Georgette Chen was a key figure in the development of modern art in Singapore.
A female artist in the 20th century who sought to capture the poetry of everyday life, Chen’s journey from Zhejiang to Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, Penang and finally Singapore birthed an extraordinarily self-possessed vision.
Serving as a bridge between Eastern and Western art cultures, Chen would influence generations of Southeast Asian artists through her role as the first female educator at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
A female artist in the 20th century who sought to capture the poetry of everyday life, Chen’s journey from Zhejiang to Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, Penang and finally Singapore birthed an extraordinarily self-possessed vision.
Serving as a bridge between Eastern and Western art cultures, Chen would influence generations of Southeast Asian artists through her role as the first female educator at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
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00:00The Xinhua-Maliang Pond was 90% from the South America.
00:07The Xinhua-Maliang Pond contributed greatly to the cultivation of our post-Qing dynasty embroidery.
00:15The Xinhua-Maliang Pond was 90% from the South America.
00:20The Xinhua-Maliang Pond contributed greatly to the cultivation of our post-Qing dynasty embroidery.
00:29Georgette Chen is one of Singapore's most important first-generation artists.
00:35A bridge between Eastern and Western cultures,
00:38Chen would lay the foundations for the artistic identity of a new nation.
00:44She was born in 1906 to a wealthy family in Zhejiang province in China.
00:51With Auntie Georgette, we lived on three different continents.
00:56And I think Auntie Georgette was influenced by all three.
01:00Georgette Chen grew up in France, China, and America.
01:05Her father, Zhang Jingjiang, was an antique dealer.
01:09His career took her through these vibrant cities and shaped her early years.
01:15Her sisters played the piano at home.
01:20Only aristocrats could play the piano.
01:24But Teacher Zhang was short,
01:29so she had to learn painting.
01:33Her father hired a teacher from the Soviet Union to teach her.
01:38She was first of all exposed to art in Paris and in New York.
01:44In the first early part of the 20th century,
01:47French Impressionism dominated the scene,
01:51and she was exposed to that during her formative years as an artist.
01:56Chen spoke fluent French and was well acquainted with the sights and sounds of Paris.
02:02She was immensely inspired by Paris,
02:05where she grew up gazing at great art in museums.
02:08That was also where she had her first breakthrough as an Asian female artist.
02:13Chen was just 24 when two of her works were selected for exhibition
02:19in the very prestigious Salon d'Automne.
02:22And her work was also featured in a 1937 exhibition at the Musée Jodepalm.
02:29Chen was the only Chinese artist to be exhibited in this exhibition under the International section.
02:36That same year, Georgette married the influential diplomat Eugene Chen in Paris,
02:42who would later become the first foreign minister of Sun Yat-sen's government in the 1920s.
02:52However, her blissful marriage was compromised by the global upheavals of the mid-century.
02:59After their wedding in Paris, Eugene Chen and Georgette moved to Shanghai in 1931,
03:06and later to Hong Kong when the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937.
03:12The war was an incredibly difficult time for Chen as well as Eugene Chen,
03:18and yet she continued to paint, using it as an outlet
03:24and sticking very closely to her desire to continue her work as a professional artist
03:30really speaks to the incredible commitment that she had to her craft.
03:35In fact, incredibly, in 1943, in the middle of the war,
03:39she actually held a small exhibition of her works at the Metropole Hotel in Shanghai.
03:45Chen was an extraordinary artist who endured the turmoil of four significant conflicts,
03:51the Chinese revolutions of 1911 and 1949, and both World War I and II.
03:58Despite Chen overcoming the trials of war and finding artistic success,
04:04another trial was on the way when her main support and husband, Eugene, passed away in 1944.
04:12But again, that didn't end Georgette's career.
04:17She found love again and moved to Penang in 1951 with him to pursue a new life and career.
04:26Quickly integrating into Penang, she formed many new friendships.
04:34I was seven years old when I first met Auntie Georgette,
04:38I was seven years old when I first met Auntie Georgette,
04:41and very quickly, Auntie Georgette became my absolute favorite auntie.
04:48Whenever she came, she always played with us, the children, with her endless stories.
04:57I observed that she had this very relaxed, friendly personality.
05:05It doesn't matter who she was speaking to, she treated everybody the same,
05:10from the driver, the gardener, all the way to a prime minister.
05:19She arrived in 1951 in Penang, and in many ways, it was meant to be a temporary stay,
05:26but was later invited to take up a teaching position at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore.
05:33So that promise of employment and being able to continue her work as an artist
05:38really then motivated her to move to Singapore.
05:43Truly one of the paradises of this world, with these calm and warm shores on which so many races live,
05:51blending their cultures and colors into a many-splendored pattern to feast the avid eyes of the artist.
06:00In 1954, Georgette Chen started working as a part-time art teacher at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts,
06:08which was the only art school in Southeast Asia until the 1950s.
06:13This enabled her to continue her artistic pursuits while earning an income.
06:29I was already colleagues with Ms. Chen.
06:33So at that time, I became more familiar with Ms. Chen.
06:38Her concern for the students was well-known to everyone.
06:44She was like an old mother to us.
06:47She also learned Malay, and I think that really speaks to, again,
06:52the true thread of determination and also sincere commitment to the new place that she was calling her home.
07:00I now have a Malay name. I chose Chandana.
07:04To be a piece of wood is better since I am a natural blockhead.
07:09Now I remain one with a difference, a fragrant one.
07:22I want to understand everything about this place.
07:28I want to paint the scenery here.
