National Gallery Singapore’s newest exhibition takes visitors back from the 1930s all the way to the 1970s with a view of the Little Red Dot seen through a watercolor lens.
Over those four decades, local painter Lim Cheng Hoe – who never had any formal tertiary art education – captured the evolution of our people and our landscapes in images that are now being presented in his Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore showcase.
As a salute to one of the country’s finest watercolor artists of his generation, the exhibition spotlights more than 60 of Lim’s works, revealing a Singapore in the midst of urbanization and industrialization at the time.
Inspired by his surroundings, Lim often painted kampongs, boats on the Singapore River, fishing villages, hilltops and, later on, construction sites, as the nation got caught up in a whirlwind of modernization during its period of decolonization and independence.
For those not in the know, Lim actually honed his craft by reading art publications and engaging with other watercolor artists, with whom he would traipse across Singapore every Sunday to paint and critique each other’s works.
Besides paintings and artefacts from the artist’s family, private lenders, and public/institutional collections, the display also unearths some of his lesser-known pieces, including his portraits in pastel and chalk, and his experiments with oil, ink, and unusual brushwork styles.
Scroll through some of the exhibition’s highlights below.
Attap and Nets at Kukup, 1972
Completed during Lim’s trip to Kukup, this piece captures the hanging fishing nets, boats, and thatched huts seen at the fishing village in Johor.
[Not titled] (Kampong House with Two Figures), 1957
The familiar kampong was one of the nostalgic scenes Lim often explored, as a result of the local villages being demolished by the 1960s in order for urban development to take place.
Singapore River, 1962
One of Lim’s works that explores light at various times across the day, the watercolor work features outlines that bleed into one another for a soft effect to portray a calm evening by the river.
The Estuary, 1970
Representing a change in Lim’s style from the decade before, this watercolor painting expresses the mood of this river landscape, with threatening dark clouds along the horizon to signal the arrival of a storm.
FIND IT:
Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore is on from Aug 2, 2018-June 9, 2019; Sat-Thurs 10am-7pm, Fri 10am-9pm at L4, City Hall Wing, National Gallery Singapore.
Free entry for Singaporeans and PRs, $20 for visitors.
MRT: City Hall
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