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.This calligraphy is part of a poem by Tang poet Wei Yingwu (737-792), which expresses his longing for his friend on an autumn night. The wild cursive script is one of the most expressive in Chinese calligraphy and it was adopted by Lim for his works written between 2000 and 2002, when he found renewed energy and vigour.
