017
b. Singapore, 1941
Jolly Koh
Lilac Landscape
1982
signed ‘Jolly Koh 82’ bottom right
oil on canvas
69 x 117.5cm
Provenance
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur.
Estimate
RM 10,000 – 15,000
Price Realised
RM 24,200
PUBLICATIONS
Artistic Imperatives (Selected Writings and Paintings) by Dr. Jolly Koh (Maya Press, 2004)
Jolly Koh (Maya Press, 2008)
Lilac Landscape may refer to more than just the beauty of the natural physical world, with protean colours and panoramic sweep but also that of the human condition, of the feminine forms – lazy, laidback and slender. Done when based in Adelaide where he was teaching Art then, it plays on wave-like strokes with crescendo curls on either end to project sinuous shapes and movements, with tonal pastel shades for an ambiguous foreground-distance perspective.
This 1982 painting of the artist expresses the lyrical quality that is typical of Jolly Koh’s work at its best.