PART
C
The Temper Trap
New song inspired
by Hackney riots C3
Fashion
parade
Wilfred Lau
speaks
Stars shine
at Melody
Awards
Joey Yung’s
new beau
goes on
the record
C10
C12
MONDAY, JUNE 25 2012
Painter Chua Mia Tee may not be
a household name, but his work
is everywhere, including on
Singapore’s currency which carries
his portrait of President Yusof Ishak.
HUANG LIJIE talks to the artist
known for his realist style.
C6
DESIGN: LEE CHEE CHEW PHOTOS: KUA CHEE SIONG, UNIVERSAL MUSIC SINGAPORE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, APPLE DAILY
C6
LIFE! People
MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012
Painter of presidents and koi
Although known for his
portraits of prominent
people, Chua Mia Tee is
also inspired by nature
P
Huang
Lijie
ainter Chua Mia Tee may not
be a household name but anyone who carries cash would be
familiar with his work.
His portrait of Singapore’s
first president, Yusof Ishak, is used in the
portrait series of currency notes here.
You might have also come across his
oil paintings of koi or Chinatown in offices and boardrooms.
Or perhaps you were introduced to his
iconic paintings depicting socially
charged scenes such as National Language Class and Epic Poem Of Malaya
through the critical writings and stage
plays they inspired.
His paintings have been picked by the
National Heritage Board to be displayed
for the world to see on the Google Art
Project.
For someone whose works have
become ubiquitous icons of Singapore’s
social, cultural and political history, Chua
is refreshingly down-to-earth.
The well-known portraitist, who has
painted the movers and shakers of Singapore such as banker Wee Cho Yaw and
five former presidents, was obliging
when his portrait was photographed by
Life!.
The sprightly 81-year-old followed
directions without questions and made
no fuss about posing in the heat outdoors.
He also calls the next day after the
interview to apologise embarrassedly for
not inviting this reporter to stay for dinner the night before. He had not expected
the interview to end late and so had not
instructed his domestic helper to prepare
an extra portion.
Chua lives in a semi-detached house
off Dunearn Road with his wife, painter
Lee Boon Ngan, 73. Their home is simply
furnished except for the walls.
Paintings fill the walls like tiles in a
tightly wrought game of Tetris in the living room. Works (landscapes and portraits by him, vibrant paintings of flowers
by her) either compete for the limited
wall space or are stacked on easels in corners of the room. It feels like a homey art
gallery and, occasionally, ends up being
one too.
When art collectors-turned-friends
visit Chua at home, they sometimes cajole him to sell them the paintings off his
walls. A large oil painting of a waterfall in
China’s Jiuzhai Valley, painted by him in
the 1990s, was sold recently to a
long-time collector-friend.
Chua says in Mandarin: “The collector
wanted to buy the painting many years
ago but I said no because I wanted it for
myself. Recently, he asked to buy the
painting again and I found it hard to
reject him because of how long he has persevered.”
He jokes that he also “could not resist
the temptation” of the six-figure sum
offered. His works typically sell for upwards of $40,000.
My life so far
“I am after realism in my
paintings so it would be an
insult to the people I paint if I
gave them extenuated limbs
and made them look like they
are starving.”
On his style of painting
“At first, money didn’t matter
to me. Later, I learnt the value
of money. Now, I no longer
need money. My pursuit in art
is driven by happiness.”
During his schooldays, Chua Mia Tee excelled in calligraphy and drawing and his father encouraged his interest in art. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
He says: “My wife has been chiding common people and their struggle for
me to stop selling paintings in my collec- independence. Theatre company spell#7
tion. She is worried that I will regret hav- staged a play based on National Language
ing no more paintings of my own left for Class, and with the same title, in 2006
myself.”
and 2008. It also produced a play inHeeding her advice, he has taken to spired by Epic Poem Of Malaya, also bearsquirrelling away works of sentimental ing the same name, in 2010.
value to the second floor of his home.
