Georgette Chen

Georgette Liying Chendana Chen (born Chang Li Ying; 23 October 1906 – 15 March 1993), commonly known as Georgette Chen, was a Singaporean painter of the School of Paris and one of the pioneers of modern Singaporean art as well as of the Nanyang style of art in the region.

A key figure in the development of modern art in Singapore, Chen is known for her oil paintings and contributions to art education as a teacher at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) from 1954 to 1981.

Early life and education Georgette Chen, Self Portrait, c. 1946, Oil on canvas, Collection of National Gallery SingaporeChen was born on 23 October 1906, the fourth of 12 children in Chekiang, Qing Dynasty (present-day Zhejiang, China). Her father Zhang Renjie (Chang Sen Chek) (born Zhang Jingjiang ) was an antique dealer with businesses in Paris, London, and New York City. Due to her father's profession, Chen spent her childhood travelling between Paris and China with her family and attending high school in the US. Though living in the West, the Chang couple was deeply rooted to their Chinese heritage. Chen's father met Sun Yat-sen, the founder of Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) and the first Provisional President of the Republic of China, while aboard the SS Tonkin steamship. Later, he became a key supporter that financially supported Sun's anti-Qing revolutionary cause. Chen's mother only allowed her children to speak in the Shanghainese dialect at home, while her father often brought the family along on his regular trips to China to support Sun's revolution, and to ensure that his children would not forget their own cultural identity.

Impressionist French period (1920s–1930s) Born into a privileged life, Chen was exposed to art at a young age. For most of her time in Paris she would either be painting at home, visiting museums, or roaming around the city every day. Chen attended high school in the US, and studied art at the Art Students League of New York for a year in 1926. She felt that Parisian life suited her better, and in 1927 she returned home to study at the Académie Colarossi and Académie Biloul in Paris. Though her parents provided financial support for her art education, they never fully accepted her decision to become a full-time artist, believing that artists would struggle to succeed financially in their careers.

Career

Post-Impressionist and Fauvist China–Hong Kong Period (1930s–40s) In 1930, two of Chen's works were selected for inclusion in the Salon d'Automne exhibition in Paris. Thereafter, her work was exhibited for the first time at Salon des Tuileries and the Salon des Independents. Additionally, one of her works was even acquired by the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris; which was an unusual accomplishment for an Asian artist. The same year, at 24-years old, she married Eugene Chen Youren, a political associate of both Sun and Zhang (Chen's father), relocating from Paris to Shanghai as his wife in 1931. She would be Eugene's second wife after the death of his first wife, Agatha Alphosin Ganteaume. In 1937 when the Sino-Japanese War broke out, the couple moved to Hong Kong, where Eugene was involved in anti-Japanese activities. In June 1994, Lee donated the 53 newly discovered paintings to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). This brought a total of 104 paintings by Chen to be found in the museum collection. Apart from donations from the sale proceeds of her house, sales from Chen's personal investments of stocks and shares were also used to fund a new building for the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), as well as for community welfare projects for the local Malay community, and to the Practice Theatre Ensemble (founded by Kuo Pao Kun) to support Chinese theatrical art in Singapore.

Chen is historicised as a significant figure in the development of modern art in Singapore, widely recognised for her achievements as an artist and contributions as an educator. From 27 November 2020 to 26 September 2021, the exhibit Georgette Chen: At Home in the World was held at the National Gallery Singapore. Commissioned by the National Gallery Singapore, Channel NewsAsia produced a three-part docudrama, The Worlds of Georgette Chen, starring actress Rui En as Chen. The English-language series that was also adapted into Chinese, aired on Channel NewsAsia, MediaCorp Channel 5 and MediaCorp Channel 8 in April 2015.

On 1 November 2021, Chen would be celebrated in a Singapore and Malaysia-specific Google Doodle coinciding with the 91st anniversary of her first exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in Paris.

Solo exhibitions

Pioneer Artists of Singapore - Georgette Chen Retrospective 1985 – held at National Museum Art Gallery from 10 to 24 November 1985. Georgette Chen, a retrospective exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum in 4 April–15 June 1997.

Publications National Museum Art Gallery (1985), Pioneer Artists of Singapore: Georgette Chen Retrospective 1985, Singapore