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View all search resultsThrough Liu Kang’s lens: A time capsule of Indonesia in 1952
A rediscovered trove of photographs, sketches and letters reveals artist Liu Kang’s intimate journey through Indonesia in the 1950s, capturing a young nation in transition and the everyday lives of its people.
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Book of memories: The blue-covered Bali 1952: Through the Lens of Liu Kang, written by Liu's daughter-in-law Gretchen Liu, documents his seven-week trip to Indonesia, is seen in this photo created on Tuesday. (JP/Nur Janti) (JP/Nur Janti)
T
he late artist Liu Kang's trip from Singapore to the newly independent Indonesia is captured in Bali 1952: Through the Lens of Liu Kang, featuring his photographs, sketches and letters to his wife.
Liu Kang, born in Fujian, China, on April 1, 1911, was a prominent Singaporean artist and cultural figure. He attended Jinan University and the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts in China, as well as the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in France, before settling in Singapore in 1942.
He was known for developing the Nanyang Style and cofounding the Singapore Art Society. For his contributions, Liu Kang received the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star) in 1970 and the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) in 1996. He died of natural causes on June 1, 2004.
In June 1952, he traveled to Indonesia with three fellow artists, namely Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee and Cheong Soo Pieng, on a seven-week sketching journey in search of inspiration on the Island of the Gods.
The journey resulted in a critically acclaimed exhibition the following year, titled Bali, which showcased more than 100 paintings and marked a milestone in Singapore’s art history.
The details of the trip came to light after Liu Kang’s daughter-in-law, Gretchen Liu, found negative films inside a shoebox in his study one afternoon in March 2016. She brought the box home but did not reopen it until the COVID-19 lockdown four years later.
Using other archives, including diaries, letters and oral history interviews in the National Archives of Singapore, Gretchen has reconstructed the story of Liu Kang's adventure in Bali 1952: Through the Lens of Liu Kang, published by the National Library Board Singapore.
