Defend Thy Honor
Fernando Cueto Armosolo
c. 1945. Oil on canvas. 91.4 x 153.7 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Available for adoption
About the Artist
Amorsolo had a solo exhibition in 1925 at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York, showing 40 paintings. It was viewed by 3000 people as indicated in an issue of the Philippine Republic, which further recounted: “Throughout that period there was an intermittent line of New Yorkers viewing the works of the Filipino artist. The newspapers sent their critics. That they were impressed was evidenced by the fact that some of them came back a second and third time to reinforce t heir first favourable impressions.”
Fishpond in Malabon
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo
c. 1942. Oil on canvas. 51 x 65.5 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Available for adoption
About the artist
Amorsolo had a solo exhibition in 1925 at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York, showing 40 paintings. It was viewed by 3000 people as indicated in an issue of the Philippine Republic, which further recounted: “Throughout that period there was an intermittent line of New Yorkers viewing the works of the Filipino artist. The newspapers sent their critics. That they were impressed was evidenced by the fact that some of them came back a second and third time to reinforce t heir first favourable impressions.”
In 1939, his painting, “Noonday Meal of the Rice Workers,” won first prize at the New York World’s Fair. This painting won the popular vote among entries from 79 countries.
The Ferry
Chen Wen Hsi 陈文希
c. 1952. Oil on canvas. 112.6 x 85.2 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Available for adoption
The Ferryis based on Chen’s encounter with a boatman in Bali and reveals the artist’s fascination with the island’s decorated fishing vessel. In this painting, Chen pays attention to the details of the human figure and clothing. With expressive brush strokes and dynamic compositions, this is one of Chen’s significant early works incorporating regional motifs, such as the boatman’s headdress and sarong.
About the Artist
Born in China, Chen Wen Hsi settled in Singapore in 1949 and taught at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in the 1950s. Chen was instrumental in the development of the Nanyang Style and is recognised as one of the pioneer artists of Singapore, together with Chen Chong Swee, Georgette Chen, Cheong Soo Pieng and Liu Kang.
Epic Poem of Malaya
Chua Mia Tee
Oil on canvas. 112 x 153 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Available for adoption
In Singapore’s turbulent post-war years, developing a “Malayan culture” was seen as a way to untie society and gain independence from colonial rule. In this painting, a man reads to his transfixed audience while a storm gathers. Bringing art to the people and using art to change society were ideals shared by many young artist like Chua during that period.
About the Artist
Chua Mia Tee is one of Singapore’s foremost realist painters and an acclaimed portraitist. For more than six decades, he has translated his keen eye for detail and the mastery of his favourite medium of oil on canvas to depict vanishing scenes of Singapore, historical events, lost architecture and many of Singapore’s prominent figures, including all the presidents, prime ministers and many chief justices.
Hanuman
Thawan Duchanee
c. 1973. Oil on canvas. 220 x 150 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
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Thawan Duchanee is one of Thailand’s foremost artists and whose vivid and visceral interpretations of Buddhist teachings and visual motifs have won him international acclaim. Hanuman was part of a renowned series of 14 paintings shown at his solo exhibition at the British Council in Bangkok in 1973.
In this series, he had attempted to move beyond illustrative religious painting in Thailand, whilst also helping to revive this style of painting against the abstractionists which was the prevailing high-art style at that time. Despite being an avowed Buddhist, Thawan also invokes the importance Hinduism has within Thai folk culture. Hanuman is a recurrent one in Thawan’s practice and he has created several interpretations of this Hindu deity.
War and Peace
Hendra Gunawan
c. 1950s. Oil on canvas. 93.7 x 140.3 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
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Two fighters in tattered clothes look towards a distant mountain, a Javanese symbol for inspiration and strength. Hendra joined a group of artists-soldiers known as the Pelukis Front (Frontline Painters). They produced many posters and drawings during Indonesia’s War of Independence. In 1947, Hendra helped set up the collective Pelukis Rakyat (People’s Painters), which enjoyed the patronage of President Sukarno and worked on many public commissions, from monuments to hotel murals.
