Born in Amoy, China in 1912, Lim Cheng Hoe came to Singapore when he was 7. Primarily a self-taught artist, Lim studied art under Richard Walker, Singapore’s first Art Inspector of Schools, at the Raffles Institution in the early 1930s. Lim was a prominent and significant first generation artist due to his treatment of the local landscape in the watercolour medium and is associated with the Nanyang Style. He was also a founding member of the Singapore Watercolour Society. Lim passed away in 1979 in Singapore.The years from 1955 to 1965 are considered as Lim’s golden period. It was also in the mid 1950s that Lim concentrated on portraiture in an effort to refine his observation and perception skills.. Though known as a watercolourist, Lim preferred pastel for portraiture as he felt it could convey the human form better than watercolour, which is limited by its quick drying nature.
