Jones, she developed a strong dedication to printmaking. As a student, she was deeply influenced by the work of sculptor, Constantin Brancusi, stating that he embodied ‘the kind of sculptural experience that until then [she] had only encountered in earlier periods of art,’ (Sotheby’s).
From the early stages of her career, Lim was far more captivated by the potential of abstract form than by naturalism, which was a prevalent philosophy of sculpture in British art schools at the time. Undeterred, she pursued her unique abstract language outside of formal classrooms. In 1966 she held her first solo exhibition at London’s Axiom Gallery, showcasing painted wood and steel sculptures defined by flat abstract shapes. Lim’s wide range of interests and influences embraced archaic sculpture, Eastern philosophies, and religion, knowledge of which she deepened during her travels. In her work from the 1960s, she employed wood and steel to craft timeless forms, referencing mythological entities to place names and cultural icons. In the 1970s, she underwent an aesthetic evolution in both her prints and sculptures, striving to convey a sense of infinity: her sculpture series Intervals and Interstices showcased repeated, machine-like patterns, extending beyond their form.
Lim garnered significant recognition in London and across the UK. She exhibited at renowned venues, including the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1975) and Tate Gallery (1977), notable achievements at a time when non-white artists in the UK faced particular challenges in showcasing their work (Loch 2018, p. 36). She was the sole non-white, female artist featured at the First Hayward Annual in 1977 (which was presented in two parts), alongside luminaries such as Frank Auerbach and Kenneth Martin. The following year, Lim joined the groundbreaking all-female selection committee who chose the exhibits for the second Hayward Annual. In 1979 an inaugural retrospective of Lim's work took place at the Roundhouse Gallery in Camden and, in 1982 Lim's work featured in the survey show, British Sculpture 1951–1980, held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Critics frequently equated Lim’s pieces with the works of influential sculptors of her time, drawing parallels between her art and that of William Tucker and Philip King.
From 1980 onwards, Lim turned to stone-carving, while still producing prints and filling sketchbooks with nature-inspired drawings. With her husband, the sculptor and painter, William Turnbull, she travelled to countries such as China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Egypt, Malaysia, and Turkey, ever observant of art and nature, and keenly attentive to human diversity. Kim Lim died in London, England, in 1997. In 2020, a posthumous exhibition titled Kim Lim: Carving and Printing, highlighting her fascination with the interplay between these two practices, opened at Tate Britain. Today, her work is represented in the UK public domain in numerous collections, including the Arts Council Collection, Contemporary Art Society, Government Art Collection, Southampton City Art Gallery, Tate, and The Hepworth Wakefield.
Related books
- Joleen Loh, 'The Photographs of Kim Lim: A Visual Essay', Art History, Vol. 44, No. 3, 2021, pp. 532-552
- Joleen Loh, 'Relocating Kim Lim: a Cosmopolitan Perspective', Southeast of Now, Vol. 2, No. 2, Oct 2018, pp. 33-62
- Jenni Lomax, Mel Gooding, Martin Holman and Antoni Malinowski, Kim Lim (London: Camden Arts Centre, 1999)
- Michael Archer, 'Obituaries: Kim Lim 1936-1997', Art Monthly, No. 213, 1 February 1998, p. 17
- Mel Gooding, Kim Lim (London: Waddington Galleries, 1990)
- Hetty Einzig, Kim Lim, exh. cat ( Harrogate: Arcade Gallery, 1983)
- Hetty Einzig, Kim Lim: Sculpture, exh. cat (London: Nicola Jacobs Gallery, 1982)
Public collections
Related organisations
- Slade School of Art (student)
- St Martin’s School of Art (student)
Related web links
- Elena Crippa, 'Kim Lim', Tate Etc, 24 September 2020
- First Hayward Annual, 1977
- Kim Lim and the All-Female Hayward Annual Committee of 1978
- Kim Lim estate: Official Website
- Kim Lim, from the film 'Beyond Time - William Turnbull'
- Kim Lim: Sculpting Lives podcast, Paul Mellon Centre for British Art
- Sotheby's: Kim Lim Profile
Selected exhibitions
- Kim Lim: Carving and Printing (solo exhibition), Tate Britain, London (2020)
- Kim Lim, S2, Sotheby's, London (2018)
- Kim Lim: Carvings (solo exhibition), New Art Centre at Roche Court, Wiltshire (2014)
- Kim Lim (solo exhibition), Camden Arts Centre, London (1999)
- British Abstract Art Part 3: Works on Paper (group show), Flowers East, London (1996)
- Journeys West (group show), University Gallery and Firstsite at the Minories, Colchester (1995)
- Kim Lim, Waddington Galleries, London (1990)
- Kim Lim, Arcade Gallery, Harrogate (1983)
- British Sculpture 1951–1980 (group show), Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1982)
- Kim Lim: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints (solo exhibition), Roundhouse Gallery, London (1979)
- First Hayward Annual (group show), Hayward Gallery, London (1978)
- Kim Lim (solo exhibition of prints), Tate Gallery, London (1977)
- Kim Lim: prints (solo exhibition), Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1975)
- British Sculpture out of the Sixties (group show), I.C.A., London (1970)
