Cheong Soo Pieng was born in Amoy, China in 1917. He studied at the Amoy Art Academy and the Xinhua Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai from 1933 to 1936. In 1946, Cheong settled in Singapore and taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts until 1961. Together with fellow artists Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee and Liu Kang, they went to Bali, Indonesia in 1952 in search of new inspiration and subject matter. Cheong had a dominant influence on the development of modern art in Singapore and is regarded as one of Singapore’s pioneer artists. His innovative experimentations towards developing his stylistic oeuvre had a great influence on his students, many of whom later became established artists in the region. For his contributions in art, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Singapore government in 1962. Cheong passed away in 1983 in Singapore.Like many artists of his generation, Cheong was keen to explore new ways of representing the tropical lands and its people. ’Drying Satled Fish’ is rendered in a manner that combines Chinese ink brush techniques with a local subject matter. The intricate line work, akin to ‘gongbi’ (meticulous brush technique), demonstrates Cheong’s strong foundation in Chinese ink painting. This painting is an example of Cheong’s success in creating a new pictorial format by synthesizing the horizontal scroll format of Chinese painting with the easel format of Western painting.
