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.This drawing and ‘Students Attending Class at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts’ are the earliest examples of Tan’s work in the collection. Completed while a student at the Academy, Tan’s selective eye is evident. Executed using the contour drawing technique, where only the outlines are put down on paper, Tan continued to use this technique throughout his artistic career. Notably, all of his figure drawings in the collection are executed in this manner, capturing the essence of his subjects with minimal lines indicative of an ease that only comes with many years of practice.
