Born in Amoy, China in 1912, Lim Cheng Hoe came to Singapore when he was 7. Primarily a self-taught artist, Lim studied art under Richard Walker, Singapore’s first Art Inspector of Schools, at the Raffles Institution in the early 1930s. Lim was a prominent and significant first generation artist due to his treatment of the local landscape in the watercolour medium and is associated with the Nanyang Style. He was also a founding member of the Singapore Watercolour Society. Lim passed away in 1979 in Singapore.‘Singapore River’ is an interesting marriage of linework and tonal quality. Lim uses the transparent quality of watercolour to great effect. By leaving some sketchily drawn areas devoid of all but a light wash, Lim has achieved a pleasing balance between these and the more complex portions of the painting.
