SINGAPORE PIONEER ARTIST

Who is he?One of the Pioneer artist in Singapore

Where is he from? Born in 1917, Amoy, China, deceased 1983, Singapore

What is his background?

- Youngest of seven children in family

- 1933-5, enrolled in Amoy Academy of Fine Art for 3 years

- 1936, moved to Shanghai to study at Xin Hua Art Academy

- Six months later, ended his formal studies as Sino-Japanese War broke out

- 1945, left China, went Hong Kong, arrived in Singapore towards end of 1946

- Taught @ NAFA till 1961

- 46 years of unceasing artistic creation, establishing distinct and important

directions in the development of modern art in Singapore

Background of influences on him- The new art shaped in the twenties and thirties in China- Re-investing Chinese Art with new scope and fresh vision- Endeavours based on interpretations of styles and techniques from the West, and revisions of the entrenched traditions of Chinese Painting- Art centres: Shanghai, Guangdong, Nanjing- Principle source of modernism is Europe, particularly the School of Paris- Art activity is an unending search for the new, directed towards exploration of visual languages and techniques of execution, that will adequately express and structure individual perceptions and sensibilities

Why? The need to change:- Traditional Chinese Painting is being revised as it was seen as lacking force and vitality- The works of majority of artists of late 19th century were seen as repetitions of tried and tired formulas- The conventional pictorial language lacks conviction and authority- The traditional language was revised with fresh observations, checking against nature and enriched by new conventions

Soo Pieng’s ArtSoo Pieng on Style:“ Of course, I do not search for it consciously or create it deliberately. I doubt any artist does. But it is there. It is a way of bringing order and intelligence to what an artist is doing. It is a memory maker and also a means of connecting different ideas and emotions, fusing them into a creative force.”

Unceasing dialogue with the medium

Invested traditional and contemporary techniques and values with new structures and content

Moving with facility and discrimination between the scroll and easel picture traditions, he appropriated feature and techniques that are suitable for his intentions

Soo Pieng’s concern with images: “ the link between art and cultural environment” ; “ Images, content, subject matter… these are ways of communicating that link.”

Soo Pieng’s Art

Search for images and pictorial content resulted in his canvases being populated with figures at play, at work or in observance of rituals

His works are also filled with fishing villages, riverine scenes and derelict houses

Distinct relationship between Soo Pieng and such images - one characterised by empathy and humour.

From his art, emerges figure types, methods of representation and pictorial structures which influence many others

Michael Sullivan, a lecturer in the then University of Singapore:“Soo Pieng’s influence on the younger painters of Singapore has been powerful and direct

Background 1952: in Bali with 3 other pioneer artists – discovered beauty of

Balinese landscape and people Inspired to experiment with distorting human forms From study of Western Art publications – maintained study of

trends in Europe and US 1959: Visited and worked in Sarawak 1961: Visited Sabah; then travelled to Europe on educational tour

to familiarise himself with contemporary art

1947 - 1952 Figurative to semi-abstract work 1947- 52: Fruits, local fishing villages, people at work/ leisure Media: traditional Chinese ink, water-colour and oil Attempts to combine Chinese & Western painting traditions Influences:- Paul Cezanne- Franz Marc (Blue Rider)- American Abstract Expressionism

Indians and Cows by Cheong Soo Pieng. 1949, Oil on canvas, 75 x 104 cm.

The Little Blue Horses by Franz Marc, 1911, oil on canvas

Tree trunk divides the painting boldly into 2 unequal parts – Indian herdsmen almost overwhelmed by the cows

The presence of the cows is heightened by the sinuous outlines of the cows and the sensitive modelling of their forms

Seaside by Cheong Soo Pieng, 1951, Oil on Masonite, 40 x 50 cm.

• Expressionistic use of colours and brushstrokes, conjuring a haunting image where reality and the imaginary meet

• Conveys a sinister mood• Ability to elevate everyday and common

place to the level of fantasy and the extraordinary

Willem de Kooning, Woman I, 1950-52, oil on canvas

Malay Woman by Cheong Soo Pieng, mid-1950s, Oil on board, 49 x 39 cm.

