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LITERATURE
Abdullah Ariff - Father of Modern Art in Malaysia, Zakaria Ali, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 2004, illustrated on page 158.

The scene is atypical of the topography of attap houses set amidst tall coconut trees in the art of the period. While the thatched roof of the large Malay house built from the ground-level looms over the work, it is the big tree that dominates. The overhanging branches that streak to the front create a rhythm opposed to the short staccato lines defined in the house. The location is obviously inwards from the sea, as a constructed drain makes up for a community river. Failing light is brought to attention by areas left blank or with light filmy washes, accentuating the tawny-brown with reddish hues.

Abdullah served as art teacher of the Anglo-Chinese School, Penang. He was only one of two local members of the Penang Impressionists of expatriate artists in the 1920s and is acknowledged along with Yong Mun Sen as pioneers of watercolour painting in Malaysia. He worked as a cartoonist for the Straits Echo newspapers in Kuala Lumpur from 1945 to 1947. Elected as Penang City Councilor in 1955, he is the only artist to have a road named after him in Air Itam, Penang. He first made headway with solo exhibitions in the United States - Mint Museum and Ownbey Hall in Charlotte in 1954 and the Malayan Embassy in Washington in 1955. In the same year, he participated in the United Society of Artists group exhibition at the galleries of the Royal Society of British Artists, London. There, he was elected to join the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Art (F.R.S.A.) England.