Shiy De-jinn

Shiy De-jinn 席德進 (1923–1981; pinyin: Xí Déjìn) was a Chinese modernist artist who became prominent in Taiwan. Born in Sichuan, he was a student of Lin Fengmian and Pang Xunqin. Fleeing the CCP to Taiwan, he lived there until his death. He has attracted interested as a nativist and, especially posthumosuly, as a queer artist.

His works are held at Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

Life
His father Shiy Bingwen (Chinese: 席丙文) was the mayor of city and run a side hustle of salt industry, which gave Shiy a wealthy family. He entered a private school when he was 5 years old, studying ancient Chinese books and painting. He studied in Chengdu Shishi Tianfu High School (Chinese: 成都石室天府中學) then transferred to Fecheng High School (Chinese: 甫澄中學) and won first prize in school painting competition. After graduating from high school, he went into Chengdu Textile College and got in touch with Matisse and Picasso’s artworks because of Pang Xunqin. (Chinese: 龐薰琴)

Later he transferred to National Art Vocational School in Shapingba (Chinese: 沙坪壩國立藝術專科學校), Chengdu, Shiy studied under the guidance of Lin Fengmian and had interactions with renowned artists such as Zao Wou-Ki (Chinese: 趙無極), Chu Teh-Chun (Chinese: 朱德群), and Li Zhong-Sheng (Chinese: 李仲生). After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the National Art Vocational School relocated back to West Lake, Hangzhou, and Shiy followed Lin Fengmian (Chinese: 林楓眠) there.