Portrait of Lu Xun

Tan Swie Hian (1943) was born in Indonesia and migrated to Singapore as a child. After graduating from Singapore's Nanyang University in 1968, he worked at the French Embassy for 24 years before becoming a full-time artist. In 1985, Tan was awarded the Gold Medal of the French Artist Salon and in 1987, the Singapore Cultural Medallion. In 1993, Tan became the first Singapore artist to have a private museum dedicated to the display of his extensive oeuvre of artistic and literary works. In 2003, he received the World Economic Forum Crystal Award and Singapore Meritorious Award. 'Portrait of Lu Xun' has a startling likeness to the great Chinese writer, who is regarded as the father of modern writing in China. Rendered in swift and fiery brushstrokes, it reflects Lu's forceful personality. These rapid brushstrokes are the result of the technique known as 'lightning creating' method�, developed by Tan over years of practice. This portrait is one of a series of portraits of famous personalities that include Picasso, Shakespeare and Stephen Hawking.