Lim Tze Peng is a second-generation Nanyang style artist best known for his spirited Chinese ink paintings of old Singapore, particularly of old Malay kampongs, Chinatown and the Singapore River. In a six-decade art practice, the ex-school teacher and self-taught artist has developed a significant body of work—comprising oil, Chinese ink and, most recently, reinvented calligraphic paintings—that reveals the artist’s development from a realist painter to an expressionist artist of tremendous vigour while painting an emotive and subtle narrative of Singapore’s history as experienced by the common man. In 2003, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

Born on 28 Sep 1921 in Singapore, Lim Tze Peng taught himself to paint as a young boy. Passionate about his hobby, he practised painting with great diligence, creating still lifes rendered in watercolours and oils. He was educated in Chung Cheng High School, and went on to become a teacher at Sin Min School, a primary school then located in Pasir Ris, in 1949. In 1951, he became the principal of Sin Min School and remained so until his retirement in 1981. Throughout his educational career, Lim pursued his passion for art relentlessly.

As a young man, Lim went on excursions around Singapore and painted landscapes. He particularly liked depicting Malay kampongs, which he continued to paint until they gradually were replaced by other urban developments. He then turned his focus to old residential ethnic buildings in the city and rushed to make many paintings of them when government plans to demolish those were made public.

He progressed onto the medium for which he has become renowned—Chinese ink—painting initially in the traditional style. Although he made several trips within the Southeast Asian region from the ’60s onwards to gain inspiration, resulting in several lush paintings of Balinese and Thai verdant landscapes, it was the scenes of his home country, Singapore, that most inspired him.

In the two decades following Singapore’s independence, the rapid urban development and renewal of the island nation meant that much of its villages, old buildings and landmarks were removed. During this time, wanting to preserve the sights of a rapidly disappearing Singapore, Tze Peng made many paintings depicting scenes of early Singapore. He painted streetscapes, riverscapes, kampong scenes, Pulau Ubin and other scenes, capturing the colour and spirit of everyday life in Singapore during its early nation-building years. He also made many paintings of Chinatown and the Singapore River in the late ’70s and early ’80s just before their redevelopment. Today, these paintings possess great poignancy for their portrayal of beloved landscapes and ways of life now lost.

Although there were more than 20 years between his first solo exhibition in 1970 and his second solo showing in 1991, Lim participated in many group exhibitions during the ’70s and ’80s around the world in Russia, the UK, France, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Brunei. After his retirement from the teaching profession in 1981, he devoted himself to his art practice and began to gain recognition for his impressive output.

Lim’s works in the ’90s and 2000s showed a developed mastery of Chinese calligraphy—his newer calligraphic works featuring classical Chinese poems were strikingly bold. His landscape paintings also began to move away from his previous realist approach to a more contemporary expressionist style. Although they remained rooted in the Chinese ink tradition, they boldly reinvented tradition, introducing spots and splashes of vibrant colour to the traditional monochromatic colour scheme, featuring a fresh spontaneity in its brisk application of the Chinese calligraphic stroke.

Lim has received recognition for his art, receiving the 1977 Special Prize at the Commonwealth Art Exhibition, UK. In 2003, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

His works have been exhibited in solo exhibitions in Singapore and China and group exhibitions around the world to acclaim. His works have been lauded, especially in China, for their unique reinvention of the Chinese calligraphic stroke and ink painting as well as their highly spirited and emotive expression.

Lim held a solo exhibition Tze Peng in Bali at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts that ran from April to May 2012, featuring 50 paintings of Bali, Indonesia made over 30 years. In July 2012, he held another solo exhibition Lim Tze Peng’s Solo Exhibition: Black and White, at Ode To Art Marina Bay Sands Gallery. Featuring a new series of more than 20 paintings of Singapore made over the past 12 months that hark back to his early years of traditional Chinese ink painting, the exhibition revealed the strong hand of an artist confident of his identity and energised by a passion for art and life.

In April 2013, Lim held a solo exhibition 攀登 The Journey at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.

In July 2014, the Lim Tze Peng Gallery was officially opened at Lim's alma mater, Chung Cheng High School (Main), by Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. Lim donated over a hundred of his paintings, of which close to a hundred are exhibited in the gallery.