Chua’s more recent works may lack
He is unabashed about his commercial the nationalistic fervour of his earlier
success as a painter. He recounts with works, but he maintains that he has not
quiet pride, for exlost his vision as
ample, how his sean artist.
THE
LIFE!
INTERVIEW
WITH
ries of koi fish
He says matpaintings, which
ter-of-factly: “I
he began in the
have always paintlate 1990s, were so
ed what interests
popular that other
me.”
artists began mimicking him.
The Singapore River and Chinatown
His art market appeal belies the signifi- figured frequently in his paintings from
cance of his four-decade-long career as a the 1980s because the neighbourhoods
Singaporean artist.
that he grew up in were undergoing draMr Low Sze Wee, 42, director of the matic changes. And koi fish found their
curatorial and collections division at the way onto his canvas in the 1990s because
National Art Gallery, Singapore, says he was captivated by their beauty.
Chua comes from the generation of SingaHe adds that he was not aware his
pore artists who emerged during the social realist paintings have inspired
1950s and is widely recognised for his “ex- plays.
cellent draughtsmanship and oil painting
“How people choose to interpret my
techniques”.
paintings is entirely up to them,” he says.
He adds that Chua is also often associThe guiding principle for his journey in
ated with the development of social real- art has always been to follow his heart, a
ist art in Singapore in the 1950s and belief instilled in him since he was young
1960s, when many of his works, includ- by his father, an art lover.
ing National Language Class and Epic
Chua was the second of two children
Poem Of Malaya, vividly portrayed the and the only son born to a well-to-do
social conditions and aspirations of the family in Shantou, China. His father was
Chua Mia Tee
Chua Mia
Tee (left)
around
three
years old
with his
father
Chua Yam
Nee
(seated)
and two of
his
father’s
friends in
China. He
married
Madam
Lee Boon
Ngan
(right) in
1962.
On putting his fine art career on hold in
the early years to provide for his family
“My children
had an
interest in
art, but they
chose to
pursue
careers in
science
because
they felt
they couldn’t
rival me.”
“I paint workers and labourers
because I empathise with how
difficult their lives are. I have
felt the same struggles and
the bittersweet things in life.”
On his paintings of factory life
“A good portrait reveals the
subject’s personality, through
elements such as facial
expression and attire. It must
also convey the subject’s
standing in society.”
On what he pays attention to when
painting portraits
On a recent family holiday in Shanghai, (from left) daughter
Chua Yang, Chua, granddaughter Bernice Chua, wife Madam
Lee, daughter-in-law Mrs Chua Hong, grandson Ignatius Chua
and son Chua Hong. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CHUA MIA TEE
On why his son
and daughter did
not follow in his
footsteps
a businessman who owned a few iron
manufacturing shops in Shantou and his
mother was a dentist.
At the age of six, he fled with his family to Singapore to escape the second
Sino-Japanese War in China.
The family settled in a shophouse in
Boat Quay and Chua’s parents used their
savings to start a provision shop in Havelock Road.
Life then was difficult, but all he remembers was how much he enjoyed drawing as
a pupil at the now-defunct Tuan Mong
School in Tank Road and his father encouraging him to pursue his interest in art.
He says: “My calligraphy and drawings
were peerless and they were always put
on display in school. In those days, few
parents approved of their children showing an interest in art. It was considered a
useless pursuit. But my father, who was
an avid self-taught painter, believed in
my talent.”
The elder Chua was so supportive
that, even during World War II, he would
buy his son Chinese calligraphy ink. The
family, which had escaped to a small Indonesian island, was able to make ends
meet by farming.
They returned to Singapore after the
war and Chua finished primary school before attending Chung Cheng
g High
g School
and then enrolling
g at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa).
Mr Chua Kah Pin, 78, a retired piano
teacher and a friend of the artist since
their schooldays at Nafa, says in Mandarin: “Mia Tee was not your usual bohemian-type artist. He was very disciplined
and he would practise painting on his
own for hours after class.”
