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.A calligraphic exponent especially in the cursive script, Lim has a strong foundation in Chinese calligraphy, having studied it since he was a student in Chung Cheng High School. This large calligraphic work, created between 2000 and 2002, possesses unity and compactness while imparting invigorating tension and strength.
