Yeh Chi Wei (1913-1981) was born in Fuzhou, China and is included among a group referred to as Singapore's 'first generation artists'. Graduating from Shanghai's Xinhua Academy of Fine Arts in 1936, Yeh worked as an art teacher throughout Malaya and Singapore until 1964, while being an active member of various art groups. He was especially noted in having started a series of painting trips since 1960 to various Southeast Asian and Asian countries under the Ten Men Group, organising the Ten Men Art Exhibitions after such trips. Yeh's style remained representational until 1961, after his trip to eastern coast of Malaysia with nine other local artists, the first of the Ten Men Group Trips to regional areas. 'Untitled (Two Standing Figures with Horse Carriage)' is a quiet and contemplative work painted in dark green against a muted background. His interests in Chinese woodblock prints, archaic carvings and calligraphic scripts are reflected here, as the work resembles ancient stone rubbings, evoking a sense of antiquity and monumentality.
