Born in 1923, Lim Tze Peng is largely a self-taught artist. In his oeuvre, ink paintings and calligraphic works feature prominently, although there is a small number of oils, watercolours and drawings. He created a unique style of ink painting using rich brush and tonal details, and this approach is often regarded as a manifestation of the Nanyang Style in the ink medium. Lim, a school principal until his retirement in the early 1980s, was awarded the Cultural Medallion by the Singapore government in 2003. Boats and ships are one of Lim’s favourite subjects and he has painted them throughout his artistic career. Although he began painting in the oil medium only in the early 1950s, this painting of a coolie boarding a Chinese junk shows his confident handling.
