Grand Masters of Art Exhibition |
| By Rasina Rubin, Director, Galerie Belvedere | |||||
 Chen Wen Hsi, Bird Cages, 1940s, 30 x 40 cm Charcoal and Colour on Paper 05 – 10 Oct, ION Art Gallery, Level 4, ION Orchard presented by Galerie Belvedere Galerie Belvedere exhibits for sale a pantheon of important museum-quality paintings by Singapore’s first-generation artists: Lee Man Fong, Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng; eminent European artists Adrien Jean Le Mayeur, Antonio Blanco, Rien Bout, and Kurt Laurenz Metzler; Malaysian Yong Mun Sen, renowned Singapore artists Ong Kim Seng, Wong Keen, and Sun Yee; Colonial paintings of Singapore and a Colonial sculpture; Paris-based Indian artist Sakti Burman and 18th Century Indian miniatures. Michelangelo said that “Art has no country, it comes from heaven.” The Exhibition transcends national boundaries, and brings together a collection of high quality art for discerning collectors. Lee Man Fong (1913 – 1988) studied painting in Holland in 1946 under a Dutch government scholarship. On his return to Indonesia, he gained fame for his magnificent oil paintings. He attracted the attention of President Sukarno who appointed him in 1961 as the Presidential Palace’s painter and chief curator of its art collection. The Grand Masters Exhibition includes several oil paintings by Lee and a set of the original 5-volume edition of President Sukarno’s art collection produced by Lee Man Fong. Chen Wen Hsi (1906 - 1991). Influenced by the Shanghai School of Painting, Swatow-born Wen Hsi distinguished himself as an artist in China before he came to Singapore in the late 1940’s. The paintings in this Exhibition are from his early years in Singapore including a painting exhibited at the Raffles Museum in October 1953. Cheong Soo Pieng (1917 - 1983). Fujian-born Soo Pieng studied at the Xiamen Academy of Fine Arts in early 1930s. He taught at schools and colleges in Jimei where Singapore philanthropist Tan Kah Kee had established the Jimei University town. Soo Pieng and Wen Hsi were among the leading lights of the Nanyang movement in Singapore. A turning point in their artistic development was their Bali visit in 1952 where they met Le Mayeur and were fascinated by the exotic culture and traditions. Sun Yee (1919 - 2009) exhibited at the Salon National des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1953. Her portraits and landscapes are included in our Exhibition. Adrien Jean Le Mayeur (1880 - 1958) and Antonio Blanco (1927 – 1999). Le Mayeur belonged to the Belgian nobility and was a civil engineer by training. Influenced by his painter father, he preferred art to engineering. On a visit to Bali, he fell under its spell and Legong dancer Ni Pollock whom he married in 1935. The exhibition features a painting of Ni Pollock and a self-portrait by Antonio Blanco. Of Spanish ancestry, Blanco won numerous awards and accolades and was a leading star in the Indo-European galaxy of artists in Bali. Colonial paintings of Singapore and colonial sculpture During the colonial period, British artists such as Richard Walker and W M Clyde painted Singapore Scenes. Three paintings by W M Clyde dated 1949, 1950 and 1953 of Singapore Scenes are in this exhibition. Also on display is a sculpture by William Stirling, Assistant Protectorate of the Chinese in Singapore from 1921 – 1931. His large sculpture was at the front of the National Museum of Singapore.
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