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Social Identity

Social Identity. Portraiture as a reflection of the subject’s status in society. Social Identity. A painting can be used to establish a person’s status in society. A portrait can be representative of a person’s inherent or perceived importance as an individual.

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Social Identity

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  1. Social Identity • Portraiture as a reflection of the subject’s status in society.

  2. Social Identity • A painting can be used to establish a person’s status in society. A portrait can be representative of a person’s inherent or perceived importance as an individual. • Students will need to explore how artists engage a variety of elements to portray their sitters’ personalities, characters and/or status.

  3. Subject Matter • What type of a person do you think he/she is? • Who is this person? • What is he doing? • Where is he / she? • What do you see that makes you say that?

  4. Lai Foong Moi Labourer (Lunch Break) 1965  Oil on canvas  103.7 x 66.5cm.

  5. Lai Foong Moi • Lai Foong Moi was one in a handful of women artists to emerge in the Malayan art scene in the 1950s. She moved to Singapore to study at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1953. A scholarship from the French Government took her to Paris in 1955 to study at the L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts. She returned to Singapore in the late 1950s and accepted a teaching position at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts 1958, remaining on staff until 1994. • http://www.nus.edu.sg/cfa/museum/asia.php

  6. Lai Foong Moi Labourer (Lunch Break) 1965  Oil on canvas  103.7 x 66.5cm.

  7. In this artwork, the labourer is portrayed as sitting casually in an area that resembles a eating-place His legs are slightly spread and his left arm leans against the back of a chair. He is gazing into the distance and appears deep in thought. He is the main subject whilst in the background, a samsui woman is seen bent over and eating from a tiffin carrier. These help us to figure out that this figure is a construction labourer taking a break during his lunch. Lai Foong Moi Labourer (Lunch Break) 1965  Oil on canvas  103.7 x 66.5cm.

  8. In the background, we see bold black outlines forming a grid-like pattern. These could be the silhouettes of scaffolds used or incomplete buildings at a construction site. With the simple treatment of the background (flat colours and lack of shadows), we feel a sense of simplicity is. The main subject is dressed casually in a labourer’s outfit – blue overcoat with a white singlet and grey shorts. However, we can see that his clothing is clean and he has combed back his hair neatly. All these provided him with an air of respectability. His skin appears to be suntanned and he looks muscular. His face, with the determined jaw, contribute towards the impression of an honest working man. Lai Foong Moi Labourer (Lunch Break) 1965  Oil on canvas  103.7 x 66.5cm.

  9. Describe the subject matter (what you see) of this painting. - A seated person/man dressed in a dark blue shirt over a singlet and shorts. Type of clothes suggest that he could be a working class person, a labourer, as the title suggested. He is resting on a stool with his left elbow propped against something. He looks very tanned, suggesting that he could have been working under the sun for quite a while. The man is looking towards the left of the painting, perhaps looking at something. In the background, we see a samsui woman (dressed in a blue coat and red head-dress sits by a table with her back facing us. She seems to be holding up a pair of chopsticks in her right-hand suggesting that she could be eating her lunch. On the table, we see a tiffin carrier, a container which people used to carry their food to work at that time. These 2 people appear to be in a construction site as suggested by the lines in the background.

  10. (b) Discuss the use of colours, brushwork and composition. The overall colours used for this work is rather dark, with a strong dominance of dark browns, greys and dark blue. The choice of colours suggest the dust/dark squatters which the workers had their lunch. Paint is applied in a flat manner for the background with the use of bold, cross-hatched lines to suggest perhaps scaffolds of buildings. The brushwork for the depiction of the figure is rather smooth, with careful blending of dark and light colours to bring out the folds of the clothes and the 3D form of the man’s face. The composition is well-balanced in a way that the man seems to divide the composition diagonally into half, using the lady to balance the man on the left-side of the painting.

  11. (c) What is the artist trying to express about the subject matter? The artist is perhaps trying to create an awareness of the working condition and life of the labourers. The work also brings across the type of hardship which the labourers have to endure. The artist is also serving as a historian, documenting the lifestyle and type of work the population is engaged with at that time in 1965. That was the time when the government was implementing the HDB scheme where they engaged labourers to work at construction sites, building high rise HDB estates.