07:31Look at the Singapore River and the old houses here.
07:34They are very well-painted.
07:36They are painted by the eyes.
07:39Chen developed a reputation for her Impressionist-style oil paintings depicting still life.
07:45She sought to capture the poetry of everyday life in quintessential Singapore.
07:52She did not draw the portrait of the West or the poetry of the West.
07:57She did not draw the painting of China.
08:01She only painted what was hers, what was local to her.
08:06That is what was unique to her.
08:08She loved to paint the tropical landscape, the architecture, the fruits.
08:15She became very famous for painting rambutans and mangosteens and durians.
08:21By the way, she loves to eat durians, which is a surprise because she is a newcomer compared to the locals.
08:28Chen contributed in many ways beyond just her teaching post at the school.
08:33She was almost a fixture in the artistic community at the time.
08:40She was very actively involved in a lot of local art societies such as the Singapore Art Society.
08:46She had her first solo exhibition in Singapore at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in 1953.
08:53She was already very well-known as a successful and established artist.
09:01She loved to paint people.
09:06She really captures people's personality as if we just met them.
09:14It was a moment of time that you see the person, that she catches that look.
09:24Chen had a very particular approach when she was painting portraits.
09:29She often refused to paint from photographs, insisting that she spend time with her subjects,
09:35inviting them to sit for her multiple times over the course of weeks, sometimes months.
09:44Her portraiture skills were so sought after that politicians like the first Prime Minister of Malaysia,
09:50Tunku Abdul Rahman, wanted her to personally paint them.
09:56When I was seven years old, Auntie Georgette painted this painting of me holding a doll,
10:03and it is entitled Dolly and Her Doll.
10:08You know, my name is Dorothy.
10:11Auntie Georgette is the only person in the entire universe who's allowed to call me Dolly.
10:20I absolutely adore the painting because it's a remembrance of my childhood
10:26and remembrance of the quality time I spent with her alone while she was painting me.
10:33Art to me is a labour of love, and like such labours, expects neither gain nor reward,
10:40and brings meaning into one's life.
10:44Chen really encouraged her students to find what would work best for them within their own artistic practices,
10:52which were really responding to a period of development and change in Singapore,
10:58especially in the 1960s and 70s.
11:03A great example is Ng Ying Ting, whom she was very, very close to
11:08and really encouraged to pursue his practice in ceramics.
11:32Although she found respite from the political instability of her time in Singapore,
11:39she was still able to pursue her passion for ceramics.
11:43She was able to pursue her passion for ceramics.
11:46She was able to pursue her passion for ceramics.
11:49She was able to pursue her passion for ceramics.
11:52She was able to pursue her passion for ceramics.
11:55She was able to pursue her passion for ceramics.
11:58She was able to pursue her passion for ceramics.
12:01Despite the political instability of her earlier years on the sunny island,
12:06Georgette Chen was struck with a hereditary illness, rheumatoid arthritis.
12:11She was often in great pain, but she continued to paint and teach.
12:31It was already in the late 70s.
12:35She was very serious.
12:37She would still paint even when she was in pain.
12:44She was very serious. We respected her very much.
12:51Chen often spoke about how life is anguish and blessings all intermingled,
12:57which we must accept and carry on as best we can.
13:03Auntie Georgette had this incredible personality,
13:07despite all the challenges she had to endure in her adult life.
13:13And she made the most of it.
13:15Ms. Chen's rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments
13:19have been going on for more than a year or two.
13:22She should retire.
13:25I said,
13:27if you want to retire, I'll retire with you.
13:30She laughed.
13:31She said, you're joking.
13:33You're so young.
13:34We're the youngest teachers.
13:36What retirement?
13:40At the end of January, the students held a small tea party for us.
13:45Two teachers retired.
13:47The oldest and the youngest.
13:49From that day on, we didn't go to school anymore.
13:56Georgette Chen taught at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
14:00over a span of 27 years,
14:02educating and influencing a whole generation of artists.
14:07She was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1982.
14:11This prestigious award honors individuals
14:14who have made outstanding contributions
14:17to the cultural landscape of the country.
14:20The last time I saw Georgette
14:23was, I think, in the 1990s.
14:27She was already bedridden for over 10 years
14:31from her rheumatoid arthritis.
14:35And we had a lovely conversation.
14:39What she looked like was, you know, she's very petite.
14:42You know, she always wore high heels.
14:44Her hair was always well done.
14:46And she even had her nails done.
14:49So we had a chat, and I know that she was very weak.
14:53And when I had to leave, I came to her side,
14:58and I said goodbye to her,
15:00and I kissed her lightly on both cheeks,
15:03smiling, and we both were smiling, and I left.
15:07And I knew I'm not going to see her again.
15:14Georgette died in 1993
15:16after a long battle with rheumatoid arthritis.
15:21But she lives on through her art.
15:29Chen painted herself.
15:33What's most interesting to me
15:35is really, again, that consistency,
15:38the self-assuredness,
15:40and also quiet confidence that she always exudes,
15:43regardless of the time in which her life she was going through.
15:51I shall end with a word on happiness itself,
15:54that elusive thing that we all seek in life.
15:59I can tell you that like rare and worthwhile things,
16:03it simply does not grow on trees for all to pick and taste.
16:08It has to be worked and planned for.
16:11Then, someday, somehow,
16:14it will spring forth from some inner reserves of a mature heart.
16:21Georgette Chen's love for this land,
16:24this tropical land in which she found rehabilitation,
16:28had finally come full circle.