Tan Choon Ghee

032

b. Penang, 1930 - d. 2010
Tan Choon Ghee
Kapitan Keling Mosque
1982
signed in Chinese bottom left
Chinese ink and watercolour on paper
68 x 45cm
Provenance
Private collection, Penang; acquired directly from artist.
Estimate
RM 5,000 – 6,000
Price Realised
RM 7,150

LITERATURE
The Art of Tan Choon Ghee (Cover essay by Ooi Kok Chuen, Georgetown Printers, 1997)
Tan Choon Ghee Retrospective (1957-1992). The Art Gallery Penang
A Tribute to Tan Choon Ghee (2009). Exhibition: Art Salon@SENI, KL November 15-December 20, 2009

Kapitan Keling Mosque is one of Tan Choon Ghee’s favourite subjects rendered in watercolour and Chinese ink, both media of which he is adept at. In most of these works, his accent is often the minaret, which was added during the 1930 renovations, and shown here with the adjacent buildings. The last renovation was done in 2003, mainly to circumvent drainage problems. The oldest historical mosque in Penang named after the Indian Muslim leader Caudeer Mohudeen, it takes its present shape with Mughal domes and turrets after a face-lift in 1910.