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.Skilled in calligraphy and knowledgeable in Chinese literature and the classics, Lim writes a part of a poem by Tang dynasty poet, Du Fu (712-770). Du, who was ousted from the Tang imperial court, wrote this poem lamenting his state of being alone at the time when his only patron passed away.
