GEORGETTE CHEN SINGAPORE WATERFRONT FACE MASK

Georgette Chen
Singapore Waterfront
c. 1963
Oil on canvas, 50 x 61 cm
Gift of Lee Foundation
Collection of National Gallery Singapore

"Singapore Waterfront", created in the following year (1958), is a painting of refreshing casualness, enhanced by the use of a variety of brushstrokes which changes according to the surface Chen wished to represent -- light, sensuous, pointillist touch of the brush to reveal the transparent and atmospheric quality of water, thick and swirling strokes to follow the curves of the bumboats and, pencil-thin delicate lines to delineate one shop building from another. The light colours of the sky exude the sunny airiness of a tropical landscape. The effect of the work is poetic, serene and pleasing."