From portraits filled with primal tension, to poetic abstraction, to stylised depictions of traditional way of living, Cheong Soo Pieng's artistic explorations spanned across countless styles and medium with no sign of rest, making the artist an undeniable Modernist pioneer in Singapore and Asia. Cheong Soo Pieng's artistic development had always been closely linked to his sojourns. His travels to different places and cultures in Southeast Asia and Europe were visual sources of inspiration for many of his works.
From 1961 to 1963, under the auspices of Singaporean filmmaking magnate Dato Loke Wan Tho, Cheong visited London, Glasgow, Dublin, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and other European cities to host exhibitions. For Cheong Soo Pieng, the Redfern Gallery exhibition was the culmination of a successful European tour, which had commenced with a first solo exhibition at Bond Street galleries of Frost & Reed in London in March 1962 followed by a second exhibition at Galerie Schoninger, Munich, in November 1962.
Untitled (Lot 3813) is dominated by a fiery red-orange vermillion palette, contrasted by masterful strokes of blacks and splashes of blue, to accentuate the vibrancy of red throughout the composition. Using the iconic vermillion in Chinese culture, the present work exhibits Cheong's extraordinary understanding of colour and brushstrokes and his masterful integration of landscape and abstraction.
Untitled (Lot 3814) is composed in a vertical format similar to Chinese literati painting. Against a gold-hued background a dark, coalescing land mass takes shape. Yellow pinpricks of light fleck the vista as though sunlight filtering through rocks or trees. The circle of azure blue floating on the left side of the composition perhaps indicates a valley lake against a foreboding mountain range. The entire formation recedes into hazy turquoise and cyan mist, finally giving way to the ochre wash of sky with Cheong's emblematic rising sun.
During his travels throughout Europe, he was guided and supported by beloved friends. Untitled and Untitled were gifts from the artist to the original owners and the parents of the current owners. The father of the present owner was an early student of Cheong Soo Pieng in 1957, who exhibited with the Cheong a group show organised by Singapore Art Society in 9 -14 December 1957, titled 'Exhibition for Members' held in the lounge of the Adelphi Hotel. Their Singaporean Chinese mother helped translate for Cheong during his time in Europe. In particular, the couple who were living and working in London at the time helped the artist approach the Redfern Gallery and supported him leading up to this solo exhibition. They returned to Singapore in 1964-65, and Cheong invited them to select a painting as a gift. These paintings have been held and passed down within the family's collection since they were first gifted in the 1960s and carry sentimental significance for Cheong's special relationship with the family.
Over the course of Cheong's solo exhibitions in Europe, he developed a series of works known as the Abstract Lyrical or Abstract Horizon series. This idea to present nature's liveliness through abstract colours and brushstrokes coincide with other Asian artists such as Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun, who also lived in Europe at that time. Mere months after Cheong's exhibition at Redfern in 1963, the gallery also hosted Zao Wou-Ki's solo exhibition to similarly great acclaim.
Works from Cheong's 1960s abstract lyrical series are rare at auction. A new world record for the artist was set in November 2023 for a triptych Nature's Inspiration from this series, also executed in 1963. Indicating the lofty, treasured status of Cheong Soo Pieng's abstract landscape works.
