A Parade of Art
As we gear up for the National Day festivities, Senior Librarian Luke Chua looks back on a different visual display that took place from the late 1960s to the 1980s.
Like the annual journeys of migratory birds, a fascinating but predictable phenomenon sweeps through Singapore every August (particularly on 9 August) when many residents, from toddlers to the elderly, don red or white (sometimes both).
I am referring, of course, to Singapore’s National Day on 9 August when many people wear the colours of Singapore’s flag to various events including the National Day parade. Besides the sea of reds and whites, it is a day associated with visual delights such as fireworks, performances and aeronautic maneuvers by fighter planes.
From the late 1960s to the 1980s, the month of August was also marked by a different kind of visual feast known as the National Day Art Exhibition. The roots of this exhibition can be traced to 1960, when a National Day exhibition of paintings was organised by the Ministry of Culture after Singapore attained self-government in 1959.[1]
After Singapore’s independence in 1965, a “National Day Art Exhibition” was first held in 1969 as part of activities for the 150th Anniversary of Singapore.[2] It was co-organised by the Ministry of Culture and local art organisations and was so successful that it became an annual exhibition after that.[3]
To participate in this exhibition, artists submitted works of various mediums for consideration, and the final selection was made by committees comprising veteran artists such as Chen Wen Hsi and Liu Kang, and arts administrators.
At the height of this annual exhibition, it was lauded as “the art salon in the Republic”[4] and “a grand annual event among the local artists,”[5] featuring hundreds of works and many prominent artists. At the same time, it was a platform where budding artists could make their debut,[6] and in 1975, a Special Award was introduced to encourage the participation of younger artists.[7]
However, the exhibition seemed to have lost its lustre by the mid-1980s, as Constance Sheares, Curator of Art at the National Museum, laments in the catalogue for the 1985 National Day Art Exhibition:
[The National Day Art Exhibition] used to be perhaps the most important and prestigious event in any serious artist’s calendar…It was a matter of pride, especially to the newly emerging artists, to have exhibited in a National Day Exhibition. We were therefore expecting this year’s showing at least to equal if not excel all previous exhibitions. It was thus a great disappointment that so many of the established artists who have contributed most significantly to creative development in the past decade did not participate this year. An exhibition today can hardly be called ‘National’ without the representation of such important and innovative artists…[8]
Perhaps it was the exhibition’s inclusiveness, celebrated when this event was first organised, that became its undoing in the later years. Amid the diversity of artists and themes, observers characterised the exhibition as “an overview of the nation’s art” where “it is difficult to pick up any discernable pattern or trend…[or] to get any sort of fix upon where art in Singapore is going.”[9]
The rapidly evolving art scene in 1980s Singapore could also be a reason for the less-than-ideal participation. Responding to Sheares, art historian T.K. Sabapathy suggests that artists “are hardworking; in seeking ways to advance themselves, they do not necessarily adopt priorities which coincide with those upheld by official agencies.”[10]
1985 marked the last year of the National Day Art Exhibition, as it then became the Singapore Art Fair from 1986 to 1993, before it was finally discontinued in 1994.[11] In later years, exhibition series such as Singapore Art ’95 and the Nokia Singapore Art in 1999 also traced their beginnings to the National Day Art Exhibition.[12]
Despite its relatively short lifespan,[13] this exhibition series has been remembered as a milestone event in Singapore’s art history, where many artists have exhibited their works or served in its selection committees.
As you ponder your sartorial decisions in August, perhaps you can make visual art a part of your National Day celebrations, just like the audiences of the National Day Art Exhibition in the 1960s to the 1980s. Visit the Art X Stacks display in the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library which features artists who have participated in the National Day Art Exhibition, such as Thang Kiang How, Tong Chin Sye, and Choo Keng Kwang.
Art X Stacks is an ongoing display at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. Visit our Resource Guide to learn more about the paintings on display, and follow us on NLB’s social media or check in regularly to find out about the latest Art X Stacks programmes.
All images taken from the catalogues of the National Day Art Exhibition unless otherwise stated. The catalogues are available in the National Library’s collection.
Luke Chua is Senior Librarian at the National Library, focusing on the visual arts collection. He does not own any pieces of clothing in red and panics when asked to wear red to a National Day celebration.
[1] “200 works of art selected for exhibition,” Straits Times, 28 May 1960, 4. (From NewspaperSG)
[2] 1969 marked 150 years since Thomas Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore in 1819, and many activities were organised throughout the year, including the publication of a commemorative book on the political, economic and social history of Singapore spanning the period 1819–1969.
[3] National Day Art Exhibition (Singapore: Ministry of Culture, 1979).
[4] National Day Art Exhibition (Singapore: Ministry of Culture, 1979)
[5] National Day Art Exhibition (Singapore: Ministry of Culture, 1977)
[6] Grace Wong, “Encouraging our artists,” Straits Times, 30 December 1981, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
[7] National Day Art Exhibition (Singapore: Ministry of Culture, 1979)
[8] National Day Art Exhibition (Singapore: Ministry of Culture, 1985)
[9] Carol Lim & David P.C. Tay, “Variety Weakens the Theme,” Straits Times, 25 August 1985, 14. (From NewspaperSG)
[10] T.K. Sabapathy, “Crystallised Images,” Straits Times, 9 August 1985, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
[11] Leong Weng Kam, “Talent of All Ages on Show at Annual Art Showcase,” Straits Times, 11 August 1995, 10. (From NewspaperSG)
[12] Leong Pik Yin, “Title Deeds,” Straits Times, 13 October 2001, 20. (From NewspaperSG)
[13] While this post focuses specifically on the National Day Art Exhibition co-organised by the Ministry of Culture and art organisations in Singapore from 1969 to 1985, there have been many exhibitions of various scales by associations or individuals during the National Day period since the 1960s until today.
