Singapore Art Museum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources.
This article has been tagged since February 2007.

The Singapore Art Museum (abbreviation: SAM; Chinese: 新加坡美术馆) is an art museum specialising in Singaporean and Southeast Asian artworks, particularly that of the visual arts. Opened in January 1996 as the first international-standard museum specialising in art, it is housed in the former Saint Joseph’s Institution building at Bras Basah Road in the civic district.

As the national art collector of Singapore and housing the largest 20th Century Southeast Asian arts collection in a public museum in the world, it has a permanent collection of artworks numbering over 6,500. Taking over from the functions of the National Museum Art Gallery which was opened in 1976 with 93 artworks, its collection includes works from major local artists such as Georgette Chen, Liu Kang, Chen Chong Swee, Lim Tze Peng and Huang Yao. From 2001, the museum began acquiring works and accepting donations from around the region, including from regional artists like Affandi, Hendra Gunawan, Pratuang Emjaroen, Montien Boonma, Le Pho and Bui Xuan Phai.

[edit] Exhibitions

The permanent collection is housed in two exhibitions, namely Imaging Selves and Landscape In Southeast Asian Art, along with other country-specific exhibitions, such as From There to Now for Malaysian art and Soul Ties: The Land & Her People showcasing artworks from Indonesia.

The museum has also hosted a series of travelling exhibitions since its opening, including those featuring works by Liu Kang, Leonardo Da Vinci, Chen Chong Swee, Fan Chang Tien, Lim Tze Peng in 1997 alone.