  12. Read: http://www.nationalartgallery.sg/realism/ http://goodenei.com/2009/12/05/%E8%B5%96%E5%87%A4%E7%BE%8E%E3%80%80lai-foong-moi/ Lai Foong Moi The Samsui Worker 1967  Oil on canvas  90cm x 60cm

  13. Georgette Chen Portrait of Eugene Chen 1940  Oil on canvas  92 x 91.5cm.

  14. Georgette Chen • Painted familiar everyday scenes and objects in a style strongly inspired by the Post-Impressionists. She worked mainly with oil and pastels • http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/arts/painters/channel/13.html

  15. Eugene Chen is the second husband of Georgette Chen. He was the Foreign Minister to the Republic of China and was a big influence in her life. This is one of three portraits that Georgette Chen painted of her husband before his demise. He appears to be gazing into the distance, deep in thought,perhaps over the book which he has just read. He is portrayed as a scholarly and dignified character. Georgette Chen has chosen to depict her husband in an intimate manner. He is dressed modestly with a long-sleeve shirt and dark pants; wrapped around his neck is a scarf. Eugene is seated in a simple rattan chair and his hand holds onto a red cover book. The background is plain and simple, suggesting a humble lifestyle. From the relaxed pose, we can tell that the relationship between the artist and the subject is very intimate, making the viewers feel intrusive. Georgette Chen Portrait of Eugene Chen 1940  Oil on canvas  92 x 91.5cm.

  16. With such a portrayal, Eugene Chen appears to have a disregard for material comforts but is in search of a higher intellectual concern. The use of colour also exemplifies his simplicity. The background and the figure itself is in soothing solemn colours of beige,cream, brown and grey. The book in his hands however is in red/scarlet. This contrasted with the overall colour scheme, and thus draws our attention to it. Georgette Chen Portrait of Eugene Chen 1940  Oil on canvas  92 x 91.5cm.

  17. Georgette Chen Portrait of Eugene Chen 1961  Oil on canvas  92 x 73 cm.

  18. Use of expressive lines = Strong influence of Van Gogh, especially in Eugene Chen’s portraits. Composition of the figure=Stable pyramidal/diagonal format of the Post-Impressionist, Paul Cezanne Georgette Chen

  19. Relationships • Portraiture as a manifestation of relationships between people.

  20. Relationships • Portraiture can tell us about the relationships between the people in the picture. The facial expressions, poses, arrangements and setting provide rich information about the sitters and how they relate to one another. • Students learn how artists depict the diversity and dynamics of human relationships in their works.

  21. Liu Kang Artist & Model 1954 Oil on canvas 84 x 124 cm

  22. Highlight the similarities that you noticed in Liu Kang’s painting and the works by the four Western artists. Paul Cezanne Henri Matisse Liu Kang Artist & Model 1954 Vincent Van Gogh Paul Gauguin

  23. Singapore Pioneer Artist - Liu Kang (1911 - 2004) His Influences by the Post-Impressionists

  24. Influence of Paul Cezanne Aim of Paul Cezanne: To convey the essence and permanence of his subject matter by studies of forms in nature, etc. Believed colour and form to be inseparable and tried to emphasize structure and solidity in his work Liu Kang Influence of the Post-Impressionists

  25. Influence of Paul Cezanne From Cezanne, Liu Kang Learnt: Monumental, balanced composition & an understanding of underlying structure Liu Kang Influence of the Post-Impressionists • Cezanne created form using his brushstroke. 

  26. Paul Gauguin Used colours of his emotions (non-naturalistic), Works are full of symbolism, style is simplified, heavy dark contours, strong rhythmic composition, retention of a flat pictorial space. Influence of Paul Gauguin Liu Kang Influence of the Post-Impressionists

  27. Influence of Paul Gauguin Liu Kang Influence of the Post-Impressionists - Depiction of indigenous people and the ARTIST’S GAZE From Gauguin, Liu Kang Learnt: - The retention of the 2D aspect of the pictorial surface - Use of imagination over observed reality

  28. Vincent van Gogh A passion for humanity. He used large areas of intense, unmodulated colours applied thickly in heavy strokes with the brush, searched for spiritual truths through use of familiar, elementary symbolisms. Influence of Vincent Van Gogh Liu Kang Influence of the Post-Impressionists From Van Gogh, Liu Kang Learnt: - Expressive power of strong colour sensations - Vigorous brush strokes that impart strength & dynamism to a work

  29. Henri Matisse Colour is the key factor, described a painting as an "alchemy of colour" which created harmonies resembling musical composition. Influence of Henri Matisse Liu Kang Influence of the Post-Impressionists From Matisse, Liu Kang Learnt: - Aesthetic & lyrical quality of rhythmic line work combined with harmonious colours to form decorative motifs

  30. Liu Kang Artist & Model 1954 Oil on canvas 84 x 124 cm

  31. Liu Kang Artist and Model. 1954 THEME: • shows Chen Wen Hsi sketching a Balinese woman • may be based on a sketch made during the artists' field trip to Bali APPROACH: • dark outlines have become white - an innovation which could have been inspired by batik painting • Chen is seated, working on a sketching board propped on another rattan chair = rhythmic repetition of chairs • Echoed by the number and arrangement of tea pot. cups on the round table makes entire painting casual and whimsical

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