Growing Art

IT COULD BE the sharp facial structure or short swept-back hair of the husband, or the sleeveless qipao or stylish frames of the wife. On first glance, many people have mistaken Georgette Chen's 1954 Family Portrait depicting close friend Chen Fah Shin's family for Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew and his wife Kwa Geok Choo, surrounded by their children.

The fact that the picture is splashed on the publicity posters of National Gallery Singapore's latest exhibition "(Re)collect: The Making Of Our Art Collection" reinforces that suggestion.

A second look, however, corrects the misimpression: There are two girls and a boy in the painting, not two boys and a girl - whom the late statesman and his wife had. Furthermore, the woman is reading a Chinese newspaper; Madam Kwa herself spoke mostly English.