Lot 023
TEW NAI TONG
b. Selangor, 1936 - d. Kuala Lumpur, 2013
Left
STUDIES FOR GOLDEN TIME II, 2008
Signed and dated (lower right); inscribed 'Golden Time II' (lower right)
Mixed media on paper
17cm x 30cm;
Centre
STUDIES FOR GOLDEN TIME I, 2009
Signed and dated 'NAITONG 2009' (lower right); inscribed 'Golden Time 08 2009' (lower left)
Mixed media on paper
17.5cm x 34cm;
Right
GOLDEN HARVESTING SEASON, 2009
Signed 'NAITONG' (lower right); inscribed 'Golden Harvesting Season' (lower left)
Mixed media on paper
18.5cm x 32cm;
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Selangor.
ESTIMATE RM 4,000 - 6,000
PRICE REALISED RM 7,840
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A set of three rare sketches by Tew Nai Tong is on offer here, providing collectors a glimpse of the artist’s prepatory work before executing the masterpieces on canvas. Golden Time I and Golden Time II depict a scene in a rubber plantation when the crucial moment of collecting latex is taking place. Golden Harvesting Season illustrates a group of farmers pounding rice. Tew Nai Tong is celebrated for his depiction of the local lives.
Tew Nai Tong received his early art education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore (NAFA), graduating in 1958. He worked for a while to raise funds for his studies at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris (1967 - 1968). In the early years, he signed his work as ‘Chang Nai Tong.’ His first solo was at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur in 1964 and he had his Retrospective at the National Art Gallery in 2007. He taught at the Malaysian Institute of Art from 1969 to 1980, the Central Academy of Art from 1982 to 1985, and the Saito Academy of Art (head of department, 1986 - 1988). He concentrated fulltime in art in 1992. His awards included Second Prize, Chartered Bank Mural Design Competition (1964); Shell Watercolour Award (1981); Best Award, Esso (1982); Dunlop Watercolour Award (1983); and Grand Prize Asia Art Award (Malaysia) in Seoul in 2009. He was the co-founder of the Malaysian Watercolour Society (1982 - 1983) and the Contemporary Malaysian Watercolourist Association (1994) and the now defunct Le Beaux Art Gallery.
REFERENCE
Odyssey, Tew Nai Tong Retrospective, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 2007.
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