A talented Taiwanese female artist with a rich artistic sensibility, Lin A-chin was a gouache painter whose works were awarded at the 6th, 7th, and 8th Taiwan Art Exhibitions. In addition to painting, she was also deeply gifted in music and excelled at playing the piano. During her years at the Third Girls’ High School, she studied music under the Japanese teacher Mr. Akao. In painting, she was one of the distinguished disciples of the Japanese master painter Mr. Gōhara Kotō.
Lin A-chin was born on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, beneath a bright and luminous full moon—September 29 in the Gregorian calendar—endowing her with a poetic and refined artistic temperament.
In 1935, she married Mr. Kuo Hsueh-hu at Yuanshan Shrine, an “artistic wedding” that became a major event in Taiwan’s art world. Her dowry included a reed organ, which was later destroyed during wartime bombings. After marriage, she devoted herself to supporting her husband’s artistic career while raising their children, a life marked by considerable hardship. In later years, she took great comfort and pride in the outstanding achievements of her children.
In her old age, Lin A-chin lived with her husband at Ocean View Villa in San Francisco, where she continued to paint and play the piano, spending her later years in peace and harmony.
Her brushwork was imbued with vitality, and her piano playing flowed with lyrical grace. Schumann’s Serenade and Wyman’s Silver Waves were among the pieces she most often played. The platform piano at Ocean View Villa was a gift from her son, Mr. Kuo Song-nian. In the stillness of night, music would drift beneath the moonlight, as if the young girl with braided hair from long ago were once again seated at the piano. If the piano itself had a heart, it too would surely yearn for the elegant figure of that past pianist.