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.The wild cursive script, one of the most expressive in Chinese calligraphy, was adopted by Lim when he produced large format works during the period 2000 to 2002. These works prove to be quite different from his earlier ones which are more refined and controlled. Here Lim writes the characters for ‘harmony’ (和氣).
