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  • 5/16/2018 Nanyang Artists

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    T.K. Sabapathy

    Cbc.g C h On g S w

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    r, and alsongruencethewaserstood theaffectivecists in thet..s that after aediateart meaninginged beyondlinks thever, and-spondenceulated orthatrive du~tion[ectives forowsisaected towardsonnousandnwould haven g tonot art.rk y erlingtheHowever, I'e disclosingdote whichclosure.ie artins Malaysia.re-course onilavsia ines:Wewereiitfalls in.e in an- ss w ecourse beganIiry, In 1975,~group of:5in Finelarked that it.rudy ofoty.He:hewAmoldthe objective,ke place untilvea truesuch as theselyto inhibit[ criticalndythedes it fromby rigorouscase?Is the-rigiblym art not be1 are at the.n, and inous and yet.ome tovas deemedil lenable mely argument.

    l 'III\

    The really bristling element inDuchamp's remark was the implicat ion thatthere is no absolute, immutable, timelessaesthetic value for a work of art outsidehistory. 'What is one to make of this? Is it amysti fying way of either abandoning art atthe door of history for having been aprodigal infant, or making exaggeratedclaims on behalf of history? Neither isthecase.The distinction that Duchamp makesbetween art and history has to do withdifferent contexts. When art is made new,we are made new with it. \X'ehave a sense ofsolidarity with our o w n t ime, and of psychicenergies shared.and redoubled, which areindescribably satisfying. The transferenceto the realms of history entails ways of seeingthat are based on other and fresh expectations.As the work of art becomes increasinglypubl ic, with constant , repeated viewing andreviewing, its existence and effect areapprehended not in condit ions of isolationbut in ever-changing arrangements, and inclusters of interlocking connections. Ielievethis is a sensible reading of the implicationembedded in Duchamp's remark. Byentering the context of history, the newlycreated work is launched into orbits l inkingit with other, already existing works,possessing kinship arid shared purposes. It isin these circumstances that value, meaning,structure and purposes are I2roposed and, .'argued for..Seeing.riow, becomes cognitive, .self-conscious and relational. I believe thatthe way is now open to diarrjI[~ctioI1i inwhich critical histor ies of modern ar t can beshaped, It is taken that a work of art hasqualit ies and structures that are distinct; . itsmaking and meaning are, however, boundup with culrural, social and economicmovements of its t ime as well as beinginfluenced by both artistic tradition andaesthet ic ideology. The task of the crit icalhistorian isto identi fy new concepts as theyare generated byartists, help determine thevalue of new things by assigning them to aplace in our general structure of values, andarguing for that disposition.'Approached in these ways, distinctions

    can be made between history and pastness,thereby removing the inhibit ions that vei l thes tudy of modern art. Critical historians areconcerned with the s tudy of processes andstructures which lead to the understandingof the enduring values and purposes of art.The apprehension of art can then be seen tobe capable of support ing a commonlanguage, a shared undersranding and acommunity of values. In this enterprise thecrit ical historian, like the artist and theviewer, is a participant in the cultural actionof his time.I have brought into focus the dominantpract ices in the cri tical srudies of modem

    art, briefly examined their assumptions,proposed alternate ones and sketched a

    frame consisting of ftesh objectives andprocedures. The intention is not to offer anew theory of or a polemical discourse onhistory and criticism. Far from it. TI.eintention is to jolt those who are engaged incritical activity in Singapore into examiningthe validity of criteria and methods whichare in vogue, in interpreting and explainingart. It is to make a plea to delineatefoundations of cri ticism that will lead tosensible, intelligible apprehensions of a workof art, thereby relating the art ist to his work,to his audience, and to history. The desiredend isto develop particular formulas foranalyzing culrural phenomena, for explainingchange, for assigning value. It is thereforenot sufficient to rely solely on formalanalysis which does not lead to verifiablestandards of measure, however useful it maybe in describing the mechanics ofcomposit ion. Neither isi t il luminating tocouch evaluation in terms of transience andchange without demonstrat ing these asdynamic notions of artistic traditions andaesthetic ideology. Critical activity has to be #directed towards illuminating the work of ar t in all its dimensional existence. I trust that inaddressing these issues, I have not abusedthe invitation to contribute to thispublication. I should think not, for if I havefelt the pulse of modern ar t, it has thensignalled to me the message that a societyfounded-to promote.it-is vit~lIr~cmceinedwith and involved-in critical 'enterprise. 2 .FinallyI rerum to Ducharnp's notion of

