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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00:00At that time, 90% of the talks between China and Malaysia came from South America.
00:07So it contributed greatly to the cultivation of our post-colonial culture in South America.
00:14Georgette Chen is one of Singapore's most important first-generation artists.
00:34A bridge between Eastern and Western cultures, Chen 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.
00:50With 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.
01:04Her father, Zhang Jingjiang, was an antique dealer.
01:09His career took her through these vibrant cities and shaped her early years.
01:15She was first of all exposed to art in Paris and in New York.
01:44In the first early part of the 20th century, French 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, where she grew up gazing at great art in museums.
02:08That was also where she had her first breakthrough as an Asian female artist.
02:14Chen was just 24 when two of her works were selected for exhibition in 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 Artists' Association.
02:35That same year, Georgette married the influential diplomat Eugene Chen in Paris,
02:40who would later become the first foreign minister of Sun Yat-sen's government in the 1920s.
02:50However, 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.
03:14The war was an incredibly difficult time for Chen as well as Eugene Chen.
03:20And yet she continued to paint, using it as an outlet,
03:25and sticking very closely to her desire to continue her work as a professional artist
03:31really speaks to the incredible commitment that she had to her craft.
03:36In fact, incredibly, in 1943, in the middle of the war,
03:40she actually held a small exhibition of her works at the Metropole Hotel in Shanghai.
03:48Chen was an extraordinary artist who endured the turmoil of four significant conflicts,
03:54the Chinese revolutions of 1911 and 1949, and both World War I and II.
04:02Despite Chen overcoming the trials of war and finding artistic success,
04:07another trial was on the way when her main support and husband, Eugene, passed away in 1944.
04:16But again, that didn't end Georgette's career.
04:22She found love again and moved to Penang in 1951 with him to pursue a new life and career.
04:31Quickly integrating into Penang, she formed many new friendships.
04:38I was seven years old when I first met Auntie Georgette.
04:42And 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.
05:11From 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
05:37really then motivated her to move to Singapore.
05:42Truly one of the paradises of this world, with these calm and warm shores on which so many races live,
05:50blending their cultures and colors into a many-splendored pattern to feast the avid eyes of the artist.
05:59In 1954, Georgette Chen started working as a part-time art teacher at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts,
06:07which was the only art school in Southeast Asia until the 1950s.
06:12This enabled her to continue her artistic pursuits while earning an income.
06:28From the age of 13, I became friends with Ms. Chen.
06:33That was when I became more familiar with Ms. Chen.
06:38Everyone was aware of her concern for the students.
06:44She was like an old mother to us.
06:47She also learned Malay, and I think that really speaks to, again,
06:51this through-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.
07:14After Ms. Chen traveled around the world,
07:19she came to Singapore.
07:22I wanted to know everything about this place.
07:27I wanted to paint the scenery here.
07:30Look at the Singapore River and the old houses.
07:34They are all very well-painted.
07:36She painted what her eyes saw.
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.
07:52It is neither Western abstract painting nor Chinese painting.
08:01It is purely her own.
08:03It belongs to her.
08:05It is unique to her.
08:08She loved to paint the tropical landscape, the architecture, the fruits.
08:14She became very famous for painting rambutans and mangosteens and durians.
08:20And by the way, she loves to eat durians,
08:23which is a surprise because she's a newcomer, right, 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,
08:44such 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.
08:59And she loved to paint people.
09:06And she really catches people's personality and as if we just met them.
09:13And it was a moment of time that you see the person that she catch that look.
09:20Chen had a very particular approach when she was painting portraits.
09:25She often refused to paint from photographs,
09:28insisting that she spends time with her subjects,
09:32inviting them to sit for her multiple times over the course of weeks, sometimes months.
09:42Her portraiture skills were so sought after that politicians like the late Mrs Chen
09:48and politicians like the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman,
09:53wanted her to personally paint them.
09:57When I was seven years old, Auntie Georgette painted this painting of me holding a doll
10:04and it is entitled Dolly and Her Doll.
10:10You know, my name is Dorothy.
10:12Auntie Georgette is the only person in the entire universe who's allowed to call me Dolly.
10:21I absolutely adore the painting because it's a remembrance of my childhood
10:27and remembrance of the quality time I spent with her alone while she was painting me.
10:33Art to me is a labor of love and like such labors,
10:38it expects neither gain nor reward and brings meaning into one's life.
10:45Chen really encouraged her students to find what would work best for them
10:51within their own artistic practices,
10:53which are really responding to a period of development and change in Singapore,
10:59especially in the 1960s and 70s.
11:02A great example is Ng Ying Ting, whom she was very, very close to
11:07and really encouraged to pursue his practice in ceramics.
11:31Although she found respite from the political and economic turmoil of the 1980s,
11:38she did not give up on her passion for ceramics.
11:42She continued to pursue her passion for ceramics
11:46and her passion for the art of ceramics
11:48and her passion for the art of ceramics
11:50and her passion for the art of ceramics
11:52and her passion for the art of ceramics
11:54and her passion for the art of ceramics
11:57Although she found respite from the political instability of her earlier years on the sunny island,
12:04Georgette Chen was struck with a hereditary illness, rheumatoid arthritis.
12:09She was often in great pain, but she continued to paint and teach.
12:27Of course, I took her cane and brought her to the flatland.
12:31That was in the late 1970s.
12:36But she was very serious.
12:38She still did what she did for her work and education.
12:44She was very serious.
12:46We all respected her very much.
12:49Chen often spoke about how life is anguish and blessings all intermingled,
12:55which we must accept and carry on as best we can.
13:01Auntie Georgette had this incredible personality,
13:06despite all the challenges she had to endure in her adult life.
13:12And she made the most of it.
13:14And she made the most of it.
13:45Georgette Chen taught at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts over a span of 27 years,
13:50Educating and influencing a whole generation of artists.
13:55She was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1982.
13:59This prestigious award honors the hard work and dedication of the artist.
14:05She was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1982.
14:10The last time I saw Georgette was, I think, in the 1990s.
14:16She was already bedridden for over 10 years from her rheumatoid arthritis.
14:24And we had a lovely conversation.
14:28We were talking about how we could help her.
14:31We were talking about how we could help her.
14:36And we had a lovely conversation.
14:40What she looked like was, you know, she's very petite.
14:43She 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, and I said goodbye to her.
15:00And I kissed her lightly on both cheeks, smiling.
15:04And we both were smiling, and I left.
15:07And I knew I'm not going to see her again.
15:14Georgette died in 1993 after a long battle with rheumatoid arthritis.
15:21But she lives on through her art.
15:29Chen painted herself.
15:32What's most interesting to me is really, again, that consistency,
15:38the self-assuredness, and also quiet confidence that she always exudes,
15:43regardless of the time in which her life she was going through.
15:50I 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, it will spring forth
16:15from some inner reserves of a mature heart.
16:23Georgette Chen's love for this land,
16:25this tropical land in which she found rehabilitation,
16:29had finally come full circle.