Born in 1923, Lim Tze Peng is largely a self-taught artist. In his oeuvre, ink paintings and calligraphic works feature prominently, although there is a small number of oils, watercolours and drawings. He created a unique style of ink painting using rich brush and tonal details, and this approach is often regarded as a manifestation of the Nanyang Style in the ink medium. Lim, a school principal until his retirement in the early 1980s, was awarded the Cultural Medallion by the Singapore government in 2003.Lim is known for his Chinese ink paintings of local scenes: the Singapore River is one of his favourite subjects and it features prominently in his impressive body of work. In this painting, Lim highlights the bumboats with linework and coloured ink washes against a background of shophouses drawn in faint outline.
