Ng Eng Teng, Untitled (Kelong), 1961

Oil on Masonite board
48.5 x 60.5 cm 
Condition: Very good, with minor surface accretion accumulated and a few spots of paint loss on the middle and lower left corners. The condition of the painting is consistent with its age.

-

Painted while Ng was still a student at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), this nautical scene is seen through the eyes of an artist who would later become renowned for his explorations of the human figure. Ng studied under Cheong Soo Pieng, whose teaching relied more on demonstration and critique than on a formal syllabus. He often took his students outdoors to paint the river and coastline directly. Ng later recalled setting up easels in front of kampongs and along the Singapore River during those formative years.

The water glows yellow with heat, while the scene—kelongs, wooden houses, and laundry strung along the shoreline—captures a Singapore that no longer exists. Viewed today, the painting serves as a record of a country that once lived far closer to the water than it does now.

-

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 Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). 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) (1961) was Ng'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, Ng experimented with the styles defined, but also responded with acumen. Art Historian T.K. Sabapathy notes that Ng's works demonstrated ‘significant departures from the prevailing aesthetic drive, which was directed towards creating untroubled, idyllic images of nature; in Ng's pictures there are intimations of disequilibrium’. 

(Photographed in February 2025)

Oil on Masonite board
48.5 x 60.5 cm 
Condition: Very good, with minor surface accretion accumulated and a few spots of paint loss on the middle and lower left corners. The condition of the painting is consistent with its age.

-

Painted while Ng was still a student at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), this nautical scene is seen through the eyes of an artist who would later become renowned for his explorations of the human figure. Ng studied under Cheong Soo Pieng, whose teaching relied more on demonstration and critique than on a formal syllabus. He often took his students outdoors to paint the river and coastline directly. Ng later recalled setting up easels in front of kampongs and along the Singapore River during those formative years.

The water glows yellow with heat, while the scene—kelongs, wooden houses, and laundry strung along the shoreline—captures a Singapore that no longer exists. Viewed today, the painting serves as a record of a country that once lived far closer to the water than it does now.

-

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 Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). 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) (1961) was Ng'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, Ng experimented with the styles defined, but also responded with acumen. Art Historian T.K. Sabapathy notes that Ng's works demonstrated ‘significant departures from the prevailing aesthetic drive, which was directed towards creating untroubled, idyllic images of nature; in Ng's pictures there are intimations of disequilibrium’. 

(Photographed in February 2025)

Artwork located in: Singapore