073

b. China, 1908 - d. 1966
Kuo Juping
City Life
1962
signed in Chinese ‘若萍’ (lower left)
oil on canvas
49.3 x 38.6cm
Provenance
Collection of The Art Gallery, Penang.
Estimate
RM 6,000 – 8,000
Price Realised
RM 9,900

Kuo Ju Ping is known for his vignettes of rural life rather than cityscapes, because they offer more interesting insights into how the common folk get by their daily lives. Though unable to accurately pinpoint the exact location of this work, it looks like the waterfront financial district where tall buildings first came up during the early 1960’s in the flush of independence. A tall tree on the right stands defiantly amidst the development all over, with the branches blown by a gusty wind to the left. The passers-by walk towards and away from the viewer as a bus approaches from a narrow passage.

Ju Ping studied at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts directly under principal-founder Lim Hak Tai. A founding member of the Penang Chinese Art Club (1936) and the Thursday Art Group (1957), he was especially good at sketching, which was the result of observation of nature and people. Ju Ping was honoured with a memorial exhibition by Penang State Art Gallery in 1997.