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.After his retirement in the 1980s, Lim began a three-year-long project to paint the streets and places that were familiar to him before they vanished due to urban redevelopment. A common scene in the first half of the 20th century, the buzz and liveliness of the shophouses of Johor is depicted through Lim’s distinctive composition and elegant brushwork.