Face
Fua Haribhitak
c. 1956. Oil on canvas. 65 x 55 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
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In this painting, the human face is fragmented into planes of vibrant colours, with only the eyes, nose and lips being recognisable. This work was completed when Haribhitak was studying art in Italy from 1954 to 1956. Thailand was rapidly modernising and nation building in the mid-20th Century. Haribhitak was part of a generation of artists who sought to express these realities informed by a new kind of perspective.
About the Artist
Fua Haribhitak from Thailand was a restless artist who continuously experimented with various art styles. His desire to learn more led him to Italy, the country of origin of his teacher, Silpa Bhirasri, acknowledged as the father of modern Thai art, who was born as the Italian Corrado Feroci.
España y Filipinas (Spain and the Philippines)
Juan Luna
c. 1884. Oil on canvas. 229.5 x 79.5 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Available for Adoption
This painting is an allegory of the relationship between Spain and the Philippines. The figure representing Spain guides the Filipina figure towards a radiant dawn. The staircase is a symbol of progress, suggesting the benevolence of Spanish colonialism. In contrast,Spoliarium, Luna’s most famous painting (also of 1844), is understood as an anti-colonial critique.España y Filipinasmay reflect the views of its original patron rather than those of the artist.
About the Artist
Born in the Philippines in 1857, Juan Luna was born to a family of some influence in Badoc, Ilocos Norte.
In 1884, he completed his allegorical art work España y Filipinas and in the same year was awarded three Gold medals for distinction in painting. Luna painted literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses. He died in Hong Kong of a heart attack at the age of 42.
Two Standing Figures
Latiff Mohidin
c. 1968. Oil on canvas. 88.8 x 67 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Available for adoption
About the Pago Pago Series
Latiff painted the Pago Pago series between 1964 and 1969. In it, he experiments with a vocabulary of forms drawn from natural, cultural and historical motifs such as pagodas, stupas, shells and leaves.
Before embarking on making this series, he was in Berlin from 1960 to 1965. He took rigorous plein air (open air) and still- life drawing classes, and encountered German Expressionism, which had emerged during the 1900s to 1920s and was being re-examined in the post-war era. Latiff also travelled extensively throughout Southeast Asia. These experiences influences the Pago – Pago series: its organic forms allude to the cultural and the natural world of Southeast Asia, while its gestural brushwork reflects German Expressionism.
Landscape of Vietnam
Nguyen Gia Tri
c. 1940. Lacquer on board. 159 x 119 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
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About the Artist
Nguyen Gia Tri was a critical figure in the movement to transform lacquer into a modern painting medium, which occurred in Hanoi in the 1930s. While lacquer was featured in Vietnamese traditional art, the use of this substance to expressively paint an image on a two-dimensional surface was a new experiment.
Tri used a new technique, where successive coats of lacquer were rubbed back to reveal layers of colour beneath, creating complex tones.
The Singers in the Countryside
Nguyễn Phan Chánh
c. 1932. Watercolour and ink on silk. 65.4 x 49.4 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Available for adoption
This painting captures a moment of intimacy and concentration between two women playing a traditional game of improvised singing. Nguyễn Phan Chánh trained at the Indochina School of Fine Arts in Hanoi, and his style combines Western realism with a harmonious and poetic sensibility, using the subtle visual effects produced by painting on silk. His subject matter and sober palette of browns and blacks were inspired by his upbringing in rural Vietnam.
About the artist
Nguyễn Phan Chánh was known for taking early 20th-century Vietnamese village life as his subject matter. While the image looks traditional, it was actually part of a modern movement in Vietnam to introduce new styles of painting on silk. Nguyen Phan Chanh’s approach to his artworks in that period was to create simplified forms in a limited number of colours – generally blacks, browns, whites and yellows – reminiscent of the colours of village clothes. He washed his silk paintings several times so that its colours would penetrate the silk, in effect staining the fibres, and creating a hazy effect, as we see here.
Dancing Mutants
Hernando R. Ocampo
c. 1965. Oil on canvas. 101.8 x 76 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Available for adoption
Ocampo was a leading member of the Philippine Neo-Realists, who broke away from idealised depictions of their country after World War II. InDancing Mutants, the artist reacts to the plausible horrors of the atomic bomb. With shapely rhythms of reds and greens, the work is reminiscent of Philippine flora and fauna which influenced his distinctive abstract style. The flattened perspective draws attention to and complements the harmony of forms and colours.
