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. Highly influential, Chen Wen Hsi is regarded as the doyen of Singapore Chinese-brush artists. Although he painted mainly in Chinese brush, he often ventured into a cubistic style, executed in either oil or ink. An ardent student of nature, Chen is best known for his paintings of gibbons and animals developed from the Lingnan style. Painted in the traditional Chinese painting style, Landscape prompts the viewer to read the painting from bottom to top. Landscape is a depiction of a mountainous terrain, painted in xieyi style, where the finer details such as ridges of the mountains, roofs of houses and trunks of trees are added on afterwards.
