Cheong Soo Pieng

Private Collection, Singapore

The canvas has been relined. This work is in excellent overall condition as viewed, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals an area of restoration at the center of the right edge, at the left edge of the woman's hat and at the woman's arm. There are other areas of restoration in the general background, visible under ultraviolet light. Framed.
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Cheong Soo Pieng is proudly revered by his nation as one of the forerunners of the Nanyang School of Art, a progressive art movement in Singapore which converged an mélange of cultural art traditions, including the ethnic styles from communities in Java, Malaysia, China and India as well as the modernist styles embodied by the School of Paris. He considered the study of ethnography and anthropology a significant part of the process of representation, stimulating him to travel and delve deeply into the mores of his neighboring civilizations.

The present lot portrays a woman seated in the foreground of a landscape that recedes into the backdrop. Soo Pieng’s brilliant use of linear perspective, influenced by principles of Western art, provides the work with a sense of depth and conveys the endlessness of this vast landscape. He utilizes a neutral palette to color the scene, which appears blanketed with a haze of brown. The earthy, monochromatic tones integrate the workingwoman and her atmosphere, possibly evoking the substance of this land of which she is so dependent. Muted gold and yellow pigments cause the work to radiate with a warm glow. The assorted specks of paint sporadically daubed throughout the surface of the canvas suggest the influence of pointillism, and delivers the painting a sense of lyricism and vibration.

A solitary figure against a sprawling landscape, the woman in the picture seeks refreshment from a cool lake as she performs her daily chores. She is stylized, reflecting the influence of wayang kulit, traditional shadow puppets from Indonesia. Her extended limbs, angular countenance, almond-lidded eyes and arched eyebrows are characteristic of the artist’s figures. Her elongated earlobes reveal that she is from Sarawak, indicating that Soo Pieng painted this image during his travels to Borneo.

Contented in her isolation, she appears pensive as she performs her simple, daily tasks. A restless artist who needed to satiate his wanderlust, Soo Pieng was devoted to finding inspiration in new places. This idyllic painting stands as a culmination of the artist’s incessant pursuit of a highly personalized aesthetic.