Liu Kang - Chinese Lady | ILHAM Gallery

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Chinese Lady

1976

For Liu Kang, the Chinese aesthetic tradition, and his Chinese heritage more broadly, formed an enduring axis throughout his career. Over the course of his life, he made repeated references to this aspect of himself. This self-definition as an ‘Oriental’ artist would evolve with time: from his book of essays written between 1937 and 1981, one can trace a development from Liu Kang’s identification to China, to one that focused on his relation to the tropics and the multiracial society of Malaya.

Liu Kang produced a large number of portraits across his career, often titled after the names of close family members and friends. Chinese Lady is one example of a smaller segment of Liu Kang’s portraits that were given generic titles, in which the models were either anonymous or referred to simply as “Man” or “Lady”. These works signalled most overtly the artist’s interest in the subject of ethnography, with titles such as Chinese Muslim Facing Front, or Indian Policeman. Likewise, Chinese Lady displays less conviction as a psychologically-incisive portrait than a study of an ethnic persona. Rather than trying to capture any sort of metaphysical quality, the goal here seems to be the capturing of her features and fashion: a styled bob, heavily-plucked eyebrows, wearing a modern-day green blouse with puff-sleeves and a ribbon collar. Attention is clearly paid to the portrayal of solidity and weight through seamlessly-blended brushstrokes, most notably in the contrast of light and shadow on the ribbon collar that falls heavily on her chest. A delicate blend between flesh-tones, earthy greens, and pinks is used to draw out the sitter’s immaculate presentation, with her rose-tinted cheeks and neatly-drawn lipstick. Unlike the expressive qualities of Liu Kang’s narrative paintings, this portrait is a practice in realism: a concerted effort to capture a vivid resemblance to the forms and images of the people who surrounded him.

Details

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimension:

59 x 46 cm

Date:

1976

Credit Line:

Collection of ILHAM Foundation

About Liu Kang

Liu Kang (b. 1911, Fujian, China-d. 2004, Singapore) was one of the earliest pioneers of the Nanyang art style and a founding father of modern Singaporean art. Liu spent his formative years as an artist studying in Shanghai and Paris. As a student at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, Liu was particularly attracted to the modernist aesthetics of Post-Impressionism and Fauvism in the works of Matisse and Cézanne, and sought to incorporate elements of their styles into his own work. Liu’s style epitomises the synthesis of elements from both Asian and Western art traditions that is a hallmark of the Nanyang art style. As with the other Nanyang artists, Liu Kang's formative role in the development of the Nanyang style came about when he began to assimilate and paint local subjects in the Southeast Asian region. His most significant exhibition prior to his passing was held in China in 2000, after having postponed it for more than a decade due to the Tiananmen incident in 1989.

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