Chua also devoured art catalogues and
writings on art history in the Nafa
library. The books opened the doors to
realist art and introduced him to famous
European old masters of the style including Rembrandt and Francisco Goya.
He says: “I was impressed by their
skill and ability to render things in real
life in such a moving way.”
His zeal for art and his well-honed
drawing technique made him stand out
among his peers at Nafa, though not
always in a good way.
Chua’s friend Kah Pin says: “When it
came to drawing from life, Mia Tee was
especially fast and skilful, so it’s no surprise that some students were annoyed
with him.
“Mia Tee was never boastful but his
comments were sometimes misunderstood by others. For example, if someone
asked him why he drew so fast in class
and his matter-of-fact reply was ‘It is not
that difficult’, they would be offended.”
Some of the students took out their resentment on Chua by playing pranks on
him. They scared him in school one night
by pretending to be ghosts.
Recalling the incident, which left him
green in the face, Chua says: “They could
have been jealous and they probably also
thought I was arrogant because I did not
hang out with them. But I have no ill feelings towards them.”
He is candid about how, when he was
younger, he did not hold some of his art
teachers in high regard.
“When it came to drawing from nature
and life, I was better and faster,” he says.
“But I have since grown to recognise our
differences in style and perspective, and I
respect them for their point of view as artists.”
Despite his single-mindedness about
painting, he did not launch his career as
an artist until 1974.
After graduating from Nafa in
i 1952,
Chua was an art teacher at the academy
before he joined an international advertising company as a designer. The art director of the ad agency offered him a deal he
could not refuse.
He says: “They were offering me a
monthly salary of $400, more than twice
my pay as an art teacher. It happened
that I also needed more money then because I was about to get married and start
a family.”
He has two children, both in their 40s,
as well as two teenage grandchildren. His
older son, Chua Hong, is the science and
technology faculty dean at the Technological and Higher Education Institute of
Hong Kong. His daughter, Chua Yang, is
an obstetrician and gynaecologist in private practice here.
After five years at the ad agency, Chua
became a freelance illustrator, taking on
projects such as textbook illustrations because he could earn between $2,000 and
$3,000 every month. He continued to
paint whenever he found time.
He says: “I still wanted to be a painter
and I knew that my job as a commercial
artist was temporary.”
In 1974, he was invited by a nowdefunct art gallery in Telok Ayer to stage
his first solo art show. He exhibited more
than 20 paintings and sold most of them.
The exhibition marked the turning point.
He became a full-time artist.
Chua acknowledges that there have
been criticisms in the art circle about his
work lacking originality and looking too
much like photographs.
He says: “When I was younger, I used
to be angry at such attacks on my work.
But now, I know that as long as I paint
well, it doesn’t matter what people say.”
He is similarly nonchalant when asked
about how he has yet to be named a Cultural Medallion recipient.
“I am not interested in such awards. It
doesn’t mean that if you don’t have an
award, you are no good,” he says. “If
someone wins the award, he could perhaps use it for publicity, but it doesn’t
raise the quality of his art.”
He also stresses that although he is a
realist painter who seeks to convey real
life in his pictures, he does not merely
record what the eye sees.
He says: “My paintings are based on
real life but there is also creativity involved in what I choose to paint and how
I compose the painting.”
Forty years on, the octogenarian has
not slowed down. He still takes about the
same time to complete a work: between
two and four weeks on average, depending on the size of the painting. But the frequency at which he churns out works has
relaxed.
These days, he paints when he feels
the urge. Since the start of the year, he
has completed two large-scale koi paintings measuring 2m by 1.5m, both of
which have been bought by collectors.
Mostly, he passes his time leisurely,
with activities such as daily brisk walks at
the Botanic Gardens and going on holidays with his family at least once a year.
For an artist who has done it all, he
still has one wish.
“I would like to go to Mongolia to see
wild horses galloping across the plains. I
want to paint that majestic sight.”
lijie@sph.com.sg