Born in 1931 in China, Chua Mia Tee migrated to Singapore in 1937. A graduate from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1957, Chua is a highly regarded master of portrait painting. Chua has painted portraitures of prominent public figures, including presidents and prime ministers of Singapore. Besides portraitures, Chua also paints nationalistic and local scenes of Singapore, which serve as historical documentations of the nation’s changing landscape.A meticulous observer of people and nature, Chua depicts a Chinese ‘amah’ (domestic help) marketing at street side stalls in Singapore’s Chinatown in the 1970s. One can almost hear the ‘amah’ haggling while the other shoppers go about their own way.
