[Singapore] Chinese Family Portraits: Inherited & Salvaged

[caption id="attachment_5827" align="aligncenter" width="496"] Image: Portrait of a Man in Blue Mandarin Robe and Lady in Black Baju Panjang and Yellow-Orange Sarong with Brown Designs, Unsigned, c. 1890, Indonesia, Oil on Canvas, 54 x 39 cm.[/caption]

Inherited & Salvaged: Chinese Family Portraits from the Straits Chinese Collection presents over fifty painted and photographed portraits donated to NUS Museum. Originating from individual and family collections, and others acquired from antique and ‘karung guni’ dealers, the portraits date from the 19th to early 20th centuries and capture some of the earliest visual representations of Peranakan Chinese in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.

Through this assemblage, the exhibition explores early portrait making industry in the region, the social and cultural context sustaining such artistic patronage, and contemporary motivations in collecting and preserving these works.

The exhibition will run until the 6th of July 2014 at the National University of Singapore Museum. Admission is free.

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