Lot 19 | 16 August 2026

 

 

LOT 19

TAY MO LEONG, DATO’

B. Penang, 1938

Marketing, 1970’s

Batik

106 x 60 cm

Exhibited at Raya Gallery, Australia. Gallery label on verso

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Australia

RM 5,000 – 12,000

A pioneer of Malaysian batik art, Tay Mo Leong played a pivotal role in elevating the medium from a traditional craft to a respected form of fine art. Trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, he became renowned for his masterful use of wax resist techniques and luminous colour palettes, capturing the rhythms of everyday Malaysian life with remarkable sensitivity. His works are celebrated for their balance of decorative elegance and narrative depth, preserving scenes of local culture that have become increasingly rare.

Through the fluid qualities of batik, Tay achieves a harmonious interplay of line and colour, with each figure contributing to the dynamic rhythm ofthis composition.