The Misunderstood Trip That Led to the 1953 Landmark Art Exhibition
In 1952, four Singapore artists – Chen Chong Swee, Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng and Liu Kang – travelled to Java and Bali in search of artistic inspiration. The following year, they put up an exhibition showcasing art they had produced from the trip, an exhibition often hailed by art historians as a milestone in Singapore art history. Yet much of the trip has been shrouded in mystery, until Gretchen Liu, the daughter-in-law of Liu Kang, discovered Liu Kang's archives and photographs from the trip. She tells us how the trip came together, what the artists did in Java and Bali, and what the trip meant to them as artists.
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What Gretchen Talked About
02:14 – The importance of the 1953 exhibition in art history
05:20 – The story of the shoebox
08:17 – What makes the newly discovered photographs special
11:00 – The significance of the artists’ journey to Bali and Java
14:11 – How their journey began with the kindness of strangers
16:07 – The life and times of the four pioneering artists
21:11 – Gretchen’s journey following in the footsteps of the artists
23:15 – Her intention in showcasing the photographs alongside the art
they inspired
26:14 – The hardest part about researching the book
27:29 – How Gretchen became interested in Singapore’s visual history
30:02 – The book she is most proud of
32:21 – Her experience as the in-house historian for the Raffles Hotel
35:19 – What is next for Gretchen
35:56 – Family history is…
About the Guest
Gretchen Liu is a former journalist, a writer and an independent scholar with an interest in visual culture and heritage. She is the editor and author of several books. Most recently, she has been researching the early life of her father-in-law Liu Kang, a journey that has taken her deep into early 20th-century Chinese art history. Her latest book is Bali 1952: Through the Lens of Liu Kang.
Resources
Gretchen Liu, Bali 1952: Through the Lens of Liu Kang (Singapore: National Library Board and World Scientific, 2025). (From National Library Singapore, call no. SING 779.995986 LIU)
Gretchen Liu, “Forgotten Photographs of the 1952 Trip to Bali,” BiblioAsia 21, no. 1.
Liu Kang, oral history interview by Tan Beng Luan, 13 January 1983, transcript and MP3 Audio, Reel/Disc 39 of 74, National Archives of Singapore (accession no. 000171), 364. English version translated and annotated by Tay Jun Hao and Alina Soh.
Jeffrey Say and Yu Jin Seng, “The Modern and Its Histories in Singapore Art,” in Intersections, Innovations, Institutions: A Reader in Singapore Modern Art (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., 2023), 26. (From National Library Singapore, call no. RSING 709.595709034 INT)
Yeo Wei Wei, ed., Liu Kang: Colourful Modernist (Singapore: The National Art Gallery Singapore, 2011). (From National Library Singapore, call no. RSING 759.95957 LIU)
Credits
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Gretchen for coming on the show.
About the Podcast
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.