画家的夫人像 (Portrait of the artist’s wife)

This portrait by Tchang Ju Chi captures his wife, Chen Mengyu, in a relaxed state. She is dressed in a cream cheongsam. The artist achieves a delicate balance using contrasting elements. The sharp, straight lines of a folding chair and structured wooden backing of another easel on the left counter the soft curves of Chen's body. This interplay of hard and soft forms creates a visual tension. Light plays a central role in shaping this scene. A gradual shift from dark to light across Chen’s figure gives weight and substance to her form while drawing our gaze towards her gently illuminated face, focusing our attention on her expression. Light not only carves out form here but gives the scene a reflective mood, preserving a serene moment before the looming Second World War.

The daughter of the artist, Shewin, Chang Si-Fun, recounts: “My mother was a modern woman of her times. After the Second World War, she predicted that the English language would be the first language of the world and decided to switch me to an English school. Hence, I was enrolled into CHIJ in Victoria Street. She could sew very well and helped my father to sew the cloths for the movie posters. My mother also often modelled for my father. One painting that I have a strong memory of is of her modelling for a painting that depicted the war violence of the Japanese soldiers. I don't know what happened to this painting. It has been lost.”

And just three years after the completion of this painting, Tchang was executed by the Japanese during the Sook Ching Operation in 1942 during the Second World War. The Sook Ching Operation was a Japanese military exercise that purged those suspected of being anti-Japanese activists in the Chinese community.  Tchang was survived by his wife and four children.