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Asian Modernisms | Michelle Lim Seok Ling

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Asian Modernisms | Michelle Lim Seok Ling Australian National University Asian Modernisms | Michelle Lim Seok Ling Asian Modernisms Michelle Lim Seok Ling Essay Topic: Reclaiming and preserving national identity and cultural pride in the face of colonialism emerges as an important project for several Asian artists in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Discuss the potentials and pitfalls of neo-traditional and revivalist practices. As a fisherman observes the tides and waves before heading out to sea, so too should we examine the cause for preservation and reclamation before diving into a whirlpool of potential effects.1 In the mid-nineteenth century, when colonialism was at its peak and the power-expanding campaigns of the West were evident across Asia, the Malay Peninsula witnessed unprecedented western influence that came in waves of language, religion, values, laws and art. Subsequently a western hegemonic culture, namely that of the British, was found washed up on the shores of the Peninsula.2 Realising that their values and lifestyles were being threatened by the imposing western culture, several Asian artists residing in the Malay Peninsula took up the task to retrieve the identity and values that were quickly drifting away. In this essay, the potentials and pitfalls of neo-traditional and revivalist practices are discussed and illustrated with the works of four influential artists in the Malay Peninsula during the early twentieth century. Their conscious efforts to shape the identity of Malaya ran parallel with anti- occidental emotions and questioning of Asian values3 led them to experimentation which was only expected in a situation where there was no official direction or definition of national culture and identity. It would be a fallacy to say that the loss of national identity and cultural pride in the East was simply the result of usurpation brought on by the West. 4 Such simplification would deny due 1 Jit Krishen, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, (1994), 12 2 Jit, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, 22 3 Australian National University. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Art and Social Change – Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific, (2005), 253 4 Das Gupta Shakti, Tagore’s Asian Outlook, (1961), 13 Australian National University Asian Modernisms | Michelle Lim Seok Ling responsibility of the locals5 to safeguard such priorities.6 It is necessary to recognise this responsibility in order to honestly reassess errors7 that resulted in social and cultural extremes, most visible through either the eradicative, anglicised Asian art or the insipid indigenous art, that were formed respectively through either furiously imitating the West8 or romanticising lost glory. It is an instinctual response to seize back what was taken away,9 but as the cliché goes: it takes two hands to clap. The undeniable power held by the fairer of the two striking palms was a fact inseparable from the causation of events.10 However, the actions of the colonialists are hard to pin down, especially when their cultural power was not brought by blunt force, but persuasion and coercion.11 As such the initial reception of western culture and methods by the east, made the struggle between modernity and tradition all the more tricky. When moving forward entailed falling further into the grip of the West and moving backward meant grasping for a time of irretrievable glory, Asia remained stagnant.12 The dichotomy between modernity and tradition prolonged Asia‟s deep slumber. It propelled great thinkers like Rabindranath Tagore to rally for a reawakening of her great beauty,13 rousing not just her body through mobilising people of Asia but more importantly, her spirit, from which her people drew strength. This spirit embodied values and cultures that Asia‟s peoples identified with and took pride in.14 It required a new approach of awakening, as the oscillation between East and West clearly showed no progress.15 During his influential visits to South East Asia in 1927, Tagore‟s calls for the people of Malaya to reawaken their nation through a harmonious spirit of co-operation resonated across the land. Co-operation was not simple in a land of cultural milieu controlled by British colonisers; this will be 5 Tagore Rabindranath, Towards Universal Man,(1961), 57 6 Das Gupta, Tagore’s Asian Outlook, 69 7 Clark John, Modernity in Asian Art, (1993),6 8 Das Gupta, Tagore’s Asian Outlook, 5 9 Kapur Geeta, When was modernism, (2000), 344 10 Australian National University, Art and Social Change – Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific, 62 11 Said Edward W., Orientalism, (1991), 12 12 Das Gupta, Tagore’s Asian Outlook, 10 13 Das Gupta, Tagore’s Asian Outlook, 61 14 Das Gupta, Tagore’s Asian Outlook, 71 15 Clark John, Modern Asian Art, (1998), 17 Australian National University Asian Modernisms | Michelle Lim Seok Ling further elucidated in my first case study. Tradition needed to be reinvented and mysticism abandoned16 while allowing certain values to be carried forward into modernity, before the people of