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Lot Essay
A pioneer and a pivotal figure in the development of the Nanyang style of Art, Cheong Soo Pieng, is one of the most celebrated Singaporean modern artists. His 1980s’ paintings are one of the most recognised genres of his oeuvre. The current Singapore $50 banknote launched in 1999 features one of Cheong’s most famous ‘Nanyang decorative style’ works, alongside one other painting by Chen Wen Hsi. Chattering was featured in two major retrospective publications of Cheong’s, namely Soo Pieng by Yu Loon Ching published in 1983 and The Story of Cheong Soo Pieng by Ho Sou Ping published in 2015.
This masterpiece features a delicate and highly detailed portrayal of three Balinese women and a young girl chattering in an idyllic setting of a dense tropical forest. The bright yellow garment of the central figure stands out from the canvas masked in warm hues of brown and ochre, whilst a goat and tropical fruits surround the chattering women. The figures are rendered in his iconic stylization of elongated torso and limbs, and almond-shaped eyes inspired wayang kulit, a traditional Javanese puppet play. The elaborate background features dense native tropical foliage formed by individually drawn-out leaves. The flattened perspective in this work stems from the Chinese painting and Japanese woodblock print tradition, whereas the distortion and exaggeration of forms reflect strong Cubist and Post-impressionist influence. Cheong also employs faint shading on the figures which is not common among his works in the 1970s. The unique visual language and aesthetic in this masterpiece is the best emblematic display of the east, west and Nanyang cultures that informs Cheong’s identity and is highly symbolic of his artistic journey.
Cheong embarked on a trip to Bali in search of fresh inspiration in 1952 with a group of first-generation Singaporean artists. This trip is said to be the starting point of the Nanyang style and the watershed in the history of Singapore art, where Cheong developed his profound understanding of the Southeast Asian way of life and a sense of rootedness in the region. Cheong’s focused exploration of painting Balinese female figures since that trip has become one of his most coveted genres among his extremely diverse oeuvre.
Cheong consistently explored and polished his portrayal of the Nanyang subject throughout his artistic career. The final four years of Cheong Soo Pieng’s output (1980-1983) were characterised almost entirely by his Nanyang decorative series of Balinese women and village scenes, one that has become extremely refined and emblematic of a quintessential Nanyang image. Cheong wrote in 1980 that ‘arts of the 1980s should include applied arts, include the representative arts of the Nanyang’, revealing his belief that artistic effort in localization should not be limited to subject matter, but encompass a wide range of ideas and concepts (S.P.Ho, The Story of Cheong Soo Pieng, Singapore 2023, p. 294).
Cheong transitioned from realism to a more idealised rendering of the human form in the 1970s. In his mature style works like Chattering, Cheong’s figures always appear remarkably elegant and posed, with a calm and contemplative aura amidst a tranquil atmosphere. His oeuvre is full of features that blend the unique Eastern subjects with Western modernist sensibilities, and ‘bespeaks a conscious effort to make new art for a new kind of belonging, a new way of seeing the world.’ Chattering is a striking example of such. Through showcasing a visual vernacular that merges the result of his earlier artistic preoccupations with decades of observations and experience within the region, it brings an affinity to the daily that elevates the mundane to the sacred.
This masterpiece features a delicate and highly detailed portrayal of three Balinese women and a young girl chattering in an idyllic setting of a dense tropical forest. The bright yellow garment of the central figure stands out from the canvas masked in warm hues of brown and ochre, whilst a goat and tropical fruits surround the chattering women. The figures are rendered in his iconic stylization of elongated torso and limbs, and almond-shaped eyes inspired wayang kulit, a traditional Javanese puppet play. The elaborate background features dense native tropical foliage formed by individually drawn-out leaves. The flattened perspective in this work stems from the Chinese painting and Japanese woodblock print tradition, whereas the distortion and exaggeration of forms reflect strong Cubist and Post-impressionist influence. Cheong also employs faint shading on the figures which is not common among his works in the 1970s. The unique visual language and aesthetic in this masterpiece is the best emblematic display of the east, west and Nanyang cultures that informs Cheong’s identity and is highly symbolic of his artistic journey.
Cheong embarked on a trip to Bali in search of fresh inspiration in 1952 with a group of first-generation Singaporean artists. This trip is said to be the starting point of the Nanyang style and the watershed in the history of Singapore art, where Cheong developed his profound understanding of the Southeast Asian way of life and a sense of rootedness in the region. Cheong’s focused exploration of painting Balinese female figures since that trip has become one of his most coveted genres among his extremely diverse oeuvre.
Cheong consistently explored and polished his portrayal of the Nanyang subject throughout his artistic career. The final four years of Cheong Soo Pieng’s output (1980-1983) were characterised almost entirely by his Nanyang decorative series of Balinese women and village scenes, one that has become extremely refined and emblematic of a quintessential Nanyang image. Cheong wrote in 1980 that ‘arts of the 1980s should include applied arts, include the representative arts of the Nanyang’, revealing his belief that artistic effort in localization should not be limited to subject matter, but encompass a wide range of ideas and concepts (S.P.Ho, The Story of Cheong Soo Pieng, Singapore 2023, p. 294).
Cheong transitioned from realism to a more idealised rendering of the human form in the 1970s. In his mature style works like Chattering, Cheong’s figures always appear remarkably elegant and posed, with a calm and contemplative aura amidst a tranquil atmosphere. His oeuvre is full of features that blend the unique Eastern subjects with Western modernist sensibilities, and ‘bespeaks a conscious effort to make new art for a new kind of belonging, a new way of seeing the world.’ Chattering is a striking example of such. Through showcasing a visual vernacular that merges the result of his earlier artistic preoccupations with decades of observations and experience within the region, it brings an affinity to the daily that elevates the mundane to the sacred.