In 1954, when many of the recently arrived mainlanders were disparaging Taiwanese painting as simply a form of Japanese painting, the always reserved and modest Lin Yu-shan felt compelled to announce his thoughts on the issue. He argued that since ancient times every place and every era had a style of painting uniquely its own.
民國四十三年，對於許多大陸來台人士指稱台灣藝術是「日本畫」，一向溫文謙沖的林玉山表發他的看法，他表示，自古以來每一個時代，每一個地方都有其獨特的繪畫。