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Lot Essay
"Cheong Soo Pieng's strength is that while deeply influenced by Western art - particularly by Picasso and Gauguin - he is no mere imitator. He has carved out for himself a remarkably consistent style, so that on entering a room one can pick out a Soo Pieng at once His angular figures, formalised portraits and expressionistic use of colour are the mark of a highly sophisticated painter, the very consistency of whose style has given rise to a school of young painters who copy his forms and colours just as the painters of Paris have copied Picasso and Braque. He is at his best when he allies these qualities with an unexpected sensitivity of handling, or with an apparently spontaneous harmony of colours quickly set down, which makes the canvas positively sing."
Professor Michael Sullivan, in 1956
Cheong Soo Pieng's modernist oil works from the 1950s are considered some of his most important, and also rarest compositions, as the number of extant works from this period are relatively few. Cheong Soo Pieng is best known a co-founder of the Nanyang School, a style of art developed in Singapore during the mid-20th century by the artistic quartet of Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee and Soo Pieng himself. Born and trained in China, the group's main legacy is their formidable influence over the development of Southeast Asian visual formats, practices and education, particularly within the Straits region. Soo Pieng's 1950s output articulates the foundation of his aesthetic development, and are also significant cultural documents in understanding the chimera that was the first-generation migrant Chinese artist, in all his different influences and sensibilities.
Soo Pieng's early training in Western-style modernism began at the Xinhua Academy in Shanghai in 1936. In Soo Pieng in Nanyang, Bridget Tracy Tan observes: "Based in the French Concession in Shanghai in 1926, Xinhua was a standout institution for modern art education. Almost all members of its faculty had travelled to France, and by 1934 Xinhua's library was already stocked full of over 3000 American, Japanese, French and English publications in art, including the Classics from Chinese history.It is understand that Soo Pieng was taught by the premier Western art lecturers who were also artists in their own right." Fully immersed in Shanghai's artistic milieu of the 1930s, Soo Pieng carried this spirit of experimentation and cultural receptivity with him when he landed in Singapore in 1946.
Within the early 1950s works, we can observe Soo Pieng's strong ties to the Shanghai school of modern art, for example his inclination towards social realism. Making Up is a modernist portrayal of a traditional subject, depicting a Chinese opera performer as he applies his make up in preparation to go on stage. Painted in 1951, Making Up predates the historic Bali visit in 1952 by the Nanyang school founders, which diverted the content of their paintings thereafter. To a certain extent, Making Up can be understood as a final exploration of Cheong's migrant Chinese heritage and its associated Singapore experience, before he began favoring indigenous Southeast Asian subjects from Bali and Sarawak, as well as pushing into the full abstraction of the 1960s.
Making Up is a visually arresting and aesthetically bold composition. Chinese opera is best known for its heavily theatrical, almost gaudy make up which creates a 'mask'-like effect. Much has been written about the significance of opera make-up and its almost mystical transformative power. Upon application of this 'second skin' the performer is able to transcend personal identity and limitations to fully inhabit the essence of his character. An auspicious 'Chun' (Spring) character is seen in the background, suggesting this scene takes place during the festive New Year period and the opera is staged to inspire celebration and prosperity for the coming year.
Property from the Noni Wright Collection
Wynona 'Noni' Hope Wright was a New Zealand-born film producer and director, based in Malaya and Singapore. Wright began her career as a theatrical actress, later moving into radio work with the BBC during the Second World War. After the war she went to Malaya under contract to the newly formed service Radio Malaya as feature producer and programme organiser. By 1952 Noni Wright was engaged in journalism, becoming feature writer on the Straits Times, Singapore before moving to Kuala Lumpur as a script writer in the Malayan film unit.
In 1958 she joined the Singapore-based Cathay Organisation as a film director and producer. Her finest work was produced in the following years, as Wright assumed the role of second-in-command at Cathay Film Services, which was responsible for the production of documentary films for Cathay, reporting to film magnate and art patron Dato Loke Wan Tho.
Her success was marked particularly by the numerous awards her films gained at Asian Film Festivals held annually in many capitals including Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Seoul, and Taipei. At Hong Kong in 1961 her films won four out of eight best documentary awards, five of eight best planning awards, and three special awards. Her work also won awards at film festivals in Venice, the United Kingdom, and Berlin. During these years she was commissioned to produce films for the British Foreign and War Offices, the governments of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei, and Hong Kong.
At the Eleventh Asian Film Festival in Taipei in 1964, Wright was honoured with the top award of the festival for her film Happy Homes. This depicted the work of the Singapore Housing and Development Board in providing housing and recreational areas for the resettlement of a large proportion of Singapore's multi-racial population, which then comprised 1.7 million people from different ethnic groups. Happy Homes, filmed in colour, was shown throughout Singapore and Malaya in four different language versions, a common practice with Noni Wright's films of this period. Over a hundred copies were produced for overseas screening in 15 languages. In these productions Noni Wright showed that her sympathies were with the people of Southeast Asia and that she felt a deep concern for those less fortunate.
