Image size: 137.3 x 68.6 cm
Tan Yueh Goh (b.1917-2012) learnt Chinese brush painting from noted local Chinese ink painter Nai Swee Leng at the age of 83. Born in a Teochew village in Shantou, China, she led a hard life of doing embroidery work and helping her father homemade pastry. Although not professionally trained, her work reveals her natural talent in appreciating and presenting the essence of Chinese literati painting, which are the qualities of simplicity and naturalness as always advocated by the amateur- literati artists. In January 2013, an exhibition titled ‘Brushes from the Swan’ was held posthumously to raise funds for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. This work exemplifies Tan Yueh Goh’s artistic talent in representing the qualities of simplicity and naturalness, which are the essentials of ink brushwork as always advocated by the amateur-literati artists in the discourse of the Chinese painting. Tan’s works provide an alternative insight into the understanding of Chinese literati painting which has been historically dominated by cultivated amateurs, as well as the understanding of the Chinese ink development in Singapore which has been largely contributed by non-professional practitioners.
