Chen was well-traveled and often painted the people she met and places she visited. Around 1960-61, Chen went on a painting trip to the east coast of Malaysia. East Coast Vendor depicts a Malaysian rambutan seller with two children, dressed in colourful local costume. Bathed in strong tropical sunlight, the figures are painted in flattened forms, with little shading and shadow. Physical dimensions of original: 920 x 730 mm.
Inverted Y is representative of Poon’s early practice during the period of training in the United Kingdom and the early 1970s when he first returned to Singapore. The use of shaped canvases on which Poon explores the relations between shades of the same colour and geometric forms through balance and...
PR8-G6 on 6P Waves is a fine example of Poon’s relief wave-paintings with canvas stretched on a metal armature of curved contours. It is a development of his earlier two-dimensional wave-paintings. The combination of Poon’s preferred cool blue tones with shades of warm rose colour marks a venture into hitherto...
This photograph shows a padlocked wooden window, typically found in godowns. Sunlight illuminates the closed shutters and the wall around it. The window is fitted with four hinges to prevent it from flapping when opening. Physical dimensions of original: 35 mm. Title devised by Library staff....
This photograph shows a worker painting the exterior wall of a structure at a construction site. The young man is using a paint roller, attached to an extension pole, to give it the best finish. Next to him is a bucket of paint for the paint job. Physical dimensions of...
One of several paintings Chen did of the Singapore River, this work shows bumboats against a backdrop of shophouses. The painting shows Chen’s analytical skill and objective handling of different surfaces with different brushstrokes - employing broken lines for waves, light, sensuous, pointillist touch of the brush to reveal the...
Winter Landscape is an early work of Yeo’s prefiguring important aspects of his later oeuvre: colour and abstraction. The image also encapsulates landscape, which became an important aspect of Yeo’s later work, reflecting his fascination with travel and places. Physical dimensions of original: 1260 x 1000 mm....
This photograph shows two workers wearing industrial safety helmets, at a construction site. One of them is painting the exterior wall of a structure, using a paint roller that is attached to an extension pole, to give it the best finish. Next to them is a bucket of paint. Physical...
This painting of paper lanterns and festive goodies of the Moon Festival belies the conscious and careful efforts Chen put into her choice of objects, their composition and colour scheme. The work is a formal and yet unpretentious arrangement of festive goods, in reds and greens, against a simple, pale...
An example of Ng’s earliest attempts at the three-dimensional, Singapore Girl shows him under the initial influence of classical European sculpture. Ng focuses here on the drapery and the contrapposto of the figure, prior to his subsequent stylised handling of the human figure. Physical dimensions of original: 370 x 160...
In this work, Wee relies on the deliberate placement of lines and coloured areas to attain a range of responses from viewers. Areas of colours are delineated on the picture surface with sharpness and clarity. His paint application is non-gestural and impersonal. The work demonstrates Wee’s preference for hard-edge painting...