Born in 1941 in Malaysia, Tay Chee Toh studied at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and has a postgraduate degree (Oil Painting) from China. He is the recipient of numerous painting and sculpture awards, and in 1985 Tay was conferred the Government of Singapore’s Cultural Medallion Award.Throughout his career the female figure has remained the central theme of Tay’s work regardless of changing styles and media. For Tay the human figure is synonymous with the Nanyang style promoted by the pioneer artists who were also his teachers, particularly Cheong Soo Pieng. As a student he observed the genre paintings of these artists often focused on village life, an impression that deepened following Tay’s month-long stay in Sarawak in 1966 where he was immersed in the Dayak culture. With the Dayak women as his models, this experience afforded him the requisite introduction to and practice of (nude) life drawing.
