Born in 1923, Lim Tze Peng is largely a self-taught artist. In his oeuvre, ink paintings and calligraphic works feature prominently, although there is a small number of oils, watercolours and drawings. He created a unique style of ink painting using rich brush and tonal details, and this approach is often regarded as a manifestation of the Nanyang Style in the ink medium. Lim, a school principal until his retirement in the early 1980s, was awarded the Cultural Medallion by the Singapore government in 2003.The wild cursive script, one of the most expressive in Chinese calligraphy, was adopted by Lim since 2000 for his large-format calligraphy works. These recent works are distinctively bold and imposing, and display Lim’s confidence in the ink medium.
