As part of our efforts to pro­mote appre­ci­ation and under­stand­ing of Singapore’s art devel­op­ment, the Gal­lery has com­mis­sioned a three-part doc­u­drama on Geor­gette Chen (1906 — 1993), one of Singapore’s most loved artists.

The Worlds of Geor­gette Chen will fea­ture MediaCorp’s top act­ress, Rui En, as the iconic artist. The premiere tele­cast will air on 29 April 2015 on Chan­nel News­Asia and Medi­aC­orp Chan­nel 5. Geor­gette Chen received her art edu­ca­tion in Paris, New York and Shang­hai, before find­ing her home in Singa­pore. Regarded for her colossal con­tri­bu­tions to the bur­geon­ing Nan­yang school of paint­ing and to Singapore’s art move­ment for over four dec­ades, Geor­gette Chen was awar­ded the Cul­tural Medal­lion in 1982.

Giv­ing view­ers an insight into the dra­matic worlds of Geor­gette Chen, the docudrama’s storyline spans across three peri­ods, includ­ing the tumul­tu­ous years of the Second World War: the French period from 1927 to 1933; the Chinese/Hong Kong period from 1934 to 1948; and the Penang/Singapore period from 1950 to 1980.

Immensely inspired by her sur­round­ings, Geor­gette pro­duced still lifes, por­traits and land­scapes from each phase. Her por­traits of her first hus­band and more import­antly, of her­self, are paint­erly win­dows to her cine­matic life.

Art­works by Geor­gette Chen will be on dis­play in the DBS Singa­pore Gal­lery when the Gal­lery opens in 2015.

Epis­ode 1: Love in Autumn

Geor­gette Chen received her early art edu­ca­tion mainly in Paris. She was immensely inspired by Paris, a city she loved and where she had her first rare break­through as an Asian female artist. It was also in Paris that she mar­ried a man who became her leit motif of love. Her por­traits of her first hus­band, and more import­antly, of her­self, are paint­erly win­dows to her cine­matic life.

Epis­ode 2 Dark Pas­sage in Winter

After her mar­riage to prom­in­ent Chinese politi­cian Eugene Chen, Geor­gette jour­neyed through the dark pas­sage of winter in her life. Polit­ics and war decided her fate. Yet, she held on to her sin­gu­lar pas­sion – paint­ing. She con­tin­ued to pro­duce an impress­ive oeuvre of still lifes, por­traits and land­scapes dur­ing the most tumul­tu­ous and nomadic years of her life.

Epis­ode 3: Death­less Days in Summer

By age 48, Geor­gette Chen had sur­vived two world wars, suffered under the Japan­ese occu­pa­tion of China, mourned her first hus­band and divorced her second. Now alone and dis­placed, she sought refuge in Singa­pore. In this land of per­petual sum­mer, which she called her “Tahiti”, the pro­lific artist per­fec­ted her tech­nique and taught at the Nan­yang Academy of Fine Arts.

The Worlds of Georgette Chen debuts 29 April 2015 on CNA, 8pm.

Source:National Gallery

Categorised in EN, National Gallery Singapore, The Worlds Of Georgette Chen.