The National Gallery Singapore and Shanghai Art Museum have opened Lim Tze Peng: A Singapore Story in Ink, bringing 58 works by Singapore's revered centenarian master to audiences in China.
The exhibition at Shanghai Art Museum will run through April 7, 2027 before traveling to Shenzhen Art Museum in Guangdong province and Fujian Art Museum in Fuzhou.
A key achievement under the Singapore-Shanghai Comprehensive Cooperation Council, the collaboration forms part of Shanghai Art Museum's 70th-anniversary international program and marks a milestone in the Gallery's efforts to champion Singapore art abroad and reinforce their shared focus on Asian art history.
Presented with archived works, the show highlights Lim's vivid depictions of Singapore and Southeast Asia and his distinctive hutuzi calligraphy works. Around 40 pieces — more than half the display — were not shown in the Gallery's 2024 solo exhibition Becoming Lim Tze Peng. Drawn from Singapore's National Collection, including recent acquisitions, and from loans by public institutions and the artist's estate, the selection deepens scholarship on modern ink art from Southeast Asia.
"For generations, Lim Tze Peng has captured the rhythms of Singapore life, and his artistic journey is inseparable from our art history," said Dr Eugene Tan, CEO and director of National Gallery Singapore, noting that the expanded selection brings his life and work to new audiences across China.
Wang Yichuan, executive director of Shanghai Art Museum, described Lim as "a self-taught pioneer whose practice bridged Chinese traditions and his lived experiences in Southeast Asia to re-imagine ink."
