By the River II is an exceptionally rare and important work by Cheong Soo Pieng, a pioneering figure in Chinese Modern art and Singapore’s Nanyang Art movement. Much like other first generation overseas Chinese artists, his life would come full circle and bring him back to his roots. Executed in 1982, only a year before his passing, By The River II captures this very sense of return, or rather, a homecoming for the artist in the late 20^th Century. After having explored new frontiers, Cheong arrives at a nuanced, masterful triumph - combining the heights of Chinese ink painting tradition with the heights of his own signature, Nanyang decorative style in the By the River II.

Born in 1917 in the Chinese city of Xiamen, Cheong Soo Pieng underwent formal training in classical Chinese ink art at the Xiamen Replica Handbags s Academy. He later studied at Shanghai’s Xin Hua Academy of Replica Handbags s, where he encountered Western modernist genres like abstraction and cubism. Upon relocation to Singapore in 1946, Cheong sought to continue the zeitgeist of modern Chinese art that had been thriving in Shanghai. Cheong emerges as an instrumental figure in spearheading Singapore’s Nanyang art movement of the early post-war period in the 1950s.

Together with contemporaneous artists like Liu Kang, Georgette Chen, Chen Wen Hsi and Chen Chong Swee, he established the Nanyang art school. This artistic movement aimed at the amalgamation of Chinese artistic heritage with Western modernist impulses, all set against the vivid tableau of Southeast Asia.

By The River II is a singular work that marks a period when Cheong rekindled his passion for Chinese ink painting tradition, explicitly paying tribute to the Northern Song landscape paintings. A pilgrimage to Guilin in China during 1979 rekindled his fascination with the expansive Chinese landscape, thereby enriching his artistic lexicon. The painting’s fusion of disparate artistic traditions epitomizes the ethos of the Nanyang style.

In the foreground of the painting, Cheong employs his idiosyncratic visual language to depict two indigenous women from Bali, dressed in traditional Indonesian batik sarongs and tropical attired. They are uniquely characterized by their elongated limbs, almond shaped eyes, and exaggerated facial features. The figurative style reflects Cheong’s ongoing engagement with the elemental beauty of line and form that he observed in rural life. By The River II is a mature and nuanced iteration of Cheong's nascent preoccupation with the pastoral serenity of the Nanyang region.

Mostly importantly, By The River II sits within a rich tradition of Chinese landscape painting, establishing a strong link to shanshui masterpieces and other celebrated Chinese artists who reinvented tradition. The background displays a connection to the atmospheric landscapes of Guilin in China so frequently painted by ink masters. Cheong’s brushwork displays a finesse and lightness akin to renowned Song Dynasty works, such as Fan Kuan’s Travellers among Mountains and Streams. While historical artists employed ink on paper or silk surfaces to distil the essence of the landscapes, Cheong instead captured spirit of the rocks and streams with the oil medium.

By The River II was exhibited at the Cheong Soo Pieng’s solo exhibition at Nanyang Academy of Replica Handbags s in 2013 and presented in the Long Museum’s 10^th Anniversary in 2022. The Long Museum Anniversary exhibition, titled “Being in the World” showcased artists’ works from 1950 to present day, where Cheong Soo Pieng’s By the River II aptly captures the spirit of this transformative era of the 20^th century where artist trailblazed a new lexicon for Chinese landscape art by harmonizing indigenous and Western elements.

鍾泗濱是中國現代藝術以及新加坡南洋藝術運動的先驅，於五〇年代開始將新思潮注入傳統創作模式，創作包羅萬象的風格及美學。他積極嘗試不同的媒材與圖像， 革新融合亞洲傳統及西方思想學派。《河畔II》中，鍾泗濱將中國水墨畫傳統與其標誌性南洋風格的優點融會貫通。此作創於1982 年，即藝術家去世的前一年，充分展現了他晚年回歸根源的精神，堪稱難得之作。鐘泗濱1917 年出生於廈門，曾在廈門美術專科學校接受中國水墨畫的正統訓練。其後就讀於上海新華美術專科學校，期間接觸到抽象派和立體派等西方現代主義流派。他於 1946 年移居新加坡後，致力將在上海蓬勃發展的中國現代藝術繼續發揚光大，並在五〇年代成為新加坡南洋藝術運動的代表人物。鍾泗濱與同代的劉抗、張荔英、陳文希、陳宗瑞等藝術家一同創立南洋畫派。南洋藝術運動以東南亞鮮活生動的人事物為背景，將中國的藝術傳統與西方現代主義的澎湃活力融為一體。

本作中，鍾氏採用獨特的視覺語言描繪兩名巴厘島婦女，她們身穿印尼傳統的蠟染紗籠和熱帶服裝，四肢修長，五官突出，眼睛呈杏形，獨特的風格令人留下深刻印象。這種具象手法源自藝術家多年來對鄉村生活的觀察，他在鄉村生活中觀察由線條和形態所構成最原始的美。鐘泗濱以成熟細膩的手法，重現 南洋地區寧靜安逸的田園風光。

《河畔II》充分展現了鍾泗濱對中國傳統水墨畫的熱愛，並明確向北宋的山水畫致敬。1979年，他曾到訪中國桂林，在這趟難忘的旅程中再次因中國遼闊壯觀的風景而著迷，自身的藝術語彙亦更見豐富。鍾泗濱把中國傳統藝術的縮影中融入南洋風格的精神，糅合兩種截然不同的藝術風格。本作背景有一片壯麗的山水，山峰起伏，畔流蜿蜒，樹木蓊鬱，這些山水元素以流暢的線條和墨色表現，具備宋代山水名作的神韻，如范寬的《河谿山行旅圖》，完美地秉承中國山水畫的傳統。前人用墨水在宣紙或絲綢上凝住最美的風景，鐘泗濱則以油彩為媒介，捕捉岩石和溪流的神韻，展現了大師對大自然的敬仰和對生命的思考。

《河畔 II》曾在2013年南洋藝術學院的鐘泗濱個人展覽展出，繼而於2022年在龍美術館十週年紀念展中亮相。這個名為〈存在於世〉的展覽展示不同藝術家從 1950年至今的多幅作品，其中此作恰到好處地捕捉二十世紀變革時代的精神。鐘泗濱將本土和西方元素融會貫通，為中國山水畫另闢蹊徑。