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Actions Displays	Details Remove from selection Add to selection CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection Object numberS1980-0843-001-0 TitleMonkeys CreatorLee Man Fong (1913 China – 1988 Indonesia) DescriptionThis is a romanticised painting of 3 monkeys perched on thick branches high above a gorge. It is in the format of a Chinese hanging scroll complete with inscriptions at the top. The piece belongs to the artist's late period when he made the breakthrough in using thinned oil paints to simulate the fluidity and flow of Chinese painting.“Lee Man Fong spent his youth in Singapore where the formative years in the ink tradition began. He left for Indonesia in the 1930s to work as a graphic artist, but soon turned to fulltime art making. A scholarship from the Dutch government took him to the Netherlands in 1946. Returning to Indonesia in 1952, he enjoyed the patronage of President Sukarno and served as the curator of the palace art collection. Drawing influence from the masters of the Hague School, Lee’s early oil paintings are a dramatic play of dark and light with heavy brushwork that convey an energetic expressiveness to his landscapes and still-life paintings. In the 1950s, Lee renewed his interest in the Chinese ink tradition. He synthesized Western oil and Chinese brush traditions, interfacing the two in a highly original manner. Eschewing the traditional ink and rice paper for medium, Lee painted with oil on board and incorporated the expressiveness of the xieyi style of ink painting to Western approaches in perspective and chiaroscuro. Monkeys, along with gold fishes and doves, are recurring subjects. These monkeys, perched on twisted tree branches amidst craggy rock faces, are depicted as creatures of the wild.” (Highlights of Southeast Asian Collections) Production placeIndonesia Production date 1989 Object categoryPainting MaterialOil on board Dimensions H: 122.5 cm L: 61 cm

CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection

Object numberS1980-0843-001-0

TitleMonkeys

CreatorLee Man Fong (1913 China – 1988 Indonesia)

DescriptionThis is a romanticised painting of 3 monkeys perched on thick branches high above a gorge. It is in the format of a Chinese hanging scroll complete with inscriptions at the top. The piece belongs to the artist's late period when he made the breakthrough in using thinned oil paints to simulate the fluidity and flow of Chinese painting.“Lee Man Fong spent his youth in Singapore where the formative years in the ink tradition began. He left for Indonesia in the 1930s to work as a graphic artist, but soon turned to fulltime art making. A scholarship from the Dutch government took him to the Netherlands in 1946. Returning to Indonesia in 1952, he enjoyed the patronage of President Sukarno and served as the curator of the palace art collection. Drawing influence from the masters of the Hague School, Lee’s early oil paintings are a dramatic play of dark and light with heavy brushwork that convey an energetic expressiveness to his landscapes and still-life paintings. In the 1950s, Lee renewed his interest in the Chinese ink tradition. He synthesized Western oil and Chinese brush traditions, interfacing the two in a highly original manner. Eschewing the traditional ink and rice paper for medium, Lee painted with oil on board and incorporated the expressiveness of the xieyi style of ink painting to Western approaches in perspective and chiaroscuro. Monkeys, along with gold fishes and doves, are recurring subjects. These monkeys, perched on twisted tree branches amidst craggy rock faces, are depicted as creatures of the wild.” (Highlights of Southeast Asian Collections)

Production placeIndonesia

Production date 1989

Object categoryPainting

MaterialOil on board

Dimensions

H: 122.5 cm
L: 61 cm

Details