It was back in the 1920s. Many Chinese came to Singaporeand Malaya looking for a new life when their homecountry was troubled by serious instability. Malaya, duringthen, was a country formed by immigrants under thecolonial rule; hence its cultural awareness was relativelylow. Among the various places of disembarkation,Penang and Singapore were most popular because ofits better commercial development. As a whole, majorityof them engaged themselves in commercial arts, pressand publication, and teachers in schools; others startedtheir own studios and art schools to recruit students andapprentices.

 

However, the poor cultural awareness had awakened thosein the arts and literature to get together and do somethingabout it – they conducted activities to promote arts andcreative work. Those who had long resided on this land(and were certain to set their roots here) took the effort tofind, develop and campaign a new direction for Nanyangarts, culture and literature. The motivation behind theseoverseas Chinese in such attempt was the occurrence ofthe New Cultural Movement and Revolutionary LiteraryTheory in China. The two movements inspired the Chinesein Malaya with the vitality to create Malayan Chinese Artsand Literature, giving rise to the emergence of NanyangLiterature Movement - a revolution of its own.

 

The world’s economy was in turmoil during the late20s to early 30s, and caused everything to slow down,including arts and literature until 1935. Only then did itslowly recover and find a different fashion in reflectingwhat was happening in reality. This came to be known as‘The Malayan Art & Literature’. With the recognition fromthe industry of arts and culture Malayan Chinese Arts andLiterature has gained its value, meaning and room togrow. This led to the idea of ‘Malayan Thinking’ receivingits well-deserved promotion.

 

During the late 1930s, the tension between China andJapan created an unstable situation even in Malaya.However, Malayan artists still remained active inproducing works. They strived to reflect in their work theirperceptions of the conflict between the two powers,the unique personality of the place they live, and thestruggle of them seeking acceptance (of their identityin this land). In fact, these people were actually formingsocieties or groups - they created the bond to share theemotional support without affecting personal interest asthey made arts their common course without merging theorigins of their painting style or their physical localities. Forinstance, there were a few prominent art societies, suchas Singapore Art Research Society (1927) and NanyangPainting Club (1929) in Kuala Lumpur that were activelyinvolved in promoting arts.

 

This article will focus on the study and discussion ofPenang Art Society, based on its growth and development– how it marched through time since before World War II.The whole context will be divided into 6 parts according tothe timeframe based on the stages the society has gonethrough. This is to study the place in which Penang ArtSociety stands in the history of art of Malaysia - from themicroscopic model of the society’s development to themacro-structural analysis of the big environment around it.