Born in China in 1906, Georgette Chen Li Ying received her art education in Paris, New York as well as in Shanghai. Chen’s artistic oeuvre can be divided into three phases, French Period (1927-1933); China-Hong Kong Period (1934-1948) and Penang-Singapore Period (1949-1980). Immensely inspired by her surroundings she produced still lifes, portraits and landscapes from each phase. Settling in Singapore in 1954, she taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts till her retirement in 1980. Regarded as a Pioneer Artist of Singapore who developed the Nanyang Style, she was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1982. Chen passed away in 1993 in Singapore.Painted around the time of Chen’s famous ‘Self-Portrait’ (circa 1946), this work shows similarities in the meagre use of colours and the muted background. Painted probably in Hong Kong or Shanghai, this is a close up profile of a Chinese girl in what seems to be cheongsam, as seen from the distinctive collar.