    -" art and hj.story;;n dojng so I '3!ish'!9P'O ' i :n~out that forty years and more have passed byin the story of art in Singapore. I use theword story loosely, even hopefully, because ithas yet to be told. (Or should I say stories!) Ibelieve the contexts in which criticalhistories can be written have emerged. Forexample, the recently concluded programmesfearuring the' pioneer artists of Singapore areundeniable evidence of the existence of suchcontexts. One need not, of coufse.beconstrained by the assumpticns underlyingthese programmes. The ASEAN'SYmposiumon Art and related fields, inaugurated in 1981and convened annually, isalso a potentialsource for contexts. These are grounds thatliedormant; they await prospecting. At thisjuncture it wi ll be worth remembering thatthe history of ar t is not devoted merely to thecommemoration of the great, old or dead. Itis also devoted to the srudy of a whole rangeof art works, the conditions under whichthey were made, for whom, how valued,how received and understood. These areproper concerns of historians and cri tics, burnot JUStto them. Artists are also vitallyinvolved with thern.!It is on the basis of the last mentioned

    issue that I wish to consider the Nanyangartists, who are recognised as being amongthe innovators of modern art in Singapore.These artists not only created works of art

    4

    but engaged in a variety ofcumulatively make up the Jedifice of the art world. Iof these aspects and illustrsactions, beliefs and anxienparticular to art ists in Sing;shared bythose living and,countries in Southeast AsisWill focus on artistic traditiideology ..4I will undoubtedly be piprocess I hope to unearth r

    be, subsequently, shaped ato illuminate paths along"histories can be composed.

    II In the ear ly months ofof art enthusiasts met t,feasibility of establishing aart in Singapore. A leadingdiscussions was Lim Hak 1arrived from China where :educated in the Fuchow A t : .graduating had taught at tlof Art and the Chi Mei Comembers in the group, chitwere alumni members of tIinstitutions in which Hak 'teacher. They had consideiof establishing an academydissuaded because neithernor the men existed.: -' -. , E n te r. lr im -H ak T a i, ageexperienced in reaching, irprogrammes in art educariby a consuming vision of tsignificance and role of arta ca:mlytic force in the discd~'8sion was made in favo:academy. 'Later in that sandingy room in the vicinityWorld Amusement Park, Iothers began teaching art.enrol lment consisted of foAnd so the Nan-yang Yi-sAcademy of Fine Arts) waHak Tai assumed the dualand principal, remaining ihis death in 1962.5It was the first acadernjSingapore and unti l 1966

    institution for students fr cwishing to pursue an edue50s and 60s, the Acadern;centre for art activity in hiof the most significant andirections in modern art iMalaysia was shaped in tla direction enl ivened by~artists and which, unti l rhcontinues to be influentiaways. 6It must appear prepost

    academy in the fore-frontinnovation and progress.conception of the dynarnand of the new are antagr

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    Ig Sa o Pieng~Resting, 1953

    rgo Girl in Re d Sarong, 1953

    . ..

