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.Stylistic changes in the 1950s and 1960s in Chen’s art are largely due to her encounter with the strong tropical light. The works became brighter and bolder colours are used. Chen was known to make painting trips to Malaysia: this painting is a gathering of vendors dressed in colourful Malay dress.in the Malaysian state of Trengganu.
