This is an excellent example of the earlier works of Georgette Chen characterised by heavy brush strokes and texture. It reveals some influence by the 19th century French artist, Paul Cezanne. She combines the use of dynamic brush strokes with dark, heavy tones to suggest volume and texture. The fruits are made more tangible through a focused and compact composition. The vitality of their colours and different textures contrast with the vague and gray background colours to achieve a calculated and sensitive balance of elements in the painting. Physical dimensions of original: 260 x 340 mm.
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...
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...
Performance is one of Poon’s earlier attempts at the integration of planes in a three-dimensional space. It is representative of the other type of structure which makes up the linguistic rationale of Poon’s three-dimensional work – apart from the sculptures which resemble the movement of ribbons caught in time and...
Life is Hard, using the medium of oil on board, is significant of Ng’s beginning as a painter under Georgette Chen’s guidance at NAFA. It provides insight into Ng’s aptitude as a painter, and is a pertinent example of his constant interest in the human figure, as well as the...
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...
A Junction on Rochor Road is made after Chua’s return from post-graduate studies in Australia. Here, with the use of the technique of expressive ink and calligraphic strokes, Chua distorts the subject such that the image is at threat of dissolving into fragmentary chaos of patchy stains. The painting balances...
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...
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...
River bumboats are a long-standing subject in Lim’s paintings of the Singapore River, their presence filling each picture with symbolic and historical meanings. Impressionistically handled, Lim employs warm and vibrant colours such as red and green rendered in bold strokes, successfully creating a dynamic and joyous feel to the en...
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...