LOT 56
PETER HARRIS
B. England, 1923 – 2009
Tanjung Bidara Series, 1957
Oil on board
50.5 x 35 cm
Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur
Signed and dated on lower right
RM 3,000 – 5,000
Born in Bristol, England, Peter Harris (1923–2009) played an important role in Malaysian art history as an early pioneer of art education. This painter and educational figure received his education at the West of England Art Academy in 1939, and then came to the Malay Federation in 1951 to teach art in local schools as the first art authority in the country. The following year he founded the Wednesday Art Group (WAG) to promote freedom of expression and ideas in creative painting. WAG’s members include several well-known Malaysian painters, including Patrick Ng Kah Onn, Syed Ahmad Jamal, Dzulkifli Buyong, Cheong Lai Tong and Dr Jolly Koh. He left Malaya in 1960 and the National Painting Hall organized his first retrospective exhibition. In 1962, he was invited to return to this country to supervise arts education in Sabah.