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.Fascinated by boats, Lim produced countless paintings of them: on the river, in the dock, undergoing repair or simply clustered together. In ‘Untitled (Boats)’ the fishing boats and fishermen are drawn with delicate linework, and in the tradition of Chinese ink painting, the sea and land are not delineated but subtlely indicated by the position of the boats and men.
