Chen Cheng Mei, Singapore River IV, Undated

Etching on paper
40 x 60 cm 
Condition: Very good
Edition unknown
Certificate of Authenticity from the Estate of Chen Cheng Mei available.

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Chen Cheng Mei is celebrated for the scenes she brought back from her travels, but her paintings of home possess the same unhurried, observant eye. Across these works, she returns to familiar views, allowing colour to do the changing. Blues deepen and soften, shifting into greens and back again, so that a single landscape yields multiple interpretations. These changing hues mirror a Singapore that was itself in transition, its working waterfront gradually giving way to the city we know today.

Here, the same stretch of river is revisited time and again, each composition calibrated to a different register of colour. Together, they form a meditation on place - one landscape observed across changing light, shifting moods, and the passage of time.

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Chen Cheng Mei 陈城梅 (Singaporean, 1927–2020) was a trailblazing artist whose resolute presence marked her as one of the few Singaporean women of her generation to sustain a lifelong artistic practice. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1954, she studied under Cheong Soo Pieng and Lim Hak Tai, spending weekends sketching outdoors with them. Chen was part of the Ten Men Art Group and travelled across Southeast Asia with them, but it was after the group’s reconfiguration that she journeyed more extensively throughout not only Asia, but Africa and the Americas.

Chen's paintings, etchings, and prints are marked by a quiet intensity. While her works appear simple or naive, they reflect a sophisticated understanding of texture, colour and form, and importantly the anthropocene, honed through printmaking and a deep engagement with literature and the natural world. Chen’s ethos was shaped by her belief that culture is the backbone of a country. Her works form a personal visual diary, documenting lives across regions with honesty. Often working outside the spotlight and at an intimate scale, Chen reminded us that art is not just about seeing, but feeling.

(Photographed in July 2026)

Etching on paper
40 x 60 cm 
Condition: Very good
Edition unknown
Certificate of Authenticity from the Estate of Chen Cheng Mei available.

-

Chen Cheng Mei is celebrated for the scenes she brought back from her travels, but her paintings of home possess the same unhurried, observant eye. Across these works, she returns to familiar views, allowing colour to do the changing. Blues deepen and soften, shifting into greens and back again, so that a single landscape yields multiple interpretations. These changing hues mirror a Singapore that was itself in transition, its working waterfront gradually giving way to the city we know today.

Here, the same stretch of river is revisited time and again, each composition calibrated to a different register of colour. Together, they form a meditation on place - one landscape observed across changing light, shifting moods, and the passage of time.

-

Chen Cheng Mei 陈城梅 (Singaporean, 1927–2020) was a trailblazing artist whose resolute presence marked her as one of the few Singaporean women of her generation to sustain a lifelong artistic practice. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1954, she studied under Cheong Soo Pieng and Lim Hak Tai, spending weekends sketching outdoors with them. Chen was part of the Ten Men Art Group and travelled across Southeast Asia with them, but it was after the group’s reconfiguration that she journeyed more extensively throughout not only Asia, but Africa and the Americas.

Chen's paintings, etchings, and prints are marked by a quiet intensity. While her works appear simple or naive, they reflect a sophisticated understanding of texture, colour and form, and importantly the anthropocene, honed through printmaking and a deep engagement with literature and the natural world. Chen’s ethos was shaped by her belief that culture is the backbone of a country. Her works form a personal visual diary, documenting lives across regions with honesty. Often working outside the spotlight and at an intimate scale, Chen reminded us that art is not just about seeing, but feeling.

(Photographed in July 2026)

Artwork located in: Singapore