Lee Joo For Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Lee Joo For