The acquisition of these two major works by the Singaporean-British artist Kim Lim significantly strengthens Tate’s representation of one of the few women sculptors – and the only woman sculptor of colour – to have a sustained career in postwar Britain.
Lim was born in Singapore, then a British colony, of mixed ethnic and cultural heritage (her father’s family had emigrated from China and her mother’s family from Thailand). In 1954, she travelled to London where she studied at St Martin’s School of Art, concentrating mainly on wood carving. She later transferred to the Slade School of Fine Art, where she studied sculpture from 1956 to 1960.
Following her graduation she married the artist William Turnbull and made her home in Britain. Lim had a successful career as a sculptor and printmaker, becoming best known for her minimalist wooden and stone-carved pieces.
Borneo 2 (Steel) is a green-painted version of an earlier wooden sculpture. While the form is abstract, the totemic structure and bird-like top part suggest possible figurative and allegorical readings. Bridge I is one of Lim’s most ambitious sculptures, comprising 31 timber planks that can be arranged in five different permutations, as set out in installation shots by the artist. The work suggests the influence of the architecture and artefacts of ancient civilisations Lim documented extensively on her travels.
Related to these two acquisitions, Sphinx (1959), an important early sculpture, has been gifted to Tate. These works now join the large holding of prints and three existing sculptures by Lim in the museum’s collection.
More information
Title of artwork, date
Borneo 2 (Steel) and Bridge I, 1964; 1976
Date supported
2021
Medium and material
Painted steel; wood in 31 parts
Dimensions
160 x 73 x 45cm; 35.5 x 175.5 x 89cm
Grant
60000
Total cost
192000

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