1.

History of Human Spirit by Chua Mia Tee, 1983 Oil on canvas a. Describe the mechanism of realistic representation employed in this work.

[10]

b. c.

Discuss aspects of Singaporean society Chua expressed in this work. [10] Comment on Chuas approach to realistic/naturalistic representations with respect to a work of another artist. [10]

Answer Key a. Describe the mechanism of realistic representation employed in this work.

[10]

Candidates are mainly tested on (1) Artistic Perception and Interpretation. Credits may be given for candidates display of (2) Cultural and Aesthetic Appreciation & (3) Personal Response too if they are used to substantiate (1) Artistic Perception and Interpretation.

This part asks for description of materials & techniques used by the artist. Candidates may demonstrate awareness in Chuas use of oil. ie. his social realist approach, near photo-realistic and naturalistic painterly style that is slightly Impressionistic in his employment of light and Classical 1

in his emphasis of the role of light in revealing three-dimensional forms. Candidates may describe Chuas use of techniques of realistic representation to create the illusion of space, such as o one-point perspective with a decentralized vanishing point somewhere in the lower right at the background of shophouses. o camera cropping composition evident in the partly cropped wheels of the tricycle and bicycle in the lower left and partly cropped shophouses on the left of the painting, o a high level of attention to descriptive and vernacular details that provide viewers with a lot of information of the structures of objects and people such as Objects: eg. frames of the store, dated architectural styles of the facades and louvred windows of the shophouses and weeds growing on cracks of these shophouses. People: eg. styles of their clothes, their possessions and their gestures. o modelling of illusory three-dimensional forms by the rendering of lights, shadows, gradation, overlapping of objects of progressively changing dimensions such as the sizes of the louvred windows. Candidates may demonstrate an awareness of Chuas exhaustive use of details and compositional principles to surround viewers with the buzzing life of this market street. Eg. o Chua included a lot of details to allow us to identify the objects and the period they exist in the history of Singapore through a detailed description of the styles and materials they are fashioned in. o Compositional principles such as repetition and variations create pictorial rhythms that heighten viewers awareness of the liveliness of the market street. Eg. the randomly positioned people, the rows of louvred windows and umbrellas of progressively changing dimensions and varying heights and colours. o Records of keen observations that narrate the ways people interact with one another (eg. The trishaw peddler looking back) and the time of the day (near noon because the shadows cast by the tropical sun are short and directly below the people and objects). Candidates may demonstrate awareness that Chua have re-created the scene in this painting o This painting might be partly painted on location and refined and completed in his studio based on photographs, sketches and personal experience. o This scene may be a representation of life in Chinatown (where Chua spent his childhood days) a decade before the execution date of the painting. 5

b.

Discuss aspects of Singaporean society Chua expressed in this work. [10]

Candidates are mainly tested on (2) Cultural and Aesthetic Appreciation & (3) Personal Response. Also, credits may be given for candidates display of (1) Artistic Perception and Interpretation if it is used to substantiate the aforementioned assessment objectives.

This part asks for the artists intentions. Candidates may list and discuss various societal, artistic and anthropological concerns and aspects of Singaporean society Chua has expressed in this work. Eg. o History of Human Spirit may be appreciated as an impartial record of the bustle in Chinatown in the 1970s if not for its specially worded title. o It is not a painting that evokes idealism of a bygone era, to be appreciated in light of todays realism, but nationalistic sentiments and reminiscence of necessary changes to lifestyle as a country develops. o As much as this scene is gone, it is a reality in our nation building journey. o As the word History in the title/name suggests, Chua might have taken time to paint this work so as to commit this disappearing scene to the pictorial history of Singapore and save it for memory of the older generation and education of the younger ones and o from the annihilating forces of rapid national developments whose presence is subtly suggested by Chua in the right middle of the painting. o It is an anthropological record of the vernacular textures of Singapores Chinatown where mainly Singaporean Chinese of different economic classes gather and mingle in their colorfully diverse outfits for the provision of everyday life o along a street drawn with mechanisms of perspective projection that seem to lead the audience and suck the scene into the nagging presence of some high-rise buildings and the inevitable future of modernization. o It is an artwork inspired by the qualities of tropical sunshine, local themes, scenes and human spirit, and done with Western materials and techniques of painting and a deep appreciation for the local. o This effort and deep appreciation for the local is inline with the Equator Art Societys focus on developing a Singaporean identity and o An extension of Courbets Realism Manifesto of reflecting the real that is immediately perceivable and relevant to real life and not the ideal. o The fondly recorded organic and vernacular details of such observations as ferns growing on cracks on the shophouses, laundry bearing bamboo poles, tattered roofs and verandas, as well as the organic and lively but messy and disorganized mess of the umbrellas, the make-shift shelters, the leisurely human activities and the human powered vehicles contrast starkly with the clinical, geometrical and efficiency-looking qualities of the straight horizontal lines and the majesty of the high-rise building in the background. 10

