As one of the most influential pioneer artists in the local arts scene, Fan Chang Tien was significant in shaping the direction for the development of Chinese ink painting in Singapore. In the 1920s, Fan studied in Shanghai Xin Hua Art Academy and then Shanghai Changming Academy of Art. He was taught by the renowned artists in Shanghai such as Wang Geyi, Wang Yiting, Zhu Wenyun and Pan Tianshou. Fan arrived in Singapore in 1956 and began teaching art in Chung Cheng High School and Whampoa Secondary School respectively. Some successful second-generation artists which were groomed by him include Ling Cher Eng, Nai Swee Leng, Lim Kay Hiong, Chua Ek Kay, Tan Oe Pang and Chen Kezhan. Fan specialised in the "xieyi" style (an expressive and sketchy style of Chinese ink painting) and is particularly well known for painting orchids and bamboo, the symbolic motifs of the literati’s pictorial legacy. The work titled “Bamboo and Rock” was painted in 1983 and later published on the catalogue’s cover of Fan Chang Tien retrospective exhibition held in the National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore in 1989. Compared to his early works on the same subject, this painting is more vigorous and spontaneous in terms of brushwork handling. Heavy ink strokes play a key role in the pictorial composition, creating a lively contrast with the surrounding brushwork in lighter tones. This large scale painting is one of his representative works, exemplifying the artist’s stylistic transformation in the late stage of his artistic life.
