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Lot Essay
Chen Wen Hsi was part of Singapore's pioneering artists from the Nanyang School in the 50s and 60s who strived to develop a distinct form of art ist i c expression representative of the region. Before moving to Singapore in 1948 during the Chinese Civil War, the artist had garnered a strong artistic foundation in traditional Chinese ink and brush from the Xin Hua Academy of Fine Art in Shanghai. Combined with his interests in the modernist styles of the West, Chen borrowed techniques from both artistic approaches in his portrayal of classical pictorial subjects.
Imbued with auspicious meanings, Golden Carps (Lot 560) sees a school of fish swimming amidst bamboo stems. Fish or 'Yu' is homophonic with the Chinese word for surplus and is thus often associated with abundance and affluence. Together with the bamboo motif, which is a symbol for resoluteness, honor and chastity, the work is a prolific expression of traditional Chinese values. Stylistically, this present lot exemplifies Chen's confidence in the swift yet contained strokes of his brush as he brings his work to life.
Similarly working in a combination of both the realist Gongbi technique and the freely expressive Xieyi style, Gibbons (Lot 561) moves away from a linear flow as it incorporates modernist angles to create a busy dynamic visual. A recurring subject, Chen was heavily inspired by the 13th century Southern Song Dynasty painting White Robed Guanyin, Crane and Gibbon by Mu Qi.
A theme that Chen became fascinated with through the later part of his life, Herons (Lot 562) is emblematic, symbolising strength, purity, patience and longevity. Here, Chen's brushwork almost completely loses its linear qualities and form as the birds take on an abstraction in an undefined space and composition.
With same use bold lines and translucent ink washes layered upon one another to denote three-dimensional space and objects, Sparrows (Lot 563) and Frogs (Lot 564) are representative of Chen's exploration into the visual principles of Western painting, all through the traditional Chinese painter's technique of ink and wash on paper. Creating a harmonious juxtaposition of movement and stillness within a single painting plane, Chen works are a visionary feat of his creative oeuvre.
Imbued with auspicious meanings, Golden Carps (Lot 560) sees a school of fish swimming amidst bamboo stems. Fish or 'Yu' is homophonic with the Chinese word for surplus and is thus often associated with abundance and affluence. Together with the bamboo motif, which is a symbol for resoluteness, honor and chastity, the work is a prolific expression of traditional Chinese values. Stylistically, this present lot exemplifies Chen's confidence in the swift yet contained strokes of his brush as he brings his work to life.
Similarly working in a combination of both the realist Gongbi technique and the freely expressive Xieyi style, Gibbons (Lot 561) moves away from a linear flow as it incorporates modernist angles to create a busy dynamic visual. A recurring subject, Chen was heavily inspired by the 13th century Southern Song Dynasty painting White Robed Guanyin, Crane and Gibbon by Mu Qi.
A theme that Chen became fascinated with through the later part of his life, Herons (Lot 562) is emblematic, symbolising strength, purity, patience and longevity. Here, Chen's brushwork almost completely loses its linear qualities and form as the birds take on an abstraction in an undefined space and composition.
With same use bold lines and translucent ink washes layered upon one another to denote three-dimensional space and objects, Sparrows (Lot 563) and Frogs (Lot 564) are representative of Chen's exploration into the visual principles of Western painting, all through the traditional Chinese painter's technique of ink and wash on paper. Creating a harmonious juxtaposition of movement and stillness within a single painting plane, Chen works are a visionary feat of his creative oeuvre.