Lim Tze Peng

• Name — Lim Tze Peng • Born — 28 September 1921 • Birthplace — Singapore, Straits Settlements, British Malaya • Died — 3 February 2025 • Place of death — Singapore • Known for — Chinese ink painting • Awards — 1963: Public Administration Medal (PPA), Singapore 1977: Special Prize, Commonwealth Art Exhibition, England 1981: Public Service Medal, Singapore 2003: Cultural Medallion Award (Art)

Lim Tze Peng (Lim Swee Lian) was born on 28 September 1921 in Singapore to a family of pig and chicken farmers in Pasir Ris. He was the eldest of seven children. Lim studied at Guangyang Primary School and Chung Cheng High School (Main). In 1949, Lim became a primary school teacher at Xin Min School and then became principal in 1951. He remained as principal till he retired in 1981. Lim died from pneumonia in Singapore on 3 February 2025, at the age of 103.

Lim created art related to the heritage of Singapore. A self-taught artist, Lim was skilled in Chinese brush and calligraphy. The only formal art training he had was the drawing classes he attended in his school days. Lim started learning how to paint in his twenties and after his retirement, started to paint professionally. To say Lim Tze Peng loved the Singapore yesteryear is an understatement. He was so passionate about it that he opted for an early retirement from his school principal's job in 1981, in order to spend all his time in recording the passing scene. The Singapore River, Boat Quay, Hock Lim Street, Merchant Road, Smith Street, Trengganu Street, Sago Lane, and Pagoda Street, are depicted in their original state in Lim Tze Peng's paintings. Painting for Lim Tze Peng meant sketching on the spot with Chinese ink and brush. It was a total experience in that he took in what he saw and felt at a single moment in time, selecting, analyzing, composing, and recording details simultaneously. His handling of tonal values and the swift notations of light and dark complemented the decisive brush strokes to give life and movement to the subject matter. The calligraphic brushwork, rooted in the artist's deep knowledge of Chinese writing, is the most characteristic feature of Lim Tze Peng's work. In 2003, Lim was awarded the Cultural Medallion and in 2016, he was awarded the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal).

In 1981, Tze Peng plunged into an uninterrupted marathon race to complete a large number of Singapore scenes which had captured his imagination. This produced 300 ink paintings, covering a range of places which included Teochew Street, Amoy Street, Chinatown, Elgin Bridge, shop houses and sweeping overviews of the Singapore River. The Old Singapore Series became a valuable visual documentation of Singapore’s changing cityscape, during a time when the country’s urban renewal was happening at a hectic pace.

In 2000, Lim Tze Peng took up a two-month artists' residency in the Cité Internationale des Arts, occupying an apartment belonging to the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in Singapore. His residency resulted in a body of works documenting the Parisian landscape, which included iconic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Moulin Rouge, the Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame Cathedral as well as quintessential Parisian scenes of sidestreets and cafés. He later donated 45 of these Chinese ink and colour paintings to NAFA.

• Dates — Title — Location • 1970 — 1st Solo Exhibition — Singapore • 1977 — Royal Overseas League Exhibition — England • 1978 — Singapore Artists Art Exhibition in Moscow — Friendship House, Moscow • 1980 — Fifth Festival of Asian Art — Hongkong • 1981 — Singapore Calligraphy Exhibition — Singapore • 1982 — Seventh International Artists Art Exhibition — Taiwan • 1986 — Eighth International Artists Art Exhibition — Taiwan • 1987 — Three-man Art Exhibition — Ginza, Tokyo, Japan • 1988 — France Salon Exhibition — Palais, France • 1989 — New York Art Expo '89 First Bru-Sin Art Exhibition '89 — New York Brunei • 1991 — 2nd Solo Exhibition — National Museum Art Gallery Singapore Tze Peng by Himself, 1993, Singapore Art Fair presented by Gim Ng of Shenn's Fine Art, Singapore • 1995 — Moments by Lim Tze Peng (solo) — curated and presented by Gim Ng of Shenn's Fine Art and Takashimaya Gallery Singapore • 1998 — Meeting Places in Fleeting Spaces — Singapore Art Museum Singapore • 2003 — Tze Peng — Singapore Art Museum Singapore • 2021 — Soul of Ink: Lim Tze Peng at 100 Exhibition — The Arts House, Singapore • 2023 — Lim Tze Peng Solo Exhibition – From Lion City To London / Start Art Fair — Saatchi Gallery, London United Kingdom