Stop 1
3201

Georgette Chen: At Home in the World

Georgette Chen
Artwork
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3201.Georgette Chen: At Home in the World(0:00)
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Welcome to the Georgette Chen: At Home in the World audio tour. This tour takes you through Chen’s fascinating life, practice and the significant contributions that she made to the artistic landscape of her time. As you follow this tour of Chen’s major artworks, do also take the time to explore the archival materials on display, some of which are being shown for the first time. The three paintings you see before you cover Chen’s favourite subject matters: still life, people, and landscapes. Chen was inspired by daily life, and her paintings reflect the day-to-day details of the environments across the many countries she lived in. Still Life (Moon Festival Table) is a good example of how Chen carefully and deliberately chose every object featured in her still life paintings. Here, the lanterns and pomelo fruit associated with the Chinese Mid-Autumn, or Moon Festival, are presented in bright, festive tones of red, green and yellow. The traditional Teochew and baked mooncakes which are so important to the festival take centre stage on the table. Still lifes typically have horizontal compositions. But notice how Chen disrupts this convention here by including two hanging lanterns above the table. Our eyes are thus not only drawn to the mooncakes, but also towards the hanging lanterns above them. Singapore Waterfront showcases Chen’s skill in depicting light and water. The way she paints the sky and clouds with smooth, blended brushstrokes, and the water with small, quick dabs of colour, captures the movement and mood of this riverside scene, bringing it to life. Malay Wedding, which is featured in the next stop of this tour, illustrates Chen’s eye for colour and people, as she presents a lively and vibrant scene of a wedding celebration. These paintings provide a glimpse of the artworks you can expect to see in this exhibition. Chen’s works show her unique perspective of the region filtered through her distinct style—one rooted in her early academic training in Paris and New York, and her passion in depicting the lives of people around her.
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Artwork details
Artist Name
Georgette Chen
Full Title
Still Life (Moon Festival Table)
Time Period
1962
Medium
Oil on canvas
Extent Dimensions (cm)
Dimensions 2D: Image measure: 73 x 60 cm
Credit Line
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Geographic Association
Singapore
Accession Number
P-0805