#GeorgetteChen

Portrait (Mrs Sum) (1972)

#GeorgetteChen
'Self Portrait' (1946)

Painted in Shanghai, China around 1946, this self-portrait came after years of upheaval for Georgette Chen (张荔英), born Chang Li Ying in Zhejiang in 1906 and trained in Paris and New York. She had already exhibited at the Salon d’Automne and lived between China, Europe, and the United States, but war, occupation, and the death of her husband, diplomat Eugene Chen, left deep marks on her life. Here she chooses neither grief nor glamour with tight framing, a subdued sepia palette, and economical brushwork presenting a working artist who knows her craft and her worth. The East Asian artist is seen close-up from the neck up, turning slightly to our left while fixing us with a steady, sideways gaze. Her oval face fills almost the entire small canvas and her light olive skin modeled with blocky, blended strokes and a gentle flush on the cheeks. Dark, almond-shaped eyes sit beneath faint brows, one catching more light than the other. Her lips, painted a cool rose pink, are closed in a calm, determined line. Her black hair is swept back and gathered into a coil near her ear. She wears a dark, high-collared blouse that hints at a cheongsam, its edge just visible at the neck. The background is a soft, mottled field of browns and greys, without props or studio details, keeping all attention on her poised, focused presence. Her level gaze feels both introspective and guarded, as if she is measuring the world that has tested her and deciding how to go on. A few years later, she would move to Malaya (Malaysia) and then Singapore, becoming a key figure in the Nanyang style and teaching generations at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Now in the National Gallery Singapore, this self-portrait often anchors retrospectives of her work, standing as a concise statement of her resilience, cosmopolitan training, and lifelong commitment to painting.

“Self Portrait” by Georgette Chen (张荔英) (Singaporean, China-born) - Oil on canvas / c. 1946 - National Gallery Singapore #WomenInArt #art #artText #GeorgetteChen #张荔英 #AsianArtist #Asian #NationalGallerySingapore #SelfPortrait #BlueskyArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #AsianArt #NanyangStyle

Georgette Chen #georgettechen

Born in China in 1906 as 张荔英, Georgette Chen Li Ying received her art education in Paris, New York as well as in Shanghai. Chen’s artistic oeuvre can be divided into three phases, French Period (1927-1933); China-Hong Kong Period (1934-1948) and Penang-Singapore Period (1949-1980). Immensely inspired by her surroundings she produced still lifes, portraits and landscapes from each phase. Settling in Singapore in 1954, she taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts till her retirement in 1980. Regarded as a Pioneer Artist of Singapore who played a critical role in the development of the Nanyang style, she was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1982. Chen passed away in 1993 in Singapore. Painted possibly a few years after her works were selected for exhibition at the prestigious Salon d'Automne in Paris, Chen's “Self Portrait” reveals her strong and confident personality. Her piercing gaze engages the viewer in a direct conversation with minimum fuss. Like her other portraiture works, she composed “Self Portrait” with an economy of means — soft dabs of color to delineate the contours of her face and differentiate the shades of her facial complexion. Her careful use of visual elements succeeded not only in capturing likeness but also helps to heighten psychological insight.

Self Portrait by Georgette Chen (Singaporean) - Oil on Canvas / c. 1934 - National Gallery Singapore #womeninart #art #womanartist #oilpainting #artwork #womensart #selfportrait #GeorgetteChen #Chen #femaleartist #portraitofawoman #AsianArtist #Singaporean #artoftheday #NationalGallerySingapore

Rohani Ismail stares straight-on at viewers, clad in vibrant Malay clothing, accessorized with a gold pin bearing her initial ‘R’. She was s student of pioneering Singaporean artist Georgette Chen’s at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art. Rohani was also a friend and confidante. Chen often drove Rohani home after school and the two wrote to each other in Malay, a language that Chen was herself so comfortable and proficient in that she earned herself a Malay nickname – “Chendana” or sandalwood. Far from the removed, objectifying eye that a person of her privilege might have been expected to cast on ethnic natives of the land, Chen’s paintings display an honest and authentic engagement with the world around her. Georgette Liying Chendana Chen (born 张荔英 in 1906), commonly known as Georgette Chen, was a Singaporean painter and one of the pioneers of modern Singaporean art as well as the Nanyang style of art in the region. Recognized for her contributions to visual art by the esteemed Malay visual art society Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya (Association of Artists of Various Resources, or APAD), Chen was awarded the Pingat APAD (APAD Medal) in 1974.

