Considered one of Singapore’s foremost realist painters, Chua Mia Tee received his arts training at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated in 1952. Following the success of his first solo exhibition at the Rising Art Gallery in 1974, Chua became a full-time artist specialising in landscape and portrait paintings. His early works such as ‘Epic of Life in Malaya’ (1955) and ‘National Language Class’ (1959) often reflect the nationalistic fervour of the times, while his later portraits of national leaders and events serve to capture various milestones in Singapore’s history as an independent nation-state. This painting of the 1984 National Day Parade at the Padang was drawn by Chua to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the granting of self-government to Singapore in 1959. It appeared on the front page of the 10 August 1984 issue of The Straits Times newspaper.
