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.In the mid 1950s, Lim spent considerable effort on portraiture as he felt it was a way to refine his techniques in the representation of form. While Lim produced portraits in both pastel and watercolour, the former was his preferred medium as he felt it lends itself better to the description of skin tones and textures. This fine study of an old man in pastel displays Lim’s acute observation skills, sensitive linework and his ability to meticulously represent the nuances of his subject.
