Lot 23 | 5 March 2023

 

 

LOT 23

CHUAH THEAN TENG, DATO

B. China, 1914 – 2008

Bullock Cart Carriage, 1970’s

Signed “Teng” on lower right

Batik

89 x 61 cm

Private Collection, Canada

RM 14,000 – 22,000

Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng was born in China in 1914, where he studied at the Amoy Art School. Teng first started in this medium in 1953 and therefore he can be considered the father of Batik Painting in Malaysia. He says, “Art is the vision of the artist, his creation, imagination and expression reflecting the artist’s many degrees of feeling. It is an interplay of both emotional and visual expression where the illusions created convey the statements across. And through the different modes of expressions, we are compelled to seek some standard of value to enable us to distinguish between them. This distinction is called the transformation of things.” According to Frank Sullivan, “His (referring to Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng) productivity in batik painting is enormous… never satisfied, he is always experimenting, seeking to give new depth and range to his batik art.” This particular work departs from the artist’s usual hallmark and presents an almost ambiguous iteration of the Bullock Cart Carriage.