Portrait of T.Y. Choy

T.Y. Choy is another noted watercolourist in Singapore art history, and was a good friend of Lim’s. Both of them were members of the Sunday painting group that went on weekly expeditions around Singapore to paint. Other members included fellow artists Chia Wai Hon, who was a close friend of Lim’s and Choy’s, and Chen Chong Swee. According to Lim’s diaries, the group would also drive up to Malaysia in Choy’s car to paint.

During the week, Lim worked in the civil service and didn’t have time to paint. These Sunday sessions gave him the opportunity to practise painting on the weekend. They put him in close contact with other artists, created a space for him to discuss techniques and receive comments on his work, and so enabled him to develop his painting skills.

As you can see around you, Lim painted many portraits of family members and close friends, as well as models from life-drawing sessions. At first, these portraits might seem to contrast with the grander landscape paintings he is primarily known for, but they do have things in common. Both Lim’s landscape paintings and his portraits focused on capturing not only the forms but also the moods of his subject matters. In his portraits, we see an accurate portrayal of his sitters’ emotional states, while in his landscapes, richly evocative scenes bring out the distinct atmosphere of each place.