Ahead of her time: The life and legacy of modern art pioneer Kim Lim

The overarching theme of “The Space Between”, according to Loh, is “on one level reflective of Lim’s formal interests in the negative space and, on another, of her bicultural identity, but also how her artistic practice was formed while travelling between London and Singapore. This fluidity, and the back and forth movement that she enacted, was resonant to encapsulating her identity and practice”. Tan points out, “These spaces are not empty. She used them as a structuring principle, in order to show that they are actually pregnant with possibilities. Even when they are spaces of stillness, they are places where you can rest.”

Trained in London, Lim was deeply influenced by western modernist movements such as abstract expressionism and minimalism, but she also sought to blend these with her own Asian sensibilities. As a result, her work was often more subtle, conceptual, and engaged with the materiality of the medium itself. Whether in her abstract sculptures or her prints, there is a quiet, meditative quality to her work—one that requires deeper engagement from the viewer to fully appreciate its complexity and depth.

The exhibition opens with Lim’s early works, including Samurai (1961), Pegasus (1962), Ronin (1963), and Centaur II (1963), revealing how vertical and architectonic structures were key sculptural forms that shaped her practice. She later moved to industrial materials such as engineered blockboard, steel, aluminium and fibreglass for her sculptures, spraying brightly coloured industrial paint on them to accentuate the geometric precision.

During the mid-1960s to ’70s, Lim started her exploration of light and space. She utilised materials such as wood and aluminium to create basic units that can be arranged to cast varying shadow patterns, as seen in her Intervals series (1973). The series features carefully lit ladder‑like wooden structures, which when propped against walls or laid supine on floors, cast shadows echoing their forms. From 1979, Lim shifted her focus to carving in stone, marking a significant turning point in her practice.

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In the studio at home

As she carved out her own artistic vocabulary and approach, becoming an artist on her own terms, Lim also redefined what it meant to be a working mother. “Her studio was at home, and she worked without assistants, frequently enlisting her sons in preparing or cleaning the tools and the materials,” notes Tan. “There was a kind of domesticity that was also included in the art-making, as oftentimes we tend not to associate the home with the workspace of an artist.” Today, her sons Alex and Johnny Turnbull are both musicians. And her husband was Scottish sculptor William Turnbull. While they both never collaborated on art, they had an appreciation of each other’s work.

“Growing up, everything was quite normal, even though it was actually an unusual upbringing with all the stuff that was in the house,” says Alex, the elder of the two brothers. “But now when we look at her work, particularly the stone works, she created most of them herself. Most artists don’t handle the material themselves, but Mum did. She learnt all of these skills. To think that she cut something so big, so precisely, and then created these beautiful, smooth finishes and contrasts—it’s amazing.”

Johnny, too, gravitates more towards the stone works because “we were more present when she was creating them”. He recalls how his mother worked in their garden. “Her hands were on these objects, with a chisel, a hammer, a file. The connection of the artist to the material is so special. She was an incredible artist. The presence and the power that her works have when you’re in front of them, it’s astonishing. There’s something about how she spent her time, and the feat of making them. They could be ancient, they could be modern, they could be alien, but there was something so timeless and elemental [about them].”

Alex, who is also a filmmaker, is currently working on a documentary on the life and work of Kim Lim. “As an artist, Mum never wanted to be othered, or be seen as an Asian artist, female artist, or Asian female artist. She wanted her art to be judged for itself. Her legacy is in her work,” he says. His first documentary, Beyond Time: William Turnbull (2011) was narrated by Jude Law and shown on BBC4.

“Alex had made [the documentary] about Bill’s life and, fortunately, he did it while Bill was still alive. There was a section about Mum in the film, and it just seemed an appropriate time [to make the film now]. We’ve been thinking about it for a while,” says Johnny, who will be working on a series of compositions for the film’s soundtrack. The brothers, who are joint custodians of the William Turnbull and Kim Lim estates, hope to release the film during Singapore Art Week 2025 in January.

“We already have a trailblazer very early on in our short national history,” says Tan. “Kim Lim is an exceptional artist, with whom we can have a more expanded repertoire of representation—and female at that. And also her spirit and the kind of quiet confidence and determination to sculpture.”

Hopefully, the greater effort to revive Kim Lim’s legacy will lead to a wider appreciation of her innovative approach to art and her place in Singapore’s modernist movement.

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