Biography of Georgette

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Georgette Chen - Western art through Chinese eyes

by: JFK Miller

May 06,2001

Georgette Chen (1906-93) was an artist, a trailblazer and a teacher. She was also a woman who made her way in a predominantly male mitier, all the more impressive that she did so in a fiercely patriarchal Chinese society where "boys were more treasured than girls". It is no surprise that her parents did not expect her to succeed. Yet, she went on to become one of Singapore's pioneer artists and the only women to be dedicated as such.

"Western art from a Chinese hand and through Chinese Eyes"
Chen was born in October 1906 in Zhejiang province, China, though at different times and in different conversations she variously described her date and place of birth as Paris or China in either 1906 or 1907. Her work can be categorised into three distinct periods corresponding with her countries of residence: the French period (1927-34), China and Hong Kong (1934-50), and her work from her life in Penang and Singapore (1950-80).

It was natural for Chen to end up in France at some point. During her early life her family moved back and forth between China & Paris (her father was a diplomat) and led a somewhat nomadic existence which Chen seems to have replicated in her own life. The family permanently relocated to Paris in 1914 and there Chen remained until 1934.

It was among the French tutors that Chen perfected her technique of using the brush and the palette influenced by Post Impressionists such as Cizanne and she subsequently applied this method to painting her surrounds and people.

Chen brought these modernist ideas to Singapore and its artistic community when she settled there in 1954. By this time, she was already a mature artist, having held solo exhibitions in Paris (1936 and 1950), China (1943 and 1947) and New York (1949).

She was one of the main proponents of the 'Nanyang style' which uses Western painting techniques in combination with local subjects and uses colour to reflect the tropics. Chen insisted upon painting everyday life; portraits, landscapes and still life scenes for which she is most famous. The contexts of her paintings are a reflection of her Eastern surroundings, except that the medium and technique she used was Western. Her painting style has been described as a feminine version of Van Gogh: subtler colours, less vigorous strokes.

"I am engaged precisely in the creation of beauty"

Chen's official recognition was very late in coming due to her gender. Though she did not herself find being a woman a hindrance to being an artist, it did bother her male contemporaries and they excluded her from their company, most notably from their group visits to Bali in the 1950s and 1960s.

Her exclusion from Singapore art circles meant that she did not form part of any one creative group. Instead she stood apart as an individual and made her way regardless. However, her segregation does not seem to have detracted from her influence as an artist, and, in a way, may even have added to her enduring impact. One of her male contemporaries, Ng Eng Teng once remarked, "out of the six original pioneers, I think she ranks third out of the six".

"She would explain your faults but first of all point out our strengths"
When she first came to Singapore, Chen's initial problem was one of livelihood. To have taught full time in a school would have assured her bread and butter but would have meant artistic suicide. So, she compromisd by teaching part-time.

She took up a position at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the only art school of its kind at that time in the whole of Malaya, where she taught until her retirement in 1980. She had a reputation as an excellent but rather strict tutor, insisting on careful measure and observation. She was very supportive of her students and wrote letters of recommendation to overseas art schools in support of them. She did not, however, pull punches, criticising their work honestly, and, sometimes with devastating effects, so much so that some students would avoid these critique sessions altogether.

"She is not for sale. Money cannot buy her."

Chen's painting was never greatly remunerative. She was a slow painter, who could never mass-produce. On occasions she even stopped the sale of her paintings. During her life she did not want anything to do with people who would put her work in a gallery and then later sell it at a higher price. She would only consider selling her work to someone with whom she had a rapport. Upon her death, her estate donated at her request 53 of her works to the Singapore Art Museum.

Chen's work remains elusive to private buyers. Rarely does her work come up for private sale. However, Christie's and Sotheby's in Singapore occasionally have sellers in their client list. At Christie's, contact Cecilia Ong on (+65) 235 3828, at Sotheby's, contact Mok Kim Chuan on (+65) 732 8239.