Hello dear people! To kick off this highly informative blog, I shall remind everyone to tag and categorise the posts appropriately. For example, I tagged this post with montien boonma, xu beihong, sam (remember to separate them with commas) and categorise it under Artist, Exhibition, Southeast Asian Art. Please check your spelling so if we ever search for the post it will appear. E.g. Jackson Pollock not Jason Pollock. Otherwise please post very often! And don’t just link, describe what the link is about, and if possible post important sections to make everyone’s lives easier. Include lots of images please!

Okay that’s that. Anyway today I visited SAM to have a look at the Xu Beihong in Nanyang exhibition, which I will elaborate on later. The point (and I think the part you guys will care more about) is, while I was looking at the rest of the galleries, I actually saw one of Montien Boonma’s stupas.

This one is Black Stupa, 1989, mixed media, 99×69 cm. It’s basically white paper splattered with dirt, soil, charcoal, ash, and what I think is rice, in wooden frames. The organic material forms the shape of a stupa, and so does the physical arrangement of the frames. It actually is quite successful when you see the real thing as opposed to the very small picture in the notes, because it’s quite tall (about 1 metre tall if you look at the dimensions), and so physically quite imposing. The arrangement of the frames helps to emphasise the idea of a stupa than just a picture alone. So the effect really quite nice. I know that the photos are bad, but no choice due to (ahem) restrictions. If you want to see it for real instead of my crummy photos, it’ll be on exhibition until 2009.

Next we have Xu Beihong, whom as you all know is the guy who is awesome at painting horses. Anyway he is not just good at Chinese painting, he does oil and watercolour too. Some background on his influences:

• Studied Chinese classics, calligraphy and painting since young.
• 1919 Paris: Main movements at that time were Expressionism and Cubism. Studied the works of Courbet, Millet, Rodin, and Degas, which you all know worked in the naturalistic or Realistic style. He also copied the works of Prud’hon (Neo-Classical and Romantic), Delacroix (Romantic), Velazquez (Baroque, famous for Las Meninas), and Rembrandt (etching, chiaroscuro, brand of pastels we use)
• 1921 Berlin: Worked under Arthur Kampf (etchings, paintings). Studied the works of Durer Holbein and Menzel (drawings, etchings, paintings)

The Foolish Old Man, 1940, ink on paper

As a result, his style is very much a mixture of Eastern and Western techniques. He thought that the Western style of realism is essential to the reform of Chinese art. However he chose to be grounded in the style of his wn culture while incorporating Western elements.

• Oil paintings: Style is very representational and naturalistic, but with painterly strokes. There is a lot of modeling done. A good example is Slave and Lion, where there is a lot of variety in the lighting from dark to bright. Uses large amounts of sketches (usually charcoal drawings) to prepare.
• Chinese paintings: Show quite a lot of Western influences. In Autumn Eagle (linked is not the painting, but similar), the eagle in question is depicted in a rather naturalistic way, instead of the stylised way Chinese paintings tend to be. I think the composition is influenced by Western art too, for example in Drinking Horses. Agree?
• Portraits: In the style of Western portraiture, but with Asian context. For example, Portrait of Lim Loh, 1927, has scenery as its background, but the subject is dressed in traditional Chinese costume (the kind that looks like a skirt) and holds a fan. One of the portraits, Portrait of a Young Lady, shows a corner of his calligraphy in the canvas, which reminds me of Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear by van Gogh (the one with the ear cut off and the Japanese print). Portrait of Ms Jenny is quite similar.

Put Your Whip Down, 1939, oil on canvas

In terms of subject, Xu Beihong is very into patriotism and loves his Motherland, China. So a lot of his paintings have Chinese themes, mixed with his Western-influenced ideas.

• Patriotism and social realities: The Foolish Old Man (aka 愚公移山), ink on paper, 1940, done in India uses the legend to illustrate China’s struggle against Japanese occupation. Put Your Whip Down, oil on canvas, 1939, is about a starving Chinese girl who faints while performing with her father, who whips her until a 大好青年 worker angrily jumps out to stop him. They then lament about how they have lost their homes to the Japanese. (Digression: actually I think the girl looks very weird in the painting, look at her curvy arm and protruding left knee.)
• Chinese paintings: Usual Chinese painting subjects (animals, bamboo, people), but sometimes done in very naturalistic, watercolour-like style. Examples include Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore, 1940, and Portrait of an Indian Lady. The Foolish Old Man has nude models, which is quite unsual for Chinese painting, and the people were modelled after Indians.
• Portraits: Usually friends and their relatives who housed him.
• Landscapes: Himalayas. Liu Kang said they were ‘mediocre in composition with no artistic ethos whatsoever’.
• Southeast Asian: Sometimes painted tropical fruits and plants. Not very influenced by Nanyang stuff.

He had influences on Singaporean art, due to his active participation in groups like NAFA, and his support for an art museum. He also encouraged Liu Kang (whom he thought was better than Matisse because of his bright colours and outlines), Chen Chong Swee, and Chen Wen Hsi.

Anyway if you want to see the images in greater detail, they are in a museum magazine which you can borrow from me. The Xu Beihong exhibition will be held until 13 July! Also, there will be an Alberto Giacometti (really thin and long sculptures) exhibition from 1 May to 15 June!

Yes okay this is the end of my very very long first post. Do comment heartily.

Cheers, from the tiger shark (floating in formaldehyde)!