Image size: 41.5 x 40.0 cm,
Frame size: 71.5 x 71.5 x 4.5 cm
Lee Man Fong is regarded as one of Indonesia’s foremost modern artists, and known for his preferred artistic style that incorporated formal characteristics of Chinese ink painting applied with oil paint onto smooth and hard Masonite boards. Lee received a Malino Scholarship (1946-1952) with the support of Dutch Governor General Van Mook to study art in the Netherlands., and upon his return to Indonesia established himself as the founder of the Yin Hua Artists’ Association in 1956 as well as the Presidential Palace Painter under President Sukarno in 1961. He lived for an extended period in Singapore between 1965 and 1986 where he similarly established himself within the local artistic community with great success. This artwork is one of the earliest known examples of the artist’s self portrait painted in oil, and is an important marker in his artistic development. The portrait captures the artist aged 22 in 1935 a year before his first group exhibition in 1936, and before his decision to leave his job in a publishing company in Jakarta become a full-time artist in 1941. Despite being an early example from the artist’s oeuvre, the portrait expresses Lee’s already notable technical ability, and from his manner of dress and comportment, also his clear confidence and desire to present himself as a practicing artist.
