By Himanshu Bhatt.

UNKNOWN to many today, in March 1941 – before his radical paintings were famously banned by Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution – China’s legendary master of modern  art, Xu Beihong, had arrived in Penang to garner support for the resistance movement against invading Japanese in his homeland.

As Xu exhibited his paintings in George Town to raise funds for the nationalist cause in China, Penangites flocked to view his masterpieces in oil, particularly the famed 500 Heroes of Thean Heng and Put Down the Whip.

By the time the exhibition ended, the revered artist had begun inspiring a movement of a different sort on the island, far away from China.

For Xu had started influencing the island’s fledgling art community, inspiring the emergence of several local painters. Unfortunately, he had to cut short his stay to  rush back to China on the eve of Japan’s invasion.

Sixty years on, however, the island’s art scene that Xu was forced to leave behind has grown in a way the celebrated figure, who died in 1953, could surely not foresee. He had, for instance, laid much groundwork to inspire the emergence of some of Malaya’s pioneer modern artists, including masters such as Yong Mun Sen, Khaw Sia, Kuo Ju Ping and Lee Cheng Yong.

Paintings by some of the country’s pioneers, including Abdullah Ariff and Hoessein Enas, have been practically unseen by the public for years within an isolated room in Dewan Seri Pinang.

Penangites are hardly aware or even remotely interested in their existence. The collection is unique as it includes the first generation of Malayan painters who were either locally trained or came from China, as well as many in the second generation (of the 1960s and later), such as the fiery Lee Joo For now living in Australia.

And yet these artists are part  of the very fraternity that has been hailed by international institutions, including the Singapore Art Museum, as being pivotal in the development of modern art in the region.

Indeed, the neglect of our unique art legacy had already begun in the seventies and eighties during a period that saw a sudden decline in both the standard and yield of works from local painters. This was perhaps due to the recessions, and the growing corporate market in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and other metropolitan areas in the region that siphoned away talent from the island.

One may perhaps take consolation that since then, many new artists have emerged over the last decade. Few, however, have been able to live up to the lofty standards set by the old masters, even as little attention or interest is drawn to the fraternity among the public in general.

Mind you, the works of the old masters are being sought after by art aficionados today. But the real tragedy is that the general public is practically at a loss in appreciating their value.

One can only hope the art exhibition in July may be among many to help bring back the glory of our old pioneers in the very city many of them had their roots in.

** Republished with permission. This article first appeared in the May 21, 2009 issue of theSun. Himanshu is the newspaper's Penang bureau chief.

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