Kim Lim

Green Etching was created by Kim Lim in 1969 and is one of five limited edition prints generously made available by the estate of the artist in support of Tate.

From her studies at the Slade onwards, Kim Lim was equally committed to sculpture and printmaking. Her concerns in her sculptural practice, privileging space, rhythm and light over volume and weight, were mirrored in her explorations as an accomplished print-maker. The two influenced each other, with print-making allowing her to reveal in two-dimensions that which is impossible in the three-dimensional object and visa versa. For example, organic, circular forms in her etchings of the late 1960s and early 1970s were later reflected in a large commission in stone, Spiral III, 1983. In Ladder Series, 1972, Lim uses line and repetition on the etching plate to create ‘ladder’ shapes through negative space on paper. These ‘ladder’ shapes can be seen in her wooden sculpture series, Intervals, 1973, which similarly reveal the value of negative space. The physicality of the wood block or etching plate itself refers back to sculpture; the process of print-making allowing Lim’s vision to transcend mass and push beyond material permanence.

Signed and numbered by the artist.

Prices of the artwork are liable to change. As a limited edition sells out, prices of the artwork are subject to increase and the price will be clearly indicated.

• Artist Kim Lim
• Artwork Green Etching
• Dimensions 59 x 57.7 cm
• Material Etching on paper
• Edition 4 of 20, signed and numbered
• Date of work 1969

Kim Lim’s (b. Singapore, 1936 -1997) early years were spent in Singapore and Malaysia. At age seventeen, she travelled to London to pursue an education in fine art. In 1954, she enrolled at St Martin’s School of Fine Art where she studied under Anthony Caro. Two years later, she transferred to the Slade where she studied sculpture and print-making, taught by the etcher Anthony Gross and lithographer Stanley Jones.

Lim exhibited throughout her career, including being the only female artist exhibited at the Hayward Annual in 1977 and part of the all-female committee at the Second Hayward Annual II in 1978. Her work is part of public collections around the world including Nagaoka Museum of Modern Art, Japan; Tate, UK; National Museum of Art, Singapore; Fukuyama City Museum, Japan; Arts Council of Great Britain, UK and Middelheim Museum, Belgium. Solo exhibitions of Lim’s work include Tate, UK; National Museum of Art, Singapore; Museum of Modern Art Oxford, UK; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK and Camden Arts Centre, UK.