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Lot Essay
In his enduring legacy as a pioneering artist from Singapore, Cheong Soo Pieng's vivid representations of the ethnic other of Southeast Asia can be identified as one of the hallmarks of his artistic practice. Born in Xiamen, China, in 1917, Cheong Soo Pieng received formal art education in traditional Chinese ink painting at the Xiamen Academy of Fine Arts, and later attended the Xin Hua Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai where he was exposed to modern Western artistic styles such as abstraction, cubism and surrealism. Cheong's arrival in post-war Singapore in 1945 marked a new chapter in his life and artistic ambitions. With a strong foundation in both Eastern and Western painting styles and techniques, Cheong found in Singapore the freedom to combine both aesthetics into his own unique visual vocabulary.
The development of Cheong's distinctive style is often credited to his exposure to the lush, exotic landscape and peoples of Southeast Asia during a sojourn to Bali in 1952. He was accompanied by his artistic contemporaries, Chen Wen Hsi, Liu Kang, and Chen Chong Swee, whom were all new migrants from China and also teachers at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore alongside Cheong. Together, these artists discovered an environment unlike their Chinese homeland, and unlike the bourgeoning urban landscape of Singapore. With Belgian artist Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur De Merprs (see Lot 19) as their host, the Singaporean artists found themselves recipient of a decades-long history of foreign artistic fascination with Bali, and the Southeast Asian region. For Cheong, the trip to Bali sparked a romantic reverence for the untouched beauty of the island, and a fascination with the unique quality of light that bathed the landscape and its inhabitants - one that would continue throughout his artistic career. While in Bali, Cheong also made a little-known trip to Sarawak in Borneo, Malaysia. Cheong was so taken with Sarawak and the indigenous Dayak tribes there, that he made it a point to return, which he did later on, in 1959.
Cheong's representations of Southeast Asia were often populated with the forms of women, whose comfort and ease in their natural form and beauty provided an exotic and refreshing base of artistic inspiration. The strong, angular figures of his early paintings would gradually transform into fluid lines and elongated limbs. Cheong's depiction of male figures in The Penghulu (Lot 1), and the small number of works produced in the 50s makes the work all the more rare, and an important insight into Cheong's work.
Penghulu - a term used in Malaysia and Indonesia to denote a village headsman, is the subject of this striking painting from Cheong. These headsmen were individuals of great charisma and magnetism, and no doubt, the reason for his pride of place in Cheong's composition. An early sketch produced during Cheong's brief trip to Borneo in 1952, and coming from the collection of Dato Loke Wan Tho - main patron of Cheong Soo Pieng - depicts the same Penghulu, and is the precursor for the present lot. Cheong made numerous sketches during his time abroad, and upon returning to his studio in Singapore, "continued to refer back to and rework these sketches for his paintings, relief works, and sculptures." (Seng Yu Jin and Grace Tng, Cheong Soo Pieng: Visions of Southeast Asia, Singapore: National Art Gallery, Singapore, 2010, p. 97).
The Penghulu displays Cheong's expert knowledge of colour, and his technique of layering multiple layers of paint and varnish accounts for the unique transparency and complex melding together of different shades. The second figure in the painting has his back to the viewer, and is a characteristic exploration of perspective that is evident in many of Cheong's paintings. In paintings from the same period, Balinese Maidens (1954) and Sarawak Sisters (1953), Cheong juxtaposes two figures to different effect to both balance and enhance the painting's composition. These paintings are also evidence of Cheong's use of colour as a means to evoke his subject's essence, rather than as an accurate representation.
A trademark of Cheong's figuration, the Penghulu's eyes are averted, and his expression serene. The vibrant, fauvist background of the scene conveys the life and exuberance of the Penghulu's home, and of the people that he presides over with calm confidence.
The development of Cheong's distinctive style is often credited to his exposure to the lush, exotic landscape and peoples of Southeast Asia during a sojourn to Bali in 1952. He was accompanied by his artistic contemporaries, Chen Wen Hsi, Liu Kang, and Chen Chong Swee, whom were all new migrants from China and also teachers at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore alongside Cheong. Together, these artists discovered an environment unlike their Chinese homeland, and unlike the bourgeoning urban landscape of Singapore. With Belgian artist Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur De Merprs (see Lot 19) as their host, the Singaporean artists found themselves recipient of a decades-long history of foreign artistic fascination with Bali, and the Southeast Asian region. For Cheong, the trip to Bali sparked a romantic reverence for the untouched beauty of the island, and a fascination with the unique quality of light that bathed the landscape and its inhabitants - one that would continue throughout his artistic career. While in Bali, Cheong also made a little-known trip to Sarawak in Borneo, Malaysia. Cheong was so taken with Sarawak and the indigenous Dayak tribes there, that he made it a point to return, which he did later on, in 1959.
Cheong's representations of Southeast Asia were often populated with the forms of women, whose comfort and ease in their natural form and beauty provided an exotic and refreshing base of artistic inspiration. The strong, angular figures of his early paintings would gradually transform into fluid lines and elongated limbs. Cheong's depiction of male figures in The Penghulu (Lot 1), and the small number of works produced in the 50s makes the work all the more rare, and an important insight into Cheong's work.
Penghulu - a term used in Malaysia and Indonesia to denote a village headsman, is the subject of this striking painting from Cheong. These headsmen were individuals of great charisma and magnetism, and no doubt, the reason for his pride of place in Cheong's composition. An early sketch produced during Cheong's brief trip to Borneo in 1952, and coming from the collection of Dato Loke Wan Tho - main patron of Cheong Soo Pieng - depicts the same Penghulu, and is the precursor for the present lot. Cheong made numerous sketches during his time abroad, and upon returning to his studio in Singapore, "continued to refer back to and rework these sketches for his paintings, relief works, and sculptures." (Seng Yu Jin and Grace Tng, Cheong Soo Pieng: Visions of Southeast Asia, Singapore: National Art Gallery, Singapore, 2010, p. 97).
The Penghulu displays Cheong's expert knowledge of colour, and his technique of layering multiple layers of paint and varnish accounts for the unique transparency and complex melding together of different shades. The second figure in the painting has his back to the viewer, and is a characteristic exploration of perspective that is evident in many of Cheong's paintings. In paintings from the same period, Balinese Maidens (1954) and Sarawak Sisters (1953), Cheong juxtaposes two figures to different effect to both balance and enhance the painting's composition. These paintings are also evidence of Cheong's use of colour as a means to evoke his subject's essence, rather than as an accurate representation.
A trademark of Cheong's figuration, the Penghulu's eyes are averted, and his expression serene. The vibrant, fauvist background of the scene conveys the life and exuberance of the Penghulu's home, and of the people that he presides over with calm confidence.