Pathway through the Forest

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.Lim, who has painted numerous trees throughout his career, has in recent years, allowed the trees to dominate as the main subject, grown increasingly massive. In ‘Pathway through the Forest’ a woman walks through an opening in the tightly entangled trees.