Born in 1931 in China, Chua Mia Tee migrated to Singapore in 1937. A graduate from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1957, Chua is a highly regarded master of portrait painting. Chua has painted portraitures of prominent public figures, including presidents and prime ministers of Singapore. Besides portraitures, Chua also paints nationalistic and local scenes of Singapore, which serve as historical documentations of the nation’s changing landscape.This portrait of an Indian road construction worker attests to Chua’s early maturity as a highly skilled portrait painter. Executed in realist style, the man sits hunched and crossed legged in a frontal pose, and looks directly at the viewer. One only has to look into his eyes to discern a tinge of forlornness and fatigue. His bare body is tan and lean, likely the result of daily manual hardship and toils under the hot tropical sun.
