Artist Detail | Ilham Gallery
Tew Nai Tong
1936 - 2013, Malaysia
Tew Nai Tong
1936 - 2013, Malaysia

Tew Nai Tong (b. 1936, Klang – d. 2013, Kuala Lumpur) has been hailed as “perhaps the last matinee idol of the old Nanyang style” by art critic Ooi Kok Chuen. Nai Tong graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in 1958 and, as was customary for many NAFA graduates then, pursued further studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in France. At NAFA, he had focused on making sketches and watercolour paintings of landscapes, but his focus shifted in France towards making figurative oil paintings. Upon his return in 1969, he joined the Malaysian Institute of Art as a lecturer. Nai Tong’s paintings can be found in the collections of the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, the Sarawak State Museum, and the Singapore Art Museum.