One hour after receiving the Asian Film Festival award, Wright perished in the Civil Air Transport Flight B-908 plane crash, en route from Taichung to Taipei. On board the same flight were Dato Loke Wan Tho, his wife, and other chief executives of Cathay Organisation, a devastating blow for the Singapore-Malayan film industry.
Professor Michael Sullivan, in 1956
Cheong Soo Pieng's modernist oil works from the 1950s are considered some of his most important, and also rarest compositions, as the number of extant works from this period are relatively few. Cheong Soo Pieng is best known a co-founder of the Nanyang School, a style of art developed in Singapore during the mid-20th century by the artistic quartet of Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee and Soo Pieng himself. Born and trained in China, the group's main legacy is their formidable influence over the development of Southeast Asian visual formats, practices and education, particularly within the Straits region. Soo Pieng's 1950s output articulates the foundation of his aesthetic development, and are also significant cultural documents in understanding the chimera that was the first-generation migrant Chinese artist, in all his different influences and sensibilities.
Soo Pieng's early training in Western-style modernism began at the Xinhua Academy in Shanghai in 1936. In Soo Pieng in Nanyang, Bridget Tracy Tan observes: "Based in the French Concession in Shanghai in 1926, Xinhua was a standout institution for modern art education. Almost all members of its faculty had travelled to France, and by 1934 Xinhua's library was already stocked full of over 3000 American, Japanese, French and English publications in art, including the Classics from Chinese history.It is understand that Soo Pieng was taught by the premier Western art lecturers who were also artists in their own right." Fully immersed in Shanghai's artistic milieu of the 1930s, Soo Pieng carried this spirit of experimentation and cultural receptivity with him when he landed in Singapore in 1946.
Within the early 1950s works, we can observe Soo Pieng's strong ties to the Shanghai school of modern art, for example his inclination towards social realism. Making Up is a modernist portrayal of a traditional subject, depicting a Chinese opera performer as he applies his make up in preparation to go on stage. Painted in 1951, Making Up predates the historic Bali visit in 1952 by the Nanyang school founders, which diverted the content of their paintings thereafter. To a certain extent, Making Up can be understood as a final exploration of Cheong's migrant Chinese heritage and its associated Singapore experience, before he began favoring indigenous Southeast Asian subjects from Bali and Sarawak, as well as pushing into the full abstraction of the 1960s.
Making Up is a visually arresting and aesthetically bold composition. Chinese opera is best known for its heavily theatrical, almost gaudy make up which creates a 'mask'-like effect. Much has been written about the significance of opera make-up and its almost mystical transformative power. Upon application of this 'second skin' the performer is able to transcend personal identity and limitations to fully inhabit the essence of his character. An auspicious 'Chun' (Spring) character is seen in the background, suggesting this scene takes place during the festive New Year period and the opera is staged to inspire celebration and prosperity for the coming year.
Property from the Noni Wright Collection
Wynona 'Noni' Hope Wright was a New Zealand-born film producer and director, based in Malaya and Singapore. Wright began her career as a theatrical actress, later moving into radio work with the BBC during the Second World War. After the war she went to Malaya under contract to the newly formed service Radio Malaya as feature producer and programme organiser. By 1952 Noni Wright was engaged in journalism, becoming feature writer on the Straits Times, Singapore before moving to Kuala Lumpur as a script writer in the Malayan film unit.
In 1958 she joined the Singapore-based Cathay Organisation as a film director and producer. Her finest work was produced in the following years, as Wright assumed the role of second-in-command at Cathay Film Services, which was responsible for the production of documentary films for Cathay, reporting to film magnate and art patron Dato Loke Wan Tho.
Her success was marked particularly by the numerous awards her films gained at Asian Film Festivals held annually in many capitals including Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Seoul, and Taipei. At Hong Kong in 1961 her films won four out of eight best documentary awards, five of eight best planning awards, and three special awards. Her work also won awards at film festivals in Venice, the United Kingdom, and Berlin. During these years she was commissioned to produce films for the British Foreign and War Offices, the governments of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei, and Hong Kong.
At the Eleventh Asian Film Festival in Taipei in 1964, Wright was honoured with the top award of the festival for her film Happy Homes. This depicted the work of the Singapore Housing and Development Board in providing housing and recreational areas for the resettlement of a large proportion of Singapore's multi-racial population, which then comprised 1.7 million people from different ethnic groups. Happy Homes, filmed in colour, was shown throughout Singapore and Malaya in four different language versions, a common practice with Noni Wright's films of this period. Over a hundred copies were produced for overseas screening in 15 languages. In these productions Noni Wright showed that her sympathies were with the people of Southeast Asia and that she felt a deep concern for those less fortunate.
One hour after receiving the Asian Film Festival award, Wright perished in the Civil Air Transport Flight B-908 plane crash, en route from Taichung to Taipei. On board the same flight were Dato Loke Wan Tho, his wife, and other chief executives of Cathay Organisation, a devastating blow for the Singapore-Malayan film industry.