Artist Profile: Georgette Chen (1906-1993)

Singaporean Artist

The image of Georgette Chen (Georgette Chen, n.d.)

History of Artist

Georgette was born in Zhejiang, China in October 1906. She lived a comfortable adolescent life, travelling through out China, Paris and New York during that period of her growth. She attended art classes at the Art Students League in New York (1926-1927), and later in Paris she studied art at the Academie Colarossi and Academie Biloul. In 1930, she married her first husband, Eugene Chen Youren, the Chinese Foreign Minister. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1944 during the Japanese invasion. Georgette married a second husband Ho Yung Chi in 1949 but divorced by 1953 and moved over to Singapore within the same year (Creamer, n.d., para. 5). She became a teacher at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and taught visual art for almost 27 years (Introduction, 2005, para. 4). Up to date, she is one of the most respected pioneering artist and art teacher in Singapore.

Artist Style & Influence

Georgette was known to have been influenced by french artists like Jean Baptise Corot and Paul Cezanne (Creamer, n.d., para. 3), having had her art education there. Her paintings were often done with heavy and textured brushstrokes. Georgette's portfolio is classified into her different inspirations throughout her artistic career: Still life, Portraiture and Landscape (Introduction, 2005, para. 2).

Key Exhibitions

1937

• Paris World Fair, Paris
• Women Painters Exhibition, Paris

1940s

• Exhibitions in China

1949

• Salon d'Automne, Paris

1951

• Galerie La Licorne, Paris

1953

• Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Singapore

1954

• Singapore Art Society, Singapore

References

Introduction. (2005). Life and art of Georgette Chen. Retrieved from http://www.artoutreachprogram.org/images/pdfs/PORTFOLIOS/The%20Life%20&%20Art%20of%20Georgette%20Chen.pdf

Creamer, R. (n.d.). Georgette Chen. Retrieved from http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_698_2005-01-12.html