Lot 49
CHEONG SOO PIENG
B. China, 1917 – 1983
Fishing Village (Abstract), 1961
Signed and dated in Chinese characters on lower left and “Soo Pieng 61” on lower right
Chinese ink and watercolour on paper
93 x 45 cm
Provenance Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur
RM 50,000 – RM 120,000
Cheong Soo Pieng’s works are very much coveted in the art scene, as it is undoubtedly and truly a gem. With his Western easel painting influences and Chinese ink formats and techniques applied to his Southeast Asian subjects, he created a style that was exclusively his own. The artist had an unwavering passion and fascination for the Southeast Asian culture and village life, its simplicity and ordinariness of normal people going about their daily routine was something that charmed Cheong Soo Pieng and led him to capture it through art, one of the famed ones being landscapes of the kelong (fishing village).
The artist was well-known for fusing two techniques – the traditional Chinese ink painting and the Western oil painting such as Fauvism (garishly expressionistic and non-naturalistic colours) and Cubi es), which gave birth to the Nanyang art style.