Lot 64
CHEN WEN HSI
b. China, 1906 - d. Singapore, 1991
GIBBONS LOOKING FOR FISH
Undated
Signed in Chinese '文希南洋作' with seal upper right
Ink and colour on rice paper mounted on scroll
141cm x 73cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur;
acquired directly from the artist.
ESTIMATE RM 60,000 - 80,000
PRICE REALISED RM 126,500
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One of the prerequisites of the painting of gibbons is the rendition of the delicate fur. In this painting, Chen Wen Hsi intuitively imbue his subject matter with the very personification of agility, liveliness, litheness as well as the primate’s natural sense of survival instincts. Wen Hsi was inspired by the gibbon paintings of the 13th Century Zen master Mu Qi. When he migrated to Singapore, he kept a menagerie of six gibbons among other pets. For his paintings, he took great care in observing their mannerisms and interaction amongst one another close-up. Because of his sensitive portrayals of these primates in their imagined natural habitat, he was dubbed the “Gibbons King” and rightly so. In his article Life As An Artist, Wen Hsi commented about the “beauty endowed in their shapes and form, expressions, movements and ways of living creatures of nature.”
Wen Hsi had his art tutelage at the Shanghai College of Art (1928) and then the Xinhua College of Art in Shanghai (1932) and taught there from 1946 to 1947. Under the instruction of Pan Tianshou, he also mastered the art of finger painting and is adept at both Chinese and Western style art. He migrated to Singapore in 1948 and taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts from 1951 to 1959. For advancing Chinese brush painting traditions to new heights through his writing on art and his dedication to teaching it, he was awarded Singapore’s Meritorious Service Star Award (1964) and the Meritorious Service Gold Award (posthumous, 1992). He was also given the Asean Cultural and Communications Award in 1987 and the Golden Chapter by the Taiwan National Museum in 1980. He was awarded an Honourary Doctorate by the National University of Singapore in 1975. His career involves numerous exhibitions in various countries including Singapore, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
REFERENCE
Convergences: Chen Wen Hsi Centennial Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, 2006.
Master of Tradition and Innovation, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, 2006.
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