Born in 1933 in Singapore, Tan Choo Kuan was trained in Western Art at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. A dedicated art teacher and prolific artist, Tan’s legacy was recognised in October 2005 with the Singapore Art Museum’s acquisition of 74 select sketches and drawings on paper completed between 1953 and 2005.As a member of Group 90 and with his strong European stylistic aesthetics, Tan was committed to studying the (naked) human body in order to master depicting the human form in drawing. The human body in all its complexity, variety and flexibility, offers the artist an unlimited source of material and inspiration from which to draw. Here, Tan has sketched the reclining nude model with her head thrown back, dense long hair cascading down her back in contrast with her outlined form. This work was included in ‘Paintings of Tan Choo Kuan’ catalogue published in 2000.