c.

Comment on Chuas approach to realistic/naturalistic representations with respect to a work of another artist. [10]

Candidates are mainly tested on (3) Personal Response & some (2) Cultural and Aesthetic Appreciation. Credits may also be given for candidates use of (1) Artistic Perception and Interpretation as a means of bringing out AO (1) and (2).

This part asks for an evaluation of the artists approach to art making with the knowledge of how art may otherwise be produced. Candidates must give equal treatment in their commentary of both artists and may not receive the full range of marks if one of the artists is not featured. Candidates may comment on Chuas choice of theme, style and techniques of painting with respect to those found in Dede Eri Suprias The Urban Class, 1981. Oil on Canvas, 150 x 140 cm. 6

Eg. o Theme: Candidates may state that both artists have strong interest in social/national issues and the living conditions of their people. Candidate may state Chuas more municipal focus on development of a national identity through the recording of history and Dede Eri Suprias more personal focus on marginalization of a group of people in society. Chua: As the fabric of vernacular everyday life disappeared with the spatial cleansing of the states urban renewal programs, Chua saw the urgency as an artist to document those scenes which I knew would disappear soon from Singapores cityscape, from Chinatown to the various marketplaces that dotted the downtown area, to the daily bustle of the barges, the boatmen and the coolies, against a background of old shophouses and godowns of the Singapore River. Dede: To arouse audiences sympathy for the material lack of the marginalized section of his Indonesian people. o Style: Candidates may state that History of Human Spirit shows Chua 4

more to be a painterly social-realist and The Urban Class shows Dede Eri Supria more as a graphic photo-and-social realist. o Techniques: Candidates may comment on how Chuas selection of a range of pastel colours and employment of strong natural lighting. On the other hand, Dede Eri Suprias choice of rich, graphic and saturated colours and illumination of subject matters with equally strong light sources that seems to be artificial. Both artists are comparable in the attention they give to miniscule details. Their level of attention to details gives viewers a chance to be more observant of and heighten their awareness, appreciation of and even sympathy the subject matters. Candidates may also comment on Chuas views of purpose and functions of realistic/naturalistic representation with respect to Dede Eri Suprias. o Both artists works display his strong belief in the communicative function of art and a lack in appreciation of the newer "Western" formalist trends. o They focus a lot on the vernacular and the working class realities rather than the colored idealism of the bourgeois and the intelligentsia. o However, their works are not necessarily fully naturalistic. But they are firmly grounded in reality. That is, their works are not exact replicas of a scene but reconstructions from personal experiences, found or personally taken photographs, sketches and some paintings at the scene. o However, whilst most of Chuas work might be passed off as direct and realistic/naturalistic representation, a number of Dedes works actually makes use of mechanisms of realistic representation to construct surrealistic instances. 4

Candidates may discuss how the two artists reflect on the social attitude towards their subject matters by making viewers of their works assume similar roles. Eg. o Candidates may discuss how by making viewers of History of Human Spirit and The Urban Class feel as if they are photo-journalist, both Chua Mia Tee and Dede Eri Supria might actually be hoping that more people come to be aware of the issues revealed in their works. o For Chua, it is the rapid disappearance of scenes that defined who we were. o For Dede, it is the marginalization of a certain stratum of society. o Through their realistic representation, they might hope for their audience to participate in helping in ways of preserving historical heritage of Singapore (in Chuas case) and in helping the Indonesian people improve their standard of living (in Dedes case).