    ~ presence and principles of the academy. In e m oti on al n ee ds o f a t hr ob b in g c it y"this sense the emergence and perpetuation of In any art context there are artists who by~ the avant-garde issketched in terms of a a combination of imagination, perseverance,i sequence of dramatic conflicrs between consistent effort and purposeful use of skiIls eI innovating 'heroes' and academic 'villains'. and resources produce works which instigateThis isan enduring feature of the myth of new values and fresh visions. There weremodem artists and art. A sober reading of such individuals who, during the years n, ideas, policies and values in developed before the Second World War and after i t, n~ systems of art illustrates a different picture, gravitated to Singapore; many of them C tfnamely: the particular form that independent became teachers in the Nanyang Academy.~ movements assumed was largely determined In addition to Hak Tai there were Cheong c c~~ OJ~ by academic standards. The quest for Soo Pieng, Chen Chong Swee, Chen Wen I suiii originality was shared by artists of different Hsi and Georgette Liying Chen - whoIpersuasions, but viewed differently. joined the academy at various times between J arInOriginality was regarded by all artists as 1946 and 1953 - who attained this stature. devaluable and fundamental to a work of art." To this group must be added Liu Kang who, at's At the time of the founding of the although not a teacher in the academy, was \Nanyang Academy there did not exist any associated with it and shared aims similar to petrarecognisable system of art in Singapore. Art those who were in it. These are the Nanyang "h.acriviiyc~imed on individuals who were artists. co,motivated by singular ambitions regarding The Nanyang artists were without imachievements in the world of art . Lim Hak exception drawn into the sphere of artTai towered over everyoneelse. Writing in education. Teaching was a valuable source we. 1962, Georgette Chen pays the following of income; i t also provided a stable social divtribute: .. posit ion. As teachers they projecred art as a Sci-"lsha ll b e g in by p ay in g trib ute to .: M iLim means of acquiring knowledge, thereby statH ak T ai . .. I th in k o f a p io ne er a s a p ers on sharing ideals proposed by Hak Tai. In artw ith a v is io n a nd a f la me i n h is h ea rt. I t is to addit ion, the Nanyang artists were drawn her,th at rac e o f m e n w ho so w liv e s eed s tha t o ur into performing a variety of funcrions and daiw or ld o we s m a rr y o f i ts d is co ve ri es a nd th e roles related to the art world. They were A rt- fr ui ti on a /g re a t i de a s. A J ,l ho u gf r M r L im is .... concerned . Y " i . t h the cerrditions under which per,s t ri /k e f. !.W i t h i ll n es s ,' i tmus t wann h i s heart : art was made, for-whom, by whom, how. aestt o s e e fo rh im s elf th at th e s ee dli ng h e p la nt ed valued, how receive{fan'd understood. As chonearlya q , l ; I ! l t i i r o f t J c ei ztJ ~r y: qi o,.h as n ow . -artists t.heYproduced-paintings which, thisg row iz '( nt 6'a g re e nf ie ld s tr ew n h e re a n d coliecriveiy, can be recognised as marking entit he re w ith c ol ou rfu l b lo om s n ot u nli ke a n one of the earliest achievements in modem Sch,artist 'S palette" art in Singapore. Their approach to painting indiHak Tai was a source for stimulating was characterised by a free-ranging otheideas on art education and conceptions interpretat ion and adaptat ion of styles and tow,related to art activity; he envisaged an techniques inspired, initiaIly, by two artistic onlyimportant role for art for the future of traditions - Chinese painting and the madSingapore. He insisted that art education School of Paris. waswas a means of acquiring skill and The antecedents for such an approach com:knowledge, as well as knowing the traditions were to be found in China, particularly in Nanof art thoroughly. Students should be the southern cities of Shanghai , Nanjing and whofamiliar with the dominant social and Guangdong, where the modem, experimental it.scientif ic ideas ofthe 20th century. In movements in the visual arts, as well as in Tembracing such progressive positions and other cultural expressions, were the most usedpolicies, he attracred new and fresh talent to acrive in China. In these cities, by the 1920s Und,the Nanyang Academy. Liu Kang confirms and the 1930s , artists of widely differing mast-the central, dynamic stature of Lim Hak Tai: allegiances were intently engaged in easel'~. L im H ak T ai, fo un de r o f th e N an ya ng reinvest ing Chinese art with fresh scope and technA ca de my of F ine A rts - the f irst an d m os t new dimensions. Michael Sullivan who has thesee nd ur in g in stitu te o f a rt in S in ga po re - h as a studied these movements provides insights moreu ni qu e p la ce i n h er h is to ry . H e w as a p ai nte r into the underlying circumstances; they are offuso f c a li br e: H i s p a in ti ng s o ft en p o ss e ss e d a useful for an appreciation of the aesthetic and tlp ow er a nd a fre sh ne ss u nc omm on in th e ideals that influenced the N anyang artists. the re opaintings of th is tim e. H e could easily rank "The second generation of C hinese artis ts compam ong the greates t of h is contemporarie s. ~t who returned from France were m ore at formeh e c h os e to d ev ote h is life n ot to b ein g a n h om e i n W e ste rn a rt th an t he ir p re de ce ss or s; pictorar ti s t bu t to b ein g a c ata ly st o f a rt. H e w as a th ey h ad g re at er s ki ll a t u si ng i t, a nd w er e seque,man o f v is io n . He e n vi si on e d f ut ur e S in g ap o re a ble to a da pt m o re f re ely to t he ir own form.a s a th ri vi ng , fo rw a rd -lo ok in g m e tr op ol is o f e xp re ss iv e n ee ds . I n th e e ar ly 1 93 0s i t s e em e d painri-importance - at l east in E ast and Southeast that a new Ch in e se p a in ti ng , n a ti ve i n s p ir it , figUte.Asia. And he was alm ost the only one who contemporary in them e, borrow ing techniques while Isaw the urgency of e s tablish ing an art freely from East and West, was about to take projecacademy to fu lfil the long-te rm artistic and root, while a new c osm op ol ita ni sm w as relatio