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907, oil on canvas,

243.9 x 233.7

Inter-penetrating planes illustrate Cheong’s interpretation of Cubism

1952 - 1954 Cheong goes to Bali in 1952 Inspired by the subject matter Experiments with human form – distortion, stylisation Uses oil in impasto effect Influences:- Henri Matisse- Pablo Picasso

Bali Girls by Cheong Soo Pieng, 1954, Oil, 75 x 60 cm

Henri Matisse, Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Ground, 1925-26, oil on canvas, 130 x 98cm

Saw the Balinese maiden as a graceful, slender doe0eyed symbol of SEA feminity Elongated limbs, exaggerated slimness and soulful expression echoed features of

Indonesian puppets Figures are flattened and silhouetted Captured in single-coloured patterns Figures are not used to portray emotions or physical reality, but used as a device

for indulgence in pattern-making

Iban Girls by Cheong Soo Pieng, 1953, Oil on canvas, 72 x 58 cm

Magnified the figures and continued the decorative details on the costumes into the background

Produced images that are primarily decorative

1954 - 1983 Oil paintings: characterised by rich use of mellow earthly colours

highlighted by strategically placed patches of colour, e.g. a red flower, a blue blouse, a white bird

Stylised figures are elongated compositionally Often grouped together near canvas centre with a cluster of

objects such as flowers, trees, a mat, or a basket of fruit Media: Excelled in Chinese ink paintings of landscapes Equally competent in Western-styled abstracts Paintings of local scenes combine Chinese ink and watercolours

Drying Salted Fish by Cheong Soo Pieng, 1960s, Chinese ink and colour. 55 x 88 cm

A Dayak family 1975, Oil

Cheong Soo Pieng, Weaver, 1981, Oil on canvas, 107 x 131 cm

• Done in the early 1980s, rep a phase of Cheong’s stylistic experimentation

• Created new effects in Chinese ink painting.

• a period (especially in the 1970s) -took a keen interest in researching Chinese painting styles of the Song dynasty (960 -1280). This interest developed further, after his trip to China in the late 1970s.

• Unlike his earlier phases of experimentation (e.g. oil in impasto effects), keen to explore the effects of using thin and diluted oil paint.

• In terms of subject matter (figurative renderings), Cheong continued his unique stylisation of elongated figure.

“ …he has inverted the compositional Balinese painting practice. In these, the human figures and human activities are scaled in proportion to accommodate a decorative composition, whereas Soo Pieng has magnified the figure and relegated the details of decoration to the background (and foreground). In the context of modern art activity, such dislocations and reconstitutions of traditional practices provide a vital source for fresh directions”.

Explaining Orientalism A process of colonialist empowerment in the ideological sphere by the

hegemonic (dominant) culture claiming expertise over matters pertaining to the dominant culture

Visual representation of primitive culture can be a form of Orientalism Representation of the Other A process of the construction of the Self as a higher entity Reading the work produced in Bali within the frame of an Orientalist

mode Artists subscribing to the impulses of exoticism Embarking on a quest for the Other Explaining connections between a sense of one and another:- Self-Other- Coloniser – Colonised- Male – Female (patriarchal representation of the feminine – other)

Applied to Pioneer Artists Complex layering of impulses and identity in the Nanyang Style

paintings Singapore artists regarded Bali as Self and not the Other within

the context of their regionalist consciousness – cc Paul Gauguin Bali – however – was also exotic to Pioneer artists Western artists – Gauguin – tend to present local women as

spectacles Pioneer artist cited as portraying intimate moments of

camaraderie between Balinese women – supposed attempts at exploring their subject matter at a more in-depth psychological level

However still element of voyeurism in works of Pioneer artists – women in painting unaware of being watched by spectators

Sleeping beauty 1982, Chinese Ink

Paul Gauguin, Spirit of the Dead Watching, 1892, oil on canvas

Cheong Soo Pieng, Tropical Life, 1959, Chinese ink and colour, 43.5 x 92.0 cm