Ng Eng Teng, Untitled (Kelong), 1961
Oil on Masonite board
48.5 x 60.5 cm
Condition: Very good, with minor surface accretion accumulated on the surface of the work, and few spots of paint loss on middle and lower left corner. The condition of the painting is consistent with its age.
-
A seminal figure in Singaporean sculpture, Ng Eng Teng (Singaporean, 1934 - 2001) is celebrated for his figurative works found in public spaces across the country. Renowned pieces include "Mother And Child" outside Far East Shopping Centre and "The Explorer" at the entrance of the Singapore Art Museum. Ng's career was distinguished by his blend of Eastern and Western influences, honed through formal training at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. His career reached new heights with solo exhibitions and prestigious awards, including the Cultural Medallion Award in 1981 for his contributions to Singapore's art scene.
-
Untitled (Kelong) was Eng Teng’s interpretation of the Nanyang Style, a Malaya art tradition characterised by motifs and subject matter associated with the landscape of Southeast Asia, and the everyday life of its communities. An early articulation of its element came from Lim Hak Tai, the first principle of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), who declared that art should reflect ‘the reality of the Southern Seas, the localness of the place…taking from them aspects that are most suitable for the Nanyang Region’.
As a student at NAFA from 1959-1961 under the tutelage of Georgette Chen, Eng Teng experimented with the styles defined, but also responded with acumen. Art Historian T.K. Sabapathy notes that Eng Teng’s works demonstrated ‘significant departures from the prevailing aesthetic drive, which was directed towards creating untroubled, idyllic images of nature; in Eng Teng’s pictures there are intimations of disequilibrium’.
(Photographed in February 2025)