    ~ , r ; : .~~:.

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    '9

    swho byeverance, 1.of skillsIinstigatewerearsfter it,.!mademy.heong1Wenvhobetween;stature..ngwho,ny, wasim ilar roNanyangrtlrtsourcesocialart as a-eby. Inlrawnnsandwere.r which. how.a As;h,Irkingnodernpaintinglesand, artisticheroachlrlyinnjing anderimenta lI as inmoste 1920s , ..ringope andvho has.sightshey are:heticmists. \rtistseatcessors;were'1tseemedn spirit,chniquest to takeuas

    beginning to colour the art journals."!OOrientations, processes arid premisessuch as these formed the basis of both theeducation and acculturation of the Nanyangartists."The two sources that I mentioned earlierrequire amplif ication. Bearing in mind thereverence with which Chinese artists viewedtheir artist ic past, the recurrent use ofconventions and schemes from tradition inorder to create new pictorial s tructures isnotsurpris ing. A knowledge of the history ofart , in a generative sense, has always been anintegral component in the creativedevelopment of artists in China. For Chineseartists, sryle and innovation were eminentlypersonal matters , although dearly rooted intradition. Or, as a scholar put i t recently,"he could acquire the authority and theconfidence to do his own thing only b y beingimmersed in an all-enfolding past."12Radically different principles and values

    were offered by the Parisian model. Thediverse styles collectively known as theSchool of Paris manifested the new, modernstatus of the arti sts and fresh purposes forart activity. Accordingly, the artis t assumed aheroic stature, heightened by inalienableclaims to individuality and self-determination.Art activity was regarded as a ceaseless,personal search- for the new, uninhibited byaesthetic dogmas, and as dramatisingchoices and decisions made ~y the.arrist . In .this search the artist ranged freely OV~I theentire spectrum of the hisrory of art. TheSchool of Paris was not th1}l(ootion.O.findigenous Parisians alone; artists fromother art centres and countries contributed.towards its creation. Significantly;it was theonly art-context in which the idea of themodern was articulated and publicised. I twas a compelling model. Inthe absence of acomparable or an alternate one, theNanyang artis ts, l ike so many others in Asiawho were searching for a new art, turned toit.The ways in which the Nanyang artists

    used these models varied with each artis t.Underlying the variations was an undeniablemastery of the technical aspects of both theeasel picture and Chinese ink-brushtechniques. In addition to working withinthese traditions simultaneously , some of themore remarkable innovations were the resultof fusing them. For example, the handscrolland the hanging scroll were adapted to fi tthe requirements of easel picturecompositions, thereby introducing new,formal features regarding the structure ofpictoria l space, the function of colour, thesequence of time and the composition ofform. Conversely, the principles of easelpainting were transformed by altering thefigure-ground relationship. That is to say,while the figure was articulated in order toproject an image with legible existence, i tsrelationship to and occupation of space

