Tan Tee Chie (1928-2011) was born in Hainan, China. Upon graduating from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1951 in Singapore, he became a lecturer in his alma mater. Best known as one of six key artists of the woodcut movement of the 1950s to 1960s in Singapore, he was also a seal-carving expert, painter, calligrapher and an art critic; he is listed in the China seal-carving artists’ directory, and the Chinese painting and calligraphy artists’ directory. Tan had held five solo exhibitions, one of which was an invitation by the University of Michigan. His artworks have been exhibited in China, Japan, Italy, Hong Kong, USSR, Malaysia and Singapore. ‘A Dark Hell’ is one of a series of eight prints Tan produced during the height of the woodcut movement which highlights the plight and hardship of the underprivileged in post-war Singapore. This one shows a gathering, possibly outside a brothel.
