“Workers In A Canteen” by Chua Mia Tee. #art #fineart #visualart #painting #oilpainting #oiloncanvas #figurativepainting #chuamiatee

#ChuaMiaTee​​​​​​​​.
Portrait of Lee Boon Ngan, (1957)

Born in 1939, Lee Boon Ngan graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1965. Primarily known as an oil painter, she was one of the few active female painters in a period when the local art scene was a predominantly-male environment. A lifetime member of the Singapore Arts Society and known for still-life paintings of flowers, Ms Lee participated in both Singaporean and overseas exhibitions. It was through her brother and late artist Mr Lee Boon Wang that she met her future husband, Mr Chua Mia Tee, who, along with her brother, were key members of the Equator Art Society. This early portrait of Ms Lee as a high school student sitting in profile with a focused, almost stern, expression was one of the earliest portraits done by recent Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts graduate Chua. They got married in 1961. Chua sought to establish his own realism painting practice by exploring the idea of the ‘real’, for which the artist drew large inspiration from European classical realism, Russian and Chinese social realist art. In this ‘Portrait of a girl’ (who would later become his spouse), Chua painted with intimate detail the profile of the young woman, capturing not just her physical accuracy, but also her emotional state of being. More discerningly, this painting is art historically significant as it exemplifies Chua’s artistic intention of portraying close friends and contemporaries through intimate observations and close study. This work features another aspect of Chua’s realist practice, apart from the realistic representation of the working class that is charged with strong social messages.

Portrait of Lee Boon Ngan by Chua Mia Tee (Singaporean) - Oil on canvas / 1957 - National Gallery Singapore #womeninart #portrait #art #NationalGallerySingapore #oilpainting #fineart #ChuaMiaTee #womensart #singaporean #portraitofawoman #singaporeanart #LeeBoonNgan #realism #portraitofanartist