    -remained undefined. In these instances, the look forward but to look back as we icustomary expectations of the viewer in the addition to conflictingviews concerrreading of a picture are appreciably altered. past which were expressed in t he debThe varied experiments, interpretations positions were clearly drawn regarditand innovations were influenced and shaped relationship, and choices that had toby the new environment. The entire baggage made, between indigenous traditionsof learnt and acquired pictorial conventions modernism - the latter understoodhad to be revised, adjusted, and in some "westernization" and translated in telinstances features in it discarded, in order to materialism and individualism."create a language of painting that was The struggle between East and \X lcompatible with perceptions and between competing artistic tradition.representations of the material world of issues that had divisive and numbingSoutheast Asia. From 1950 onwards, the consequences on the artcommunitieNanyang artists embarked upon an Southeast Asia. Artists found thernseunceasing dialogue with the medium. heirs to one tradition and claimants tMoving with facility and discrimination another. These a re dilemmas that CO lbetween the scroll. and easel picture to prevail at the levels of both person:traditions, they appropriated features from cultural crises and identities. The idethe two in ways that were suitable for their modernism, the relationship with anindividual purposes. For the Nanyang traditions and the conscious urge toartists, the starting point of pictorial crystallise contemporary sensibilitiesrepresentation was the creation of visual abiding impulses for the Nanyang arimages of the actual material world. Not they were impulses which were d eeplsurprisingly, subject matter assumed great and thought out; they were impulsesimportance. In thei r worlds of I constituted part of the constructiverepresentation were embedded symbols of .~ the production of paintings. Thecultural value and positions. Implicitly, and artists did not formulate oron occasion explicitly.the Nanyang artists impulses in any overtly theorericalpondered over the role of artists and the They were not, however, cornpletely~functions of art. A recollection by Chung to making their .Cheng Sun, a graduate of the Nanyang the catalogue an exhibitionAcademy (class of 1952-53) provides entry artists in 1967, Chen Chonginto these complex issues::." ~\.' .,,: , ,.,: ~~ :-"pmquivocitldeclaration on the,"Lim Ha:k Tai was the mrn"who gave the .' " artists and artr'Academy its direction: He always-suggested "Surely there is no excuse for ato the staff antJ-the students tj;i :Ztb.es'u9i~ct be incomprehensible! Art ismatter in their works should reflect the gratification.reality of the Southern Seas. He emphasised Among the sane, there isthat our work should depict the localness of 'if;ritten for oneself, northe place we all live in."13 oneself. Though a piece

    The recollection conveniently crystallises expression of sorrow orpositions and atti tudes shared by the trace of pleading forNanyang artis ts . In turning to the physical Another piece of art mayenvironment-for visual images, these artists persecution.by-passed the weight, burden and obligation What is the artist's .of having to depict traditional iconographies, enlist sympathy forThey sought a world of vi~j:blesensibility another piece of artwhich was immediate and contemporary. In happiness; again, itdoing so they indicated their stance rejoice with the artist.regarding the function of art . Henceall works of art areInthe early decades ofthis century another person inmind,debates on this question raged in many the listener or the

    countries in Southeast Asia. What, indeed, If it is agreed thatshould the stance of the artis t be regarding meant for the selftraditions, and in communicating visual readers, listenerssensibilities and aesthetic values to the that meaninglesspublic? For instance, the Great Debate that time and effort.convulsed Indonesia was symptomatic of Therefore, the workthese anxieties . Writing in the late 1930s, expressionists, beingSudjojono made an impassioned plea to his treated merely asfellow artists to depict "reality", "truth", and adorn the parlours"li fe now", and not to seek "beauty in unavoidable that suchantiquity - Majapahit or Matararn, '" eliminated andbecause art is work based on our daily life time."lStransmuted by the artist himself who is 'Such a passionate, .immersed in it:' Other voices counselled by a Singapore artistdifferently, for i t was necessary not only to extraordinary. Itis

