Chen Wen Hsi is one of Singapore’s most beloved artists, a part of the pioneering first generation of Singaporean artists that helped create and define the Nanyang style of painting.
Chen Wen Hsi was born in Baigong in Guangdong province, China in 1906. In 1948, at the age of 19, his decision to become a professional painter caused a head-on clash with his uncle and guardian so he left for Singapore.
In the tradition of Chinese classical art, Chen Wen Hsi paints landscapes, flowers and animals, including Gibbons, squirrels, carp, cranes, chickens and sparrows. He has become known as one of the world's most talented finger painters - an ancient Chinese art, done with the side of the thumb, thumbnail and tip of the index finger, which only masters of the Chinese brush dare attempt. Thought of as the culmination of art because no material tool interposes between the artistic impulse and its expression.
He was proficient in both traditional Chinese ink painting and Western oil painting. His style of painting was highly grounded in tradition and at the same time heavily borrowed from Western ideas and concepts.
Chen’s works have been featured on Singapore stamps, commemorative ingots as well as EZ-link cards and currency. The gibbons in his painting “Two Gibbons Amidst Vines” appear on the reverse side of the S$50 banknote in the portrait series of the Singapore currency.
After his passing in 1991 his works have continued to be highly sought after, fetching high prices in various auctions across the world.