Landscape

Cheong Soo Pieng (1917-1983) is regarded as a pivotal figure in Singapore's modern art development. Born in Xiamen, China, he was part of a group of artists that attempted to articulate a style identifiable and pertinent to post-war Singapore, then known collectively with Malaysia, as Malaya. This style, later crystallized as the Nanyang Style, provided a foundation upon which future generations of artists learned and expanded on. A key element of the Nanyang Style was the synthesis of Chinese pictorial elements and the diverse formalistic qualities from the School of Paris. By the late 1970s, Cheong had developed his distinctive representation of the human figure which is elegant, with elongated limbs; it is represented in 'Landscape'. A stylistic trait in Cheong's oeuvre, �the compositional grouping of the subject matter near the centre of the work �is seen here. The detailed line work, akin to '�gongbi' (meticulous brush technique) demonstrates Cheong'�s strong foundation in Chinese ink painting.