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    Cbrong S oo /'icrgo D er el ic t H ou se . 1 95 7

    aesthetic doctrine or manifesto binding theNanyang artis ts , I t isundoubtedly apersonal view. The statement can be,admittedly, dismissed for being unsoundlogically and flawed theoretically. Despitethese failings it, nevertheless, isrevealing. Ihave quoted it a t length because it disclosesenduring issues concerning an, such as thepsychology of perception and of visualcommunication, the reading of representationaland non-representational images and theirrespective value, the social role of an and thecontext of an activity. Chong Swee isadamant that a work of an must possesscontent for it to have purpose, meaning andeffect; he locates content in the sphere ofsubject matter, a sphere in which the artistand the viewer transacted a communion anda meeting-of~uls. In this bel ief he shared aninner kinshipwirh his contemporaries.It was in-search of subject mat ter that Liu

    Kang, Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Wen Hsiand Chen Chong Swee journeyed to Bali in1952. The choice of Bali was significant, Asif in response to Hak Tai 's urgings, t he se .artists sought the one society inSoutheastAsia in which an and life appeared to beinextricably meshed and which alsopromised the extension of pictorial content.T-ilecJwice.ofBali wf}S d~lWera~e!.ndpurposeful. A year later an exhibit ion of. their work was heid; i t was called Pictures; of. .. . Ba l i. Inthe. int0duc;tiqnto thecatalogue of

    ." the 6:l iiDitron, Liu Rang givesa movingaccount of their experiences. Recalling astatement byCharlie Chaplin , who touredIndonesia in the early thirties, "Whoeverhasn't been to Bali cannot say that he hasbeen to Southeast Asia", Liu Kang adds, "Itis the last paradise' : He describes the graceof the Balinese and admires the spiri tualintegration in their l ife, their sense ofhumour and of play. Of an, he says, "Anrepresents the culture of the people. Whereasin other countries, an effort has to be madeto get people to appreciate an, this is not theproblem in Bali."'For these artis ts Bali was a revelation. Asociety inwhich li fe, ritual and an were

    inseparably linked was eagerly,enthusiastically accepted as an idealenvironment for creating an; furthermore,in their view Bali epitomised Southeast Asia.It was in anticipation of living and workingin such an environment that impelled fhemto undertake the journey.The journey to Bal i also brings into focusan implication of general significance, whichis related to the emergence of modem an inSoutheast Asia, namely: that the developmentof modem an in this region is rooted inconceptions and options framed bycompeting artis tic traditions. I have thus faroutlined twO such traditions. And it i s thecase that the development of the Nanyangartis ts is usually explained in terms of twocontending traditions: one, whose sources

    are in the East (especially China), and theother, in the West. The sojourn in Bal ithrows into relief a third: intra-SoutheastAsian connections. I t is a phenomena whichhas not received any attention. The journeyto Bali secured a milieu in Southeast Asiawhich was claimed to be comparable to anyin Europe. Writing in the catalogue oftheexhibition of 1953, Liu Kang declared,"Working in Bali i sa s good as working inParis."? The declaration has specialsignificance because on completing hisstudies in Shanghai in 1929, Liu Kangtravelled to Paris and lived and worked therefor fiveyears. For these artis ts , their travels inthe countries of Southeast Asia, the study ofthe ar ts of the region had profound effects inconsolidating their pictorial techniques andthemes. Elaboration of these features willhave to wait an occasion different from thepresent one.Pi ctu re s o f Ba l i (1953) was an exhibitionwhich signalled the coming of age of thesefour art is ts ; i t was a vivid , moving display ofpictorial intelligence, possessing identity andstatus. The exhibition also marked aprecocious moment in the story of art inSingapore; aesthetic quality, pictorial skilland imagination were catapulted to levelsfor .which ' there were no precedents. The anworld i n S(ogapore witnessed its first, fulland.mature bloom.Tt was apparent that the