Malaya could take pride in a common identity.17 At one of the busiest crossroads between East and West, South and North, the island of Singapore that was part of the Malay Peninsula before 1965, provides an interesting starting point. From as far back as when a crownless Prince of Palembang was first drawn to its beauty and lushness, as the legend of the Srivijaya Kingdom goes, till today, it attracts millions of visitors annually with its diverse culture and rich history. Yet the most significant period of foreign influx Singapore witnessed was in the early nineteenth century. Besides the British colonialist, this period in Singapore also saw a flood of immigrants from China and India seeking economic betterment promised by the British.18 This sleepy fishing village was soon transformed into one of the most important port-of-calls in Asia, becoming a British Crown Colony by the late nineteenth century. With such importance placed on a multi-cultural Singapore, the British colonialists practised “divide and conquer”19 tactics to ensure their political dominance. This was evident in their urban planning and education policies that systematically segregated ethnic groups through physical space and language use.20 Due to the colonially-designed political system that divided the indigenous Malays and their Asian migrant counterparts there was little unity before the disadvantaged locals of post-World War II Malaya finally decided to rally and unify for change.21 To unite, one must first identify whom or what with to unite. In the mid-twentieth century, a bubbling of solidarity motivated by socialist and nationalist influence emerged with the communist insurgency and the formation of United Malays National Organization.22 The search for an elusive Malayan identity thus began. 16 Kapur, When was modernism, 273 17 Piyadasa Redza, Modern Malaysia Art – An Introduction, http://www.goodenei.com/post/2009/03/10/Masterpieces-from- the-National-Art-Gallery-of-Malaysia.aspx 18 Piyadasa Redza, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, (1994), 15 19 Piyadasa, Modern Malaysia Art – An Introduction, http://www.goodenei.com/post/2009/03/10/Masterpieces-from-the- National-Art-Gallery-of-Malaysia.aspx 20 Piyadasa, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, 23 21 Piyadasa, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, 38 22 Piyadasa, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, 36 Australian National University Asian Modernisms | Michelle Lim Seok Ling Nanyang Artists and Communication Amongst the many seeking a common identity in Singaporean art history, Lim Hak Tai (1904 -1963) was a pioneer who recognised the importance of pride and identity, especially in a society as diverse as Singapore. This led to his founding of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, which was closely related to the Nanyang Group of artists. Through this group, Lim advocated for art that reflected the reality of the “Southern Seas”, to create an art from their immediate surroundings that all could identify with, rather than reminisce about traditional Chinese themes that would be alien to locals.23 One of the most successful artists following Lim‟s direction was Cheong Soo Pieng, whose innovation can be seen in his 1959 work Tropical Life (figure 1 below). By synthesizing Chinese traditional practices, using Chinese ink on rice paper and applying horizontal compositional reading from left-to-right or right-to-left, with Western-derived styles of bold colours and stylised figures bearing hints of Cubist influence,24 Cheong produced works that displayed a harmonious blend of styles and presented a familiar local subject of a rural Malay scene, albeit idyllic and stylised.25 Its immediate stylistic qualities merited its modern status,26 while upholding tradition and values in its subject and media. (Figure 1) Cheong Soo Pieng, Tropical Life. 1959. 23 Chia Wai Hon, The Aesthetics of Asian Expressions, (1994),110 24 Piyadasa, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, 32 25 Piyadasa, Vision and Idea – Relooking Modern Malaysian Art, 39 26 Australian National University, Art and Social Change – Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific, 192 Australian National University Asian Modernisms | Michelle Lim Seok Ling Much like his peers who came before Cheong, Chen Chong Swee was competent in Chinese ink and brush painting as well as Western watercolour technique. He produced the 1950 Washing by the River (figure 2 below). Based on a traditional Chinese hanging scroll, Chen‟s bold attempt at fusing Chinese artistic heritage with Western scientific technique to create a local subject was a first of its kind.27 Chen faced a dilemma analogous to that of the nation‟s struggle between progressive modernity and conservative traditional values.28 He eventually overcame it with stronger conviction and a cause that the making of art was meant to communicate sincerely with others by constantly updating his traditional Chinese paintings with the modern world.29 Today, communication in multi-cultural Singapore means having to transcend cultures, languages, traditions and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of the modern world and its politics.
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