The Lee Brothers Studio was set up in 1910 at 58-4 Hill Street.[1] It was part of an extensive photographic enterprise run by a large Cantonese family with the surname of Lee from Small Yellow Earth ViIlage (Siu Wong Nai Cheun) in Nam Hoi county of Guangdong province in China.[2] The studio was particularly known for its skills in studio portraitures, as it was able to capture the characteristics of the camera’s subjects in a natural and subtle manner.[3] The studio’s clientele consisted of families from different ethnic communities, and included well-known personalities such as Lim Boon Keng and Sophia Blackmore.[4] These photographs now serve as visual reminders of the migrant society of Singapore in the early 20th century.
Before the founding of the Lee Brothers Studio, brothers Lee Tat Loon and Lee Tit Loon had already established Kuan Heng Photo Studio and Koon Sun Photo Studio in Singapore. Their younger brother Shui Loon later started Tin Seng Photo Studio.[5] The Wah Heng and Co. was set up to supply photographic materials.[6] Tat Loon and Tit Loon then went on to establish photographic studios in Perlis, Penang and Kuala Lumpur on the Malayan peninsula, and even in China.In a 1932 company ownership document filed with the Registrar of Companies, it is indicated that the family owned seven studios in different parts of Southeast Asia at the time.[7]
The Lee Brothers Studio was set up by Lee King Yan, who was the eldest son of Tit Loon. Shortly after, second brother Lee Poh Yan joined him.[8] As a family-run photographic studio, the three-storey shophouse doubled as the family home of the families of the two brothers. It housed business facilities such as storage, reception, studio and darkroom, while the families’ living quarters were located behind the second floor office and work area.Customers would be photographed in the third floor studio, which was equipped with painted backdrops and with props such as furniture that could be retrieved from the first floor storeroom.[9] With these facilities, the brothers could create a natural setting that closely reflected the characteristics of the camera’s subjects. As the art of photography was considered a trade secret at the time, it was only the brothers and their sons who handled the camera and processed the plates. Their employees worked as retouchers, finishers and mounters.[10]
King Yan opened another studio, the Eastern Studio, at Stamford Road in the early 1920s and left the business at Hill Street to Poh Yan.The shophouse at Hill Street was acquired for redevelopment in the 1930s and Poh Yan moved the business to St Gregory’s Place. The Lee Brothers Studio permanently closed with the advent of World War II.[11]
References
1. Singapore and Straits Directory (p. 169). (1910). [Microfilm: NL 8000]. Singapore: Printed at the Mission Press.
2. National Heritage Board. (1994). From the family album: Portraits from the Lee Brothers Studio, Singapore 1910–1925 (p. 7). Singapore: Landmark Books for National Heritage Board. Call no.: RSING 779.26095957 FRO.
3. National Heritage Board, 1994, p. 23.
4. National Heritage Board, 1994, p. 11.
5. National Heritage Board, 1994, p. 8.
6. Quah, I. (Interviewer). (1994, May 17). Oral history interview with Lee Hin Meng [MP3]. Singapore: National Archives of Singapore. Call no.: NAS 001487/3.
7. National Heritage Board, 1994. p. 7, 8, 19.
8. National Heritage Board, 1994, p. 11.
9. Quah, I. (Interviewer). (1994, May 17). Oral history interview with Lee Hin Meng [MP3]. Singapore: National Archives of Singapore. Call no.: NAS 001487/1.
10. Quah, I. (Interviewer). (1994, May 17). Oral history interview with Lee Hin Meng [MP3]. Singapore: National Archives of Singapore. Call no.: NAS 001487/2.
11. National Heritage Board, 1994, pp. 12, 18; Untitled. (1923, January 3). The Straits Times, p. 8.
The information in this article is valid as at 2014 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.