The art of conserving a masterpiece

Prominent Nanyang artist Chen Wen Hsi's largest artwork, Gibbons, underwent conservation ahead of its display at the National Gallery Singapore in December. The Straits Times goes behind the scenes of the conservation process of this iconic work and other artworks.

- Shawn Hoo

The symptoms were severe: foxing, discolouration, signs of brittleness across the rice paper, and two large tears on opposing ends that threatened to meet and rend the painting in two.

Paper conservator Mariko Watanabe-Hirano, 42, knew from her diagnosis that the operation on Gibbons - the 1977 ink masterpiece by pioneer Singapore artist Chen Wen Hsi-would be massive.

And at 190cm by 488cm, this painting dwarfed her frame. Gibbons is the largest work by the late artist.

Commissioned by the Central Provident Fund Board in the 1970s, it once decorated the walls of the former CPF Building at 79 Robinson Road, and decades of public display had taken its toll. The National Gallery Singapore (NGS) purchased the work for its collection in 2015.

It was only after a lengthy three months of planning on paper that the Japanese "art doctor" who usually handles smaller items like books and letters - was confident to start the conservation process of the largest paper object she had ever laid hands on.

Chen (1906-1991) started painting gibbons from possibly as early as the 1930s, and the lively primates are his most recognisable subject.

Before settling in Singapore in 1949, the Guangdong-born artist had never seen a real gibbon.

But at his home here at 5 Kingsmead Road, he kept a menagerie that included, at its peak, six pet gibbons that he painted by observation.

Chen's lifelong quest to capture the gibbon's form culminated in this panoramic scene with 14 mischievous apes.

An authentic painting of his can fetch upwards of $600,000 at auction, but many Singaporeans own a mint copy of his work for much less: Two of his gibbons swing playfully on the back of the Republic's $50 banknote.