Georgette Chen: A Cosmopolitan Pioneer of Singapore’s Nangyang Academy of Fine Arts
- Lena Sharp
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
By Lena Sharp & Suellen Lee
East-West Tapestry: Cultural Connections Across ContinentsLong before Singapore became synonymous with global mobility, transnational identities, and cultural hybridity, Singaporean artist Georgette Chen (1906-1993) was already living a cosmopolitan life.
Born in China in 1906, Georgette spent the majority of her childhood travelling between Paris and Shanghai with her family. Her father had arrived in Paris as an embassy scholar in the early 1900s, and went on to establish a successful art and antiques business which later expanded into New York and Shanghai. From a young age, Chen found herself immersed in the cross-cultural world of art dealership. Her early years were further influenced by an education system that upheld progressive ideals and encouraged international exchanges.
This mobility indelibly shaped her artistic sensibility as she trained at the Art Students League in New York and then at the Académie Colarossi in Paris – one of the first academies to open their doors to women and international students, during a time of rapid transformation in Parisian art education.
Early recognition of a trailblazing woman
Georgette Chen was fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time for women artists. Her training in late nineteenth-century Paris reflects an international rather than strictly ‘French’ milieu – Paris being Europe’s most cosmopolitan city, with a significantly higher proportion of foreign artists than anywhere else in Europe.
Driven by passion and ambition, Chen also embarked on private lessons to gain strong foundations in both classical and post-impressionist methods – the latter having had an enduring influence in the development of her own style. A mere glance at her creations reflect the unmistakable brush strokes of renowned masters such as Paul Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh. But despite living in the rapidly modernising West, Chen never forgot her deeply rooted Chinese heritage. This is reflected especially in her later work in Singapore.
Chen’s incredible talent was soon recognised by the art connoisseurs of her day. She gained critical acclaim when one of her pieces was acquired by the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris before she turned 25. This was no small feat for an artist of Asian heritage living in Paris in the 1930s! Chen’s early success continued as her work was selected for a number of renowned exhibitions - including Salon d'Automne, which served as a platform for innovative emerging artists to showcase their skills on a global stage.
Move to Singapore: the founding of the Nanyang Style
In 1930, Georgette Chen married Eugene Chen, a Chinese-Trinidadian lawyer, and together they lived in Shanghai and then Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation of China. She became widowed when the war ended, but remarried and relocated eventually to New York City. Her second marriage sadly did not last. Georgette ultimately chose to settle in post-war Singapore in 1953 (age 47) where she eventually joined the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) to teach – becoming a pivotal figure who mentored generations of Singaporean artists, helping them establish their own artistic identities.
It was here that Chen developed what is loosely known as the ‘Nanyang Style’. A female trailblazer in the male-dominated Asian art scene, she was celebrated for merging western post-impressionist techniques with quintessentially South-East Asian subjects - in the form of local landscapes, portraiture and still life.
Paul Cezanne’s post-impressionist perspectives are clearly reflected in Chen’s compositions. However Chen demonstrated further experimentation in the way she framed her chosen subjects. Her stylistic expressions clearly reflect her love for the vivid tropical colours, textures and forms which are uniquely South-East Asian.
A Pre-Independence Cosmopolitan
Chen’s life story thus reads uncannily like a prelude to the modern Singaporean condition where about one-third of Singapore’s population of 6 million are non-citizens. Georgette’s multinational movements influenced not just her life but her artistic legacy during Singapore’s formative, post-war and early independence years when a young nation and its artists sought to find and define Singapore’s emerging cultural coherence, voice and identity.
From today’s vantage point, Georgette Chen stands as an early exemplar of Singapore’s cosmopolitan and multinational roots. She reminds us that Singapore’s global orientation did not begin with economic policy or air travel, but with people who arrived to this island from other places and contributed to this society by carrying multiple cultures within them. Georgette’s life complicates simplistic narratives of national identity - she was Chinese-born, Western-trained, Southeast Asian by choice, and Singaporean by commitment. In an era when social belonging is often framed as exclusive and inevitable, Chen’s legacy suggests another model where identity can be composite, hybrid and chosen.
References
Discover Singapore Art: Georgette Chen’s Self-Portrait a study in both style and substance. (n.d.). The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2024/01/discover-art-georgette-chen/index.html?shell
Russell, S. (2021). Georgette Chen: At Home In The World. National Gallery Singapore
Sim, A. (2022, August 28). Georgette Chen artwork sells for record price of $2 million at Sotheby’s auction. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/georgette-chen-artwork-sells-for-record-price-of-2-million-at-sothebys-auction
Georgette Chen. (2022, August 17). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgette_Chen
 | Lena Sharp is a freelance writer who was born in Singapore and resides in the UK. She enjoys exploring cross-cultural connections that bridge the two worlds she inhabits - whilst taking others on a journey of discovery through her contributions. |
 | Suellen is a native Singaporean but grew up as a "Third Culture Kid" in Hong Kong and the US. She moved from San Francisco, California to Singapore in 2019 with her husband and three sons. They have since added another three furry members to their family, Ollie (a "Singapore special" dog), Panda and Piglet (twin cats). She runs, sometimes writes, and is a California licensed Clinical Psychologist with a part-time practice in Singapore. |
Comments