Chua Mia Tee

Chua Mia Tee was born on 25 November 1931 in Shantou, Guangdong province, China, into a family that carried art in its veins. His father, a businessman and self-taught painter, sparked young Chua's lifelong passion by drawing portraits of the family's grandparents — a memory that never left him. At age six, Chua fled the Sino-Japanese War with his family, arriving in Singapore in 1937. He grew up playing along the banks of the Singapore River, and those childhood scenes — the sampans, the labourers, the street sellers — would become the enduring subjects of his art. Chua attended Shuqun and Tuan Mong Schools before enrolling at Chung Cheng High School in 1947. Encouraged by his father, he left midway to pursue formal training at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), where he studied under academy director Lim Hak Tai and renowned artists Cheong Soo Pieng, Koh Tong Leong, and See Hiang To. He graduated with his Art Diploma in 1952 and began teaching at NAFA before returning to complete his secondary education and then rejoining the academy as a teacher. In 1956, Chua co-founded the Equator Art Society, a pioneering group of realist painters committed to depicting the social conditions of Singapore's working masses during the independence movement. His canvas "Epic Poem of Malaya" (1955) and the landmark "National Language Class" (1959) captured a nation in the making — works that now anchor Singapore's art history. He worked in commercial art and illustration through the 1960s and early 1970s before making the defining leap: in 1974, at the age of 43, he held his first solo exhibition and became a full-time artist. As Singapore grew, Chua became its conscience on canvas. He painted portraits of the nation's first president Yusof Ishak — reproduced on currency notes — as well as founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and successive presidents. He sculpted a bust of Zubir Said, composer of the national anthem. In 1961, he married fellow painter Lee Boon Ngan, and the couple shared a lifelong artistic partnership, holding joint exhibitions in 1980 and 1990. Known for his quiet conviction and humility, Chua spoke always of pursuing truth, goodness, and beauty. In 2015, he was conferred Singapore's Cultural Medallion, its highest honour for artistic excellence. The National Gallery Singapore honoured him with a major retrospective, "Chua Mia Tee: Directing the Real," in 2021. Even after suffering a stroke that year, he continued working. He died on 10 July 2026 at his Bukit Timah home, surrounded by his paintings and his family, at the age of 94. He leaves behind his children Chua Hong and Chua Yang, and grandchildren Ignatius and Ernestine — and a nation richer for every canvas he touched.