Low Kway Song
Low Kway Song (simplified Chinese: 刘溪松; traditional Chinese: 劉溪松; pinyin: Liú Xīsōng; 1889 – 9 December 1982) was a Singapore-born visual artist, performing artist, and cleric.[1]
Low and his elder brother, Low Kway Soo, were early members of the Singapore Amateur Drawing Society, which was founded in 1909; the younger Low was its honorary art instructor from 1911 to 1913.[1] In 1918, he founded and began drawing cartoons for The Eastern Quarterly Review, a quarterly magazine that published illustrated articles on trade and other regional interests; it ceased publication in 1922.[2]
Most of Low's painted works were privately commissioned. He was paid $3500 to paint an oil portrait of Chinese Indonesian tycoon Oei Tiong Ham, which was republished in the Malayan Saturday Post after Oei's death in 1924. This reportedly made Low the first painter in Singapore to receive a four-figure commission.[2] Low painted portraits of several other noted personalities throughout his career, including Aw Boon Haw, Rabindranath Tagore,[2] and Tan Jiak Kim.[3] His Lynx (1921) and Thai Temple (1923), both of which were painted during his extended stay in Bangkok,[4] are some of the few surviving early 20th-century oil paintings from Singapore.[1]
A founding member of the Singapore Amateur Musical and Dramatic Association, Low was both a playwright and stage actor.[5] Low and his brother also owned a photography studio on Stamford Road.[6]
Low founded the first Straits Chinese Methodist Church in Malacca and became its pastor in 1940.[7] He subsequently began to produce biblically-themed works, including two paintings of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and one painting of Jesus' cruxifiction.[8] He formally retired in February 1954,[9] but remained active as a cleric and continued to paint for leisure at home.[8] Low died on 9 December 1982, aged 94.[9]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b c Susanto 2015, p. 37.
- ^ a b c Teo 2019, p. 551.
- ^ Abdullah 2019, p. 222.
- ^ Abdullah 2019, p. 231.
- ^ Abdullah 2019, p. 219.
- ^ Abdullah 2019, p. 220.
- ^ Teo 2019, p. 552.
- ^ a b Teo 2019, p. 553.
- ^ a b Tan 2022, p. 36.
Works cited
[edit]- Abdullah, Sarena. "Cosmopolitanism in the Works of Straits Chinese Artists: Low Kway Song, Yong Mun Sen and Tay Hooi Keat". In Tan, Sooi Beng (ed.). Eclectic Cultures for All: The Development of the Peranakan, Performing, Visual and Material Arts in Penang. Universiti Sains Malaysia. pp. 215–239.
- Susanto, Melinda (2015). "Tropical Tapestry". In Low, Sze Wee (ed.). Siapa Nama Kamu?: Art in Singapore Since the 19th Century. National Gallery Singapore. pp. 30–41. ISBN 9789811405570.
- Tan, Chee-Beng (2022). The Baba of Melaka: Culture and Identity of a Chinese Peranakan Community in Malaysia. Strategic Information and Research Development Centre. ISBN 9789672464761.
- Teo, Han Wue (2019). "The Story of Art in Singapore". In Bak, Lim Kua; Chong, Guan Kwa (eds.). A General History Of The Chinese In Singapore. World Scientific Publishing Company. pp. 541–572. ISBN 9789813277656.