A life of good fortune
Among the various ways that Lin Chih-chu brought art into everyday life, his running of a coffee shop most attracted people's notice. A coffee lover, he needed only to catch a whiff of brewing coffee to find his spirits lifting. So as to bring back to his homeland the coffee house culture that he experienced in Tokyo, he opened Peacock Coffee on Kuangfu Road in Taichung in 1965.
At a time when Taiwan's society was still closed and conservative, Peacock Coffee was like a breath of fresh air. Works of art adorned the walls, and carefully selected music played on the stereo. Lin and his wife had even specially chosen the coffee cups, which they brought in from Japan after much thought about matching colors. The cups were white on the inside and blue on the outside and the saucers were blue; both of them had a gold pattern of plants and flowers.
"When the white-inside, blue-outside coffee cups were eight-tenths full, the extreme contrast of blue and brown accentuated the contrast of color and light and naturally drew people's eyes," Lin recalls in great detail. "A dividing band of white around the mouth of the cup made the color of the coffee appear even more beautiful by heightening the contrast with the gold. It made the coffee look richer and more delicious."
With an owner so attuned to aesthetics, it was no wonder that Peacock Coffee was, up until it closed in the late 1970s, the cultural venue most representative of greater Taichung. It was the central Taiwan equivalent of Stars Cafe on Taipei's Wuchang Street.
Although the Lins have been living in the United States for many years, they return to Taichung every year to catch up with old friends. Lin's wife Wang Tsai-chu warmly welcomes guests and at the same time plays the role of database. When trying to put a date on past events, Lin time and again turns to his wife to make certain.
"He's a very impatient person since he uses all his patience in his art," says Wang, who has an elegant air about her. "To make an analogy to musicians, I would say that he definitely isn't the fierce and serious Beethoven, but rather someone more akin to the leisurely Felix Mendelssohn."
There is a sudden cloudburst, and willows on the riverbank blow wildly in the wind. But inside there is a clear rhythm. Lin puts on just-purchased tap shoes, his hand clutching a gentlemanly cane, as he concentrates on the beat and lithely taps out his routine. Romantic, elegant, and happy, Lin's very presence brings joy to this old studio, as have his life of good fortune and the luscious colors of his distemper paintings, from which people find it so hard to turn their eyes.
With its carefully considered color scheme and lively composition, Lin's 1996 work Lichun exudes elegance.
Lin's studio is cluttered with all manner of natural, chemical and mineral pigments.
From a young age, Lin had an understanding of the hardships endured by the middle and lower classes. While attending Musashino Art University, Lin (second from left) and classmates wore beggars' rags to a formal school celebration, ridiculing the upper classes for their ugly pursuit of mammon.
Cool Morning, a composition that centered on Lin's fiancee, was entered in a 1940 exhibition celebrating 2600 years of imperial rule in Japan.