Georgette Chen

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

In 1906, Chen was born the fourth of 12 children—10 girls and 2 boys—in Chekiang (Zhejiang), Qing Dynasty.

Her father Zhang Renjie (Chang Sen Chek), 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 was a supporter of Sun Yat-sen, and provided financial support to Sun's anti-Qing revolutionary cause.

Chen's mother only allowed her children to speak in Mandarin 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.

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.

Eugene was a Chinese diplomat who had served as the foreign minister of Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang (southern government) in the 1920s.

He was a lover of music and the arts, supportive of Chen's work towards becoming a professional artist.

She would be Eugene's second wife after the death of his first wife, Agatha Alphosin Ganteaume.

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.

In 1930, two of Chen's works were selected for inclusion in the Salon d'Automne exhibition in Paris.

The same year, at 24-years old, she married Eugene Chen Youren, relocating from Paris to Shanghai as his wife in 1931.

In 1937 when the Sino-Japanese War broke out, the couple moved to Hong Kong, where Eugene was involved in anti-Japanese activities.

In 1944, the couple would be arrested by the Japanese in a Hong Kong hotel.

Shortly after in May 1944, Eugene succumbed to illness and died in Shanghai towards the end of World War II, widowing a 38-year old Chen.

In 1947, after several years of travelling across Asia while living in Shanghai, she married Ho Yung Chi, a close friend and former aide of Eugene.

She then moved to New York City, where Ho worked as a journalist.

In 1949, the artist held a major solo exhibition at the Asia Institute in New York, presenting paintings of China's landscapes and portraits that she created after the war.

That same year, the couple moved to Paris, where Chen participated in the Salon d'Automne in Paris for the last time.

Prior to being based in Malaya and Singapore from the 1950s onwards, Chen often travelled between cities such as Shanghai, Paris, New York and Tokyo.

In 1951, with Chen longing to return to Asia, the couple relocated to Penang, Malaya.

Chen would work there as an art teacher at Han Chiang High School, making many trips to Singapore during this period to visit several of her artist friends based there.

In 1953, Chen mounted a solo exhibition at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.

During her time in Singapore for the exhibition, she would meet the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) president Lim Hak Tai, who invited Chen to teach at the academy, though she would not take up the offer then.

Chen would divorce Ho in 1953, after which she would move to Singapore and spend the most artistically significant years of her life there.

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.

From 1954 to 1980, Chen would contribute significantly to visual art education in Singapore, working as a part-time art teacher at NAFA.

During this period, she devoted her time to teaching and painting.

When Singapore gained independence in 1965, Chen became a Singaporean.

Chen was fond of Singapore as her new home, learning to speak the Malay language and adopting "Chendana" as a Malay name for herself.

Her Malay artist friends had sought to find her a Malay name with the syllable "Chen" in it, and out of the many names suggested, she chose "Chendana", meaning sandalwood.

In Chen's paintings from this period, she would paint tropical fruit like rambutan, landscapes depicting the Singapore River, also portraying Sikh guards and Buddhist monks, as she was drawn to the colours of their turbans and robes.

In 1982, Chen was awarded the Cultural Medallion for her contributions to the visual arts in Singapore.

Chen was awarded the Singapore Cultural Medallion in 1982 for her contributions to visual art in Singapore.

On 15 March 1993, Chen died of complications from rheumatoid arthritis after an 11-year struggle with the ailment.