Rohani (Ismail) by Georgette Chen (Singaporean) - Oil on canvas / 1963 - National Gallery Singapore #womeninart #art #womanartist #oilpainting #SingaporeanArt #portraitofawoman #GeorgetteChen #artwork #NationalGallerySingapore #chen #femaleartist #womensart #chineseArtist #portrait #malaywoman

#GeorgetteChen​​​​​​​​.

Georgette Chen, otherwise known by her maiden name Zhang Liying, was sometimes referred to as “Chendana” (or sandalwood) by her Malay artist friends. She was one of Singapore’s pioneer women artists and her artistic practice one of the most prolific in the country. After a number of difficult years that spanned the war, the death of her first husband, Eugene Chen, and a split from her second husband, Ho YungChi, Georgette Chen arrived on her own in Singapore. She was by no means a stranger to the island. Chen had visited on several occasions and became fluent in Bahasa Melayu. She befriended many artists and prominent locals, often depicting them in her works. One such example is this striking portrait, “Malay Maiden.” It shows us how Chen’s technique and style began to change in the sixties and seventies after her move to Malaya as her color palette changed to work with brighter colors and tones. These can be clearly seen in the portrait with its beautiful light blues and pinks. She carefully depicts the delicate embroidery on the kebaya. Chen renders the sheen of the satin on the sleeve, by juxtaposing orange tones with a pale blue to give the effect of light. The headscarf is also a wonderful study of textures, as she creates translucency through a skillful play of lighter and darker pink strokes to layer the patterned veil over the sitter’s hair and shirt. Chen creates a sense of vibration through her use of quick and modulated brushstrokes. This makes the painting look more dynamic, even though the woman is seated against a plain wall. The technique used by Chen to achieve this result is called “hatching” which consists of creating parallel lines of varying lengths, closeness, and angles that give the impression of form and light in the portrait.

Malay Maiden by Georgette Chen (Singaporean) - Oil on canvas / 1961 - National Gallery Singapore #womeninart #portrait #art #oilpainting #artwork #fineart #womensart #malay #NationalGallerySingapore #GeorgetteChen #portraitofawoman #womanartist #womenpaintingwomen #femaleartist #Singaporean #chen

Mrs. Sum calmly, yet intently stares straight ahead while avoiding our gaze. Her dark brown, shoulder-length, almost greying hair is styled in a slightly wavy bob which frames her olive skin face accentuated by small pearl earrings and the mature beauty of her dark almond eyes, slightly bent nose, and light-pink lips. She is wearing a long-sleeved dress in a vibrant mandarin gold color, adorned with a repeating floral pattern in shades of fuchsia, crimson, jade, and lavender. The pattern is detailed and reminiscent of batik or similar Asian textile art. She is wearing a green and silver band on her ring finger of her left hand that rests atop the wrist of her right hand which holds a small, golden clutch in her lap. She sits in a comfortable wooden chair with a forest green drape over the right armrest in front of a muted celadon green background. World traveler and artist Georgette Chen (born 张荔英 Chang Li Ying in Zhejiang, China in 1906) was a pioneer of modern Singaporean art and the regional Nanyang style. All of her signed works bear the name ‘Chen,’ which was an adaptation of her chosen nom de plume. In the art community, she is frequently hailed for her still lifes, self-portraits, and portraits of other women in Asia where the undervaluing and marginalizing of women’s art was a result of women’s limited access to educational opportunities and art training. In 1982, Chen was awarded the Cultural Medallion for her contributions to the visual arts in Singapore.

Portrait (Mrs Sum) by Georgette Chen (Singaporean) - Oil on canvas / 1972 - National Gallery Singapore #womeninart #art #womanartist #portrait #femaleartist #oilpainting #singaporeanart #fineart #womensart #GeorgetteChen #artwork #museumart #portraitofawoman #NationalGallerySingapore #asianartist