LOT 7
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Cheong Soo Pieng (Chinese-Singaporean, 1917-1983) Untitled (Junks in the Harbour)
作品估价：HKD 400,000-600,000
货币换算
成交状态：未知
买家佣金拍卖企业在落槌价的基础上收取买家佣金
28%
图录号：
7
拍品名称：
Cheong Soo Pieng (Chinese-Singaporean, 1917-1983) Untitled (Junks in the Harbour)
拍品描述：
Untitled (Junks in the Harbour)
1960
signed and dated
SOO PIENG 60 (lower left)
oil on canvas
81.5 x 66 cm (32 1/8 x 26 in)
The Estate of the Late Bruce Alexander Grant (1925–2022), Australia, acquired directly from the artist circa 1961.
Thence in the family by descent.
Private collection, Australia.
鍾泗濱
無題（港灣中的帆船）
油彩 畫布
1960年作
簽名: SOO PIENG 60（左下）
來源
澳洲Bruce Alexander Grant先生舊藏，其約於1961年代直接得自藝術家本人
後經家族流傳至今
澳洲私人收藏
This work holds particular historical resonance through its provenance. It was formerly in the collection of Bruce Alexander Grant (1925–2022), a renowned Australian journalist, diplomat, and author whose career was deeply interwoven with Southeast Asia. As a foreign correspondent for The Age and later as a diplomat, Grant cultivated a profound understanding of the region's political and cultural landscapes. His advocacy for closer Australia–Asia relations was reflected in his influential writings, including Indonesia (1964), which offered nuanced insights into regional society and politics. Grant's acquisition of Soo Pieng's work exemplifies his role as a cultural bridge-builder recognising and preserving artistic expressions that articulate Southeast Asia's evolving modern identity.
Lauded as one of the most influential artists in Singapore, Soo Pieng moved to Singapore from China in 1946, joining the faculty of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. His pivotal field trip to Bali in 1952 with fellow artists Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee, and Liu Kang crystallised the Nanyang Style's distinctive blend of local subject matter and international modernism. Soo Pieng's subsequent travels to Europe in the early 1960s introduced him to works by Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky, and most impactfully, Paul Klee—whose experiments with line, form, and colour informed Soo Pieng's own inventive synthesis of East and West.
In this painting, the artist depicts a tropical harbour using angular forms, intersecting planes, and vibrant colours. Boats and dockside structures are arranged to suggest a bird's-eye perspective, while the interplay of vertical masts and horizontal lines creates a rhythmic composition. This approach represents Cubist principles, where objects are deconstructed and reassembled to express the complexity of visual perception. However, Soo Pieng's restrained use of faceting preserves the recognisability of the harbour and maintains the integrity of the subject.
The spatial organisation of the painting also reflects the compositional logic of Chinese ink landscape painting. The image unfolds in layered sections, guiding the viewer's eye from foreground to background through a vertical progression. Soo Pieng employs a floating perspective, allowing multiple viewpoints to coexist and encouraging a contemplative exploration of space. This approach contrasts with the linear perspective typical of Western art and aligns with the meditative spatiality found in classical Chinese painting.
Untitled, with its harmonised interplay of Cubist structure, Chinese spatiality, and Southeast Asian thematic resonance, stands as a testament to Soo Pieng's lifelong commitment to artistic experimentation. Enriched by its distinguished provenance, the work embodies a dialogue between cultures—both in its visual language and in its journey through the hands of a collector who devoted his life to fostering understanding between Southeast Asia and Australia.
1960
signed and dated
SOO PIENG 60 (lower left)
oil on canvas
81.5 x 66 cm (32 1/8 x 26 in)
The Estate of the Late Bruce Alexander Grant (1925–2022), Australia, acquired directly from the artist circa 1961.
Thence in the family by descent.
Private collection, Australia.
鍾泗濱
無題（港灣中的帆船）
油彩 畫布
1960年作
簽名: SOO PIENG 60（左下）
來源
澳洲Bruce Alexander Grant先生舊藏，其約於1961年代直接得自藝術家本人
後經家族流傳至今
澳洲私人收藏
This work holds particular historical resonance through its provenance. It was formerly in the collection of Bruce Alexander Grant (1925–2022), a renowned Australian journalist, diplomat, and author whose career was deeply interwoven with Southeast Asia. As a foreign correspondent for The Age and later as a diplomat, Grant cultivated a profound understanding of the region's political and cultural landscapes. His advocacy for closer Australia–Asia relations was reflected in his influential writings, including Indonesia (1964), which offered nuanced insights into regional society and politics. Grant's acquisition of Soo Pieng's work exemplifies his role as a cultural bridge-builder recognising and preserving artistic expressions that articulate Southeast Asia's evolving modern identity.
Lauded as one of the most influential artists in Singapore, Soo Pieng moved to Singapore from China in 1946, joining the faculty of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. His pivotal field trip to Bali in 1952 with fellow artists Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee, and Liu Kang crystallised the Nanyang Style's distinctive blend of local subject matter and international modernism. Soo Pieng's subsequent travels to Europe in the early 1960s introduced him to works by Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky, and most impactfully, Paul Klee—whose experiments with line, form, and colour informed Soo Pieng's own inventive synthesis of East and West.
In this painting, the artist depicts a tropical harbour using angular forms, intersecting planes, and vibrant colours. Boats and dockside structures are arranged to suggest a bird's-eye perspective, while the interplay of vertical masts and horizontal lines creates a rhythmic composition. This approach represents Cubist principles, where objects are deconstructed and reassembled to express the complexity of visual perception. However, Soo Pieng's restrained use of faceting preserves the recognisability of the harbour and maintains the integrity of the subject.
The spatial organisation of the painting also reflects the compositional logic of Chinese ink landscape painting. The image unfolds in layered sections, guiding the viewer's eye from foreground to background through a vertical progression. Soo Pieng employs a floating perspective, allowing multiple viewpoints to coexist and encouraging a contemplative exploration of space. This approach contrasts with the linear perspective typical of Western art and aligns with the meditative spatiality found in classical Chinese painting.
Untitled, with its harmonised interplay of Cubist structure, Chinese spatiality, and Southeast Asian thematic resonance, stands as a testament to Soo Pieng's lifelong commitment to artistic experimentation. Enriched by its distinguished provenance, the work embodies a dialogue between cultures—both in its visual language and in its journey through the hands of a collector who devoted his life to fostering understanding between Southeast Asia and Australia.