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Lot Essay
The vibrant oils and delicate ink paintings of Singaporean artist Sun Yee position her as one of the most interesting of the lesser-known artists that were part of the exciting developments in modern art in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Zhejiang, China, Sun Yee received her formal artistic education from the Xinhua Art Academy in Shanghai and the University of Japan in Tokyo, before leaving for France to study under renowned French modernist, Fernand Léger. In 1953, Sun Yee exhibited at the Salon des Beaux Arts in Paris to great acclaim. The next year, she settled in Singapore and established the Singapore Academy of the Arts.
Much like her contemporary Georgette Chen, Sun Yee was heavily inspired by the style and vision of the French impressionists. The whimsical naiveté of her oil paintings are reminiscent of Chagall's dreamlike compositions and softly rendered figures. Confidently transposing these Western ideas onto a depiction of distinctively Southeast Asian subjects, Dancers (Lot 604) brings together an unlikely assemblage of figures such as the indigenous tribal figure placed alongside the European ballerina and the traditional Chinese dancer. The figures are predominantly composed in single tones of colour, and in doing so, Sun Yee draws our attention to the juxtapositions between them, but also to the similarities in the rhythmic lyricism of their postures.
Where the line in Western art is more often used to delineate space, shape, and form, which is then filled in with colour in an elimination of negative space. The line in Chinese ink however, is often the form itself and there is an emphasis on the versatility of the negative space of the paper or canvas. Repose in the Garden (Lot 605) showcases Sun Yee's unique combination of both aesthetics of the line where the figure and the finely detailed flower are outlined in black ink. The persistence of the blank paper both inside and outside the line, however, is very much in tune with Chinese aesthetics where the line can transform the space into one which is either bounded or boundless.
A Beautiful Landscape (Lot 606) is a thoughtful integration of Eastern subject and aesthetics conveyed through Western style and medium. The composition of the mountainscape is reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape painting (shanshuihua) and even features a partially hidden Chinese-style pagoda roof in the mountainside. The hint of a deep red sun peeks from between the mountain peaks, illuminating them with an entrancing pink glow and providing a central focus in the scene.
An artist whose legacy can be said to be her sensitive treatment and balance between Eastern and Western medium and styles, Sun Yee is without a doubt an important figure in Singapore's early art history.
Much like her contemporary Georgette Chen, Sun Yee was heavily inspired by the style and vision of the French impressionists. The whimsical naiveté of her oil paintings are reminiscent of Chagall's dreamlike compositions and softly rendered figures. Confidently transposing these Western ideas onto a depiction of distinctively Southeast Asian subjects, Dancers (Lot 604) brings together an unlikely assemblage of figures such as the indigenous tribal figure placed alongside the European ballerina and the traditional Chinese dancer. The figures are predominantly composed in single tones of colour, and in doing so, Sun Yee draws our attention to the juxtapositions between them, but also to the similarities in the rhythmic lyricism of their postures.
Where the line in Western art is more often used to delineate space, shape, and form, which is then filled in with colour in an elimination of negative space. The line in Chinese ink however, is often the form itself and there is an emphasis on the versatility of the negative space of the paper or canvas. Repose in the Garden (Lot 605) showcases Sun Yee's unique combination of both aesthetics of the line where the figure and the finely detailed flower are outlined in black ink. The persistence of the blank paper both inside and outside the line, however, is very much in tune with Chinese aesthetics where the line can transform the space into one which is either bounded or boundless.
A Beautiful Landscape (Lot 606) is a thoughtful integration of Eastern subject and aesthetics conveyed through Western style and medium. The composition of the mountainscape is reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape painting (shanshuihua) and even features a partially hidden Chinese-style pagoda roof in the mountainside. The hint of a deep red sun peeks from between the mountain peaks, illuminating them with an entrancing pink glow and providing a central focus in the scene.
An artist whose legacy can be said to be her sensitive treatment and balance between Eastern and Western medium and styles, Sun Yee is without a doubt an important figure in Singapore's early art history.