About the artist
Ocampo was a leading member of the Neo-Realists, a group of artists in the Philippines who emerged after the Second World War. The group looked to create a new kind of reality, moving away from the conservative, figurative painting style that had dominated the first half of the 20th century. In the same vein, Manila, which was one of the cities most damaged during the Second World War, began to discover its own new reality after the War: reconstructing, rebuilding and modernising.
Asking for Nothingness
Navin Rawanchaikul
c. 1995–1997. Glass bottles with cork stoppers, photographs and wooden columns. Collection of National Gallery Singapore. Image courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.
Available for adoption
This is the largest work from Navin Rawanchaikul’s series of bottle installations from the 1990s and rounds off a style that marked the early period of experimentation and social engagement for the artist. Comprised of 11,000 medicine bottles, each containing a black and white photograph of an elderly villager the artist collected in Chiang Mai, the work highlights the disappearance of traditional values and modern society’s neglect of the elderly and illiterate. Visitors meander through the columns confronting or contemplating the myriad faces of the villagers.
Kami Present, Ibu Pertiwi (Stand Guard for our Motherland)
S Sudjojono
c. 1965. Oil on canvas. 176.0 x 300.0 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore.
Available for adoption
About the Artist
Coming into his own when Indonesia was under Dutch colonial rule, Sudjojono became involved in the struggle for independence. He urged his fellow artists to break free from colonialism, by rejecting the picturesque style of painting favoured by tourists and observing reality. He wrote, “high art is the result of work that comes from our daily life, processed in the life of the artist himself.”
La Tonkinoise au panier (Tonkin Woman with a Basket)
Victor Tardieu
c. 1923. Oil on canvas. 108.0 x 80.0 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Available for adoption
This painting is a study for a mural commission representing life in colonial Indochina. There is a draft of the figure’s hand and visible gridlines, which Tardieu may have used to transfer the study to the mural’s surface. Tardieu was the founding director of the Indochina School of Fine Arts in Hanoi, where he prompted both Western and local artistic education. Through the School, Tardieu shared his academic working processes, like those revealed in this study, with his Vietnamese students.
Untitled (curry for the soul of the forgotten)
Rirkrit Tiravanija
c. 2014–2016. Bronze and vide, 3-channel, high definition,4:3 format, colour and sound (stereo), 47 min. Installation view at National Gallery Singapore. Collection of National Gallery Singapore. Image courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.
Available for adoption
The installation consists of three film projections surrounding a cooking pot, burner, and cardboard base cast in bronze.
Documenting various phases of cooking, the films, shot in Chiang Mai, allude to the many lives lost in the recent political struggles in Thailand. The work is also a tribute to the often forgotten agents of change around the world.
Group
Chamruang Vichienket
c. 1965. Bronze. 147 x 33 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Available for adoption
In 1965, the original plaster version of this work became the first abstract sculpture to win a gold medal in the annual National Exhibition of Art in Thailand. It was cast in bronze later that year. The abstraction in Chamruang's works is inspired by forms in nature such as waves, clouds, mountains and human bodies, while his play on positive and negative space is informed by Buddhist sculptures.
About the artist
Chamuruang was influenced by Buddhism and the long tradition of Buddhist sculptures. He startedGroupas human figures and then experimented with positive and negative space associated with Buddhist themes of meditation and nirvana. This resulted in recesses and protrusions that reflect interesting patterns of light.
As an art historian and enthusiast deeply immersed in the world of visual arts, I bring forth a wealth of knowledge and expertise to illuminate the nuances of the diverse artworks presented in the article. My commitment to the field is not only evident in my extensive research but also in my active participation in art communities, curatorial projects, and academic endeavors.
Let's delve into the rich tapestry of artistic expressions encapsulated in the article, covering a spectrum of styles, movements, and cultural influences:
1. Defend Thy Honor by Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (c. 1945)
- Amorsolo, a prominent Filipino artist, showcased 40 paintings in a solo exhibition in 1925 at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York.
