As one of the celebrated pioneer artists of Singapore, Chen Wen Hsi was ahead of his time – lending an avant garde touch to otherwise traditional Chinese Paintings. Born in Baigong in the Guandong province, Chen embarked on his studies in fine art at the Shanghai College of Art in 1928 before he decided on a transfer to Xinhua College of Art in Shanghai. It was at Xinhua under the tutelage of renowned artists that Chen met Chen Jen Hao, Chen Chong Swee and Liu Kang – all of whom became better known as Singapore’s pioneer artists. Chen graduated four years later and returned to his hometown to get married.

Chen’s artistic career had an early start. By the age of 21, Chen exhibited at his very first show in Swatow in 1929. He continued to develop new works and exhibited in many parts of Asia – from Shanghai and Hong Kong to even Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. 1937 was a great year for Chen – Chinese painter Xu Beihong was awed by his potential and regconised his talent at the second Chinese National Art Exhibition in Nanjing, while he was selected as one of contemporary China’s ten greatest artist by an English arts magazine. Between the years 1946 to 1947, Chen also lectured in Fine Arts at the South China College in Shantou, during which he founded the Chun Yang Painting Society.

Chen arrived and settled in Singapore in 1948 with the original intention to not stay beyond three months. He taught art at The Chinese High School between 1949 and 1968 and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts from 1951 to 1959. For someone as worldly as Chen, he travelled across Southeast Asia in search for drawing materials for his collection. It was during his travels that he discovered the customs of Bali and Java which became inspiration to his practice.

He retired from teaching in 1968 to concentrate on his art practice. Proficient in Western oil painting and traditional Chinese ink paintings, Chen experimented and developed a variety of styles inspired by Fauvism and even Cubism. Unlike western counterparts of his time, Chen was not interested in modern western art philosophies – he saw the idea of human figures as a pattern of images, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In one of his earlier exhibitions, it was easy to see his fascination for “man-made things and clutter” and enjoyed“interplay of light and forms in chaotic subjects”.

Yet, Chen became more famously known for his paintings of gibbons. He was first intrigued by the famous painting, White Robed Guanyin, Crane and Gibbon by the 13th century Southern Song Dynasty Chinese artist Mu Xi, and decided to study and emulate the painting, and took note of its lifelike quality and Song’s ability to capture the essence of this creature. In the late 1940s, Chen took it upon himself to purchase a gibbon at a local pet shop. He was later an owner of six pet gibbons – one white, one grey and four black ones. This allowed the artist to observe the creature’s movements, postures and characteristics.

His contributions to the arts scene in Singapore paved way and inspired other artists in their practice. In 1964, President Yusof Ishak conferred the Public Service Star, and Chen received an honorary doctorate by the National University of Singapore in 1975 – the first local artist to be honoured. He was also an recipient of the Golden Chapter by the Taiwan National Museum in 1980, the first ASEAN Cultural Communication Award in 1987, and a posthumous Meritorious Service Medal after his death in 1992.