LUST for LIFE

My Grandpa painted this piece of the Bank of China building in Singapore in the early 1950s. Rising 18 floors (auspicious height!), it was at that time the tallest building in Raffles Place, the island city’s central business district. Designed by P&T Architects & Engineers Ltd, this ’skyscraper’, located on Battery Road, overlooks the Singapore River. It’s a short walking distance from the Fullerton Hotel. BTW the modern Maybank Tower is located nearby. 

The BoC building still stands tall today, being the island’s oldest high-rise office block. However, in 2000, BoC added a new 36-storey structure adjacent to the heritage building. The two blocks share a common podium. I believe ‘36′ symbolizes longevity.

Postscript - Established in 1868, Hong Kong-based P&T Architects is the oldest and largest international architectural engineering practice in South East Asia with over 1,600 staff, working from offices located in Hong Kong, Macau, China, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and the Middle East.

<Photo courtesy of Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers>

It was a colourful razzmatazz in my office yesterday with many staff donning traditional costumes in conjunction with our nation’s 53rd Merdeka celebration today.  BTW were you around when the then Malaya gained her Independence on 31 August 1957? Malaysia is still a young nation, lol.

Happiness is … 

Puspa in a somewhat contemplative pose

<Photos taken with Canon 50D + Tamron 18-50mm>

I really love this painting (1951) by my grandpa … simplicity and his trademark brush strokes. It’s unframed and was recently put up for sale on the Internet by its UK-based owner. My grandpa was a prolific painter and his paintings are found in various countries, particularly in the Commonwealth countries. 

This painting was recently put up on in the UK for GBP500 - a good bargain for a work by my grandpa Yong Mun Sen.

The painting is dated 1953. I can see that the colours look more saturated than his other paintings that I have seen thus far … hmmm, I just wonder!

Postscript - The owner apparently has hiked the price to GBP1,250.

 
What can you do with RM500,000? Buy a dream house or car? Maybe go for a well deserved holiday cruise? But if money is not a concern, why not buy a painting?

Well, someone or an individual representing a corporate recently dished out a cool RM0.55 million for The Dream, painted in 1969 by the Datuk Ibrahim Hussein (1936-2009). This acrylic on canvas, measuring 121 cm x 121 cm, was painted was originally purchased by the artist’s personal friend, Dutchman Casper Kamp, a UN officer, and his late wife Ann, in the 1970s. The painting literally travelled all over the world wherever Kamp was posted to the US, Asian countries and the UK. The Dream was ‘abroad’ for some 40 years before a private collector acquired it earlier this year through a UK auction house. Home sweet home!

The Dream recently got a new home when it went under the hammer at the Henry Butcher Art Auction. It was the highest priced lot at the auction, and probably the highlest priced art piece by a Malaysian artist.

This is the Yong Mun Sen oil-on-canvas piece that my uncle didn’t manage to acquire at the Henry Butcher Art Auction. The hammer price was RM34,000 … near to the catalogue estimate price of RM35,000 - RM45,000.

It is an undated work but I reckon Grandpa would have painted it sometime in the 1940s … during the earlier days when his passion to paint started. He was, of course, better known for his watercolour work.

BTW if any reader out there knows my grandfather or have information about him, do get in touch with me. I would love to find out more about him (Grandpa). He passed on in 1962, when I was then in primary school.

Four paintings by my grandfather, Yong Mun Sen, were snapped up at an art auction conducted by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers, the first such event in Malaysia. My uncle Chu Hwa successfully bidded for 3 of the pieces. Once my uncle told me that it would be a fitting tribute to have an exhibition of Grandpa’s work one day in the future. I guess my uncle is working towards that by gathering sufficient number of Grandpa’s paintings.

The 3 pieces are watercolour paintings. Another bidder took home an oil on canvas painting, ‘Three Friends’ which went under the hammer at RM34,000.

The auction was held in Mutiara Damansara this afternoon.

Uncle Chu Hwa with ‘Bridge’ (1948) that Grandpa painted during the Emergency

Uncle Chu Hwa with Grandpa’s ‘Singapore Waterfront’ (1953) featuring the Bank of China building and ‘A Horse Carriage, Malacca’ (1953)

Aunty, Uncle and Helen at the Henry Butcher Art Auction

<Photos taken with Canon 50D + Tamron 17-50mm>