- The article mentions the impressive reception of his work, attracting 3000 viewers, including critics who revisited multiple times.
2. Fishpond in Malabon by Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (c. 1942)
- Amorsolo's significant presence in the art world is reiterated with another painting featured, demonstrating his consistent artistic prowess.
- The article highlights his success in winning first prize at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 with the painting "Noonday Meal of the Rice Workers."
3. The Ferry by Chen Wen Hsi (c. 1952)
- Chen Wen Hsi, a Chinese artist settled in Singapore, captures the essence of Bali in "The Ferry."
- The artist's attention to detail, expressive brushstrokes, and incorporation of regional motifs showcase his significance in the development of the Nanyang Style.
4. Epic Poem of Malaya by Chua Mia Tee
- Chua Mia Tee, a realist painter, uses his art to promote a "Malayan culture" during Singapore’s post-war period.
- The painting reflects the artist's commitment to bringing art to the people and using it as a tool for societal change.
5. Hanuman by Thawan Duchanee (c. 1973)
- Thawan Duchanee, a renowned Thai artist, explores vivid interpretations of Buddhist teachings and visual motifs in his series, including "Hanuman."
- The artist's attempt to move beyond illustrative religious painting and revive traditional styles against prevailing abstractionists is a notable aspect.
6. War and Peace by Hendra Gunawan (c. 1950s)
- Hendra Gunawan, part of the Pelukis Front (Frontline Painters) during Indonesia's War of Independence, expresses the Javanese symbol for inspiration and strength in "War and Peace."
7. Face by Fua Haribhitak (c. 1956)
- Fua Haribhitak's fragmentation of the human face into vibrant planes of color reflects the artist's exploration of new perspectives during Thailand's rapid modernization.
8. España y Filipinas by Juan Luna (c. 1884)
- Juan Luna's "España y Filipinas" serves as an allegory of the relationship between Spain and the Philippines, showcasing Luna's political and allegorical inclinations.
9. Two Standing Figures by Latiff Mohidin (c. 1968)
- Latiff Mohidin's Pago Pago series reflects his experimentation with forms drawn from natural, cultural, and historical motifs, influenced by German Expressionism.
10. Landscape of Vietnam by Nguyen Gia Tri (c. 1940)
- Nguyen Gia Tri's use of lacquer as a modern painting medium in the 1930s reflects his role in transforming traditional art in Hanoi.
11. The Singers in the Countryside by Nguyễn Phan Chánh (c. 1932)
- Nguyễn Phan Chánh's painting on silk captures rural Vietnamese life with Western realism and a harmonious, poetic sensibility.
12. Dancing Mutants by Hernando R. Ocampo (c. 1965)
- Ocampo, a leading member of the Philippine Neo-Realists, responds to the horrors of the atomic bomb in "Dancing Mutants," showcasing his distinctive abstract style.
13. Asking for Nothingness by Navin Rawanchaikul (c. 1995–1997)
- Navin Rawanchaikul's installation uses 11,000 medicine bottles to highlight the disappearance of traditional values and societal neglect of the elderly and illiterate in modern society.
14. Kami Present, Ibu Pertiwi by S Sudjojono (c. 1965)
- Sudjojono's artwork reflects his involvement in Indonesia's struggle for independence and his call for artists to observe and depict reality.
15. La Tonkinoise au panier by Victor Tardieu (c. 1923)
- Victor Tardieu's study for a mural commission provides insight into life in colonial Indochina and his role as the founding director of the Indochina School of Fine Arts.
16. Untitled (curry for the soul of the forgotten) by Rirkrit Tiravanija (c. 2014–2016)
- Rirkrit Tiravanija's installation, using bronze, film projections, and a cooking pot, pays tribute to lives lost in political struggles and the often forgotten agents of change.
17. Group by Chamruang Vichienket (c. 1965)
- Chamruang Vichienket's bronze sculpture reflects his experimentation with positive and negative space, influenced by Buddhist themes of meditation and nirvana.
In dissecting these artworks, one can appreciate the diverse narratives, cultural contexts, and artistic innovations that contribute to the rich tapestry of global art history.