    . :se.~tch.fo! fr:esh.,pictOi:"ialechniques attainedresolution and coherence in Bali; theseartis ts had mastered the craft ofpainting andhad imbued itwith vigour and discrimination.Their achievements were to be invigoratingboth for their development as wel l as foryounger artist s who were to emerge in the60s. I twas equally apparent that the searchfor new subject matter atta ined fruit ion inBali. The choice of figures, objects andset tings were no less bound to theconsciously directed lives of these artiststhan to an unconscious symboli sm; thechoice of subject matter also had vita l rootsin social experience. The.works of these fourartists have representational quali ties at anumber of cultural levels. Judging from thepictures in the exhibit ion of 1953, it isevident that for Liu Kang, Cheong SooPieng, Chen Wen Hsi and Chen ChongSwee the aspirations with which they setOUtfor "the last paradise" were fulsomelyrealized. The Pi ctu re s o f Ba l i exposition wasan authoritat ive, joyous debut. Thepaintings unveiled worlds that wereintelligent and authentic.III Pi ctu r~~o f Ba li merits another look; anexposmon reconstructing thecircumstances surrounding thisoccasion, and its reception, will beilluminating and rewarding. In anticipationof such an eventuality, let me skin back toMarcel Duchamp and to the dist inct ion hemade between an and history - that is,notwithstanding his provision of a time- I

    framforticont.intri.and'embintertheeanatum,prosjcircuproowas Iexpodecopictu. intelltheirwoulcentrhistobeen

    Ashap'neat,havefollo-for f(Sing:picrusugg,deve!the eTand,subjeindivlong,narrr.Storymorra glaenlT)Therdurii

    Informcolle.arnorChie -Maltparti.Nan'workthe t.Midspecitheccons-attrilbythpurcland,h is t eart irin th

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    nd thealibeastta whichjourneyr A s iaIe to anyof the.ed,.inginhisngce d theretravels in, s rudy ofeffects in[ues andeswill"Omtheiibition.f theselisplay ofentity andaI.ftinal skill.IevelsThe artst, fullthat the, attainedesenting andmination.;oratingIS for'in thee searchti.oninl O d

    rtists. thetal roots.hese four~sat arom the: is)00ong'y setirnelytion was

    look; an

    :ipation.ack to:tionheat is,ime-

    frame. Have the works that were producedfor this exhibit ion passed over from thecontext of art into that of history? Itis anintriguing question, well worth pursuingand answering. In doing so we would haveembarked on the task of explaining andinterpreting an 'artistic event ' in relation tothe character, position, growth and value ofart and artists in Singapore. This can, intum, lead to cultivating exciting, dramaticprospects such as recreating thecircumstances in and suggesting theprocesses by which a new art emerged andwas received. The staging of such anexposition, if tempered by sensibil ity anddecorum, can create conditions in which thepictures inspired by Bali can be apprehended. intelligibly, thereby relating the four artists totheir work, their audience and to his tory. Wewould by then have entered into the nervecentre of a discreetly constructed critical'history of an episode in modern art that hadbeen created in Singapore.A scenario such as the above has been ashaping influence in the choice andtreatment of my topic for this occasion. Ihave discussed the N anyang artists with thefollowing aim: to illustrate that conditionsfor forging critical histories of art inSingapore exist. Let me now quickly sketch apicture in which the leads that I havesuggested so far are linked withdevelopments that were c~nt:?m'p.o.ratY.with .the exhibition of.1953.' " 'The account tn~t I have ~iven is partial

    and does not exhaust all.;.

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    that were producedpassed over from thethat of history? It is anwell worth pursuing

    so we would haveexplaining and

    event' in relation togrowth and value of

    ~lI1lgapU'l

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