Frame size: 60 x 70.9 cm
Born in China in 1906, Georgette Chen Li Ying received her art education in Paris, New York as well as in Shanghai. Chen’s artistic oeuvre can be divided into three phases, French Period (1927-1933); China-Hong Kong Period (1934-1948) and Penang-Singapore Period (1949-1980). Immensely inspired by her surroundings she produced still lifes, portraits and landscapes from each phase. Settling in Singapore in 1954, she taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts till her retirement in 1980. Regarded as a Pioneer Artist of Singapore who developed the Nanyang Style, she was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1982. Chen passed away in 1993 in Singapore.This work belongs to the third phase of Chen’s artistic oeuvre which coincides with her stay in Singapore. There is a marked stylistic difference in her works of this phase as the bright tropical light resulted in the use of flattened forms and bright colours. Chen also began to depict human activities in her landscapes.
