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Actions Displays	Details Remove from selection Add to selection CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection Object numberS2001-0006-001-0 TitleFishing Village CreatorChen Wen Hsi (1906 China – 1991 Singapore) DescriptionMalayan coastal life is a subject much visited by Chen Wen Hsi in his oeuvre. Trips were made to fishing communities where Chen made numerous sketches of their landscape and customs to transform them on canvases in his studio. While the theme answers to the Nanyang artists’ interest in local subject matter, for Chen the dominant concern is the advancement of the formal idioms of modern art. In Fishing Village, the Malayan fishing community is identified by the customary sampans (boats), kelong scaffold structures and fishing nets. These are in turn simplified and stylised to serve as abstract devices in the composition. The composition is dominated by vertical flags of fishing nets hung out to dry. These anchor the painting’s rhythmic values which is reinforced by the linear grids of scaffolds and platforms on stilts in the foreground and the background of the painting.Fishing nets are hung up high to dry in what appears to be the interior of an outhouse on the beach. A figure on the sandy beach is feeding two birds standing on the wooden platform. A sampan lies on the water edge. The prow of another boat is seen on the left. A big boat is anchored behind the fishing nets. Initially this appears to be a realistic presentation but on closer scrutiny it can be seen that Wen Hsi is abstracting shapes from observed forms. The foreground is broken up into planes of different colours and textures. The sampan, the two birds, the nets, the big boat and the background interact as coloured shapes. Production placeSingapore Production date 1956 - 1957 Object categoryPainting MaterialOil on canvas Dimensions H: 91 cm L: 108 cm H: 104 cm L: 121 cm

CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection

Object numberS2001-0006-001-0

TitleFishing Village

CreatorChen Wen Hsi (1906 China – 1991 Singapore)

DescriptionMalayan coastal life is a subject much visited by Chen Wen Hsi in his oeuvre. Trips were made to fishing communities where Chen made numerous sketches of their landscape and customs to transform them on canvases in his studio. While the theme answers to the Nanyang artists’ interest in local subject matter, for Chen the dominant concern is the advancement of the formal idioms of modern art. In Fishing Village, the Malayan fishing community is identified by the customary sampans (boats), kelong scaffold structures and fishing nets. These are in turn simplified and stylised to serve as abstract devices in the composition. The composition is dominated by vertical flags of fishing nets hung out to dry. These anchor the painting’s rhythmic values which is reinforced by the linear grids of scaffolds and platforms on stilts in the foreground and the background of the painting.Fishing nets are hung up high to dry in what appears to be the interior of an outhouse on the beach. A figure on the sandy beach is feeding two birds standing on the wooden platform. A sampan lies on the water edge. The prow of another boat is seen on the left. A big boat is anchored behind the fishing nets. Initially this appears to be a realistic presentation but on closer scrutiny it can be seen that Wen Hsi is abstracting shapes from observed forms. The foreground is broken up into planes of different colours and textures. The sampan, the two birds, the nets, the big boat and the background interact as coloured shapes.

Production placeSingapore

Production date 1956 - 1957

Object categoryPainting

MaterialOil on canvas

Dimensions

H: 91 cm
L: 108 cm
H: 104 cm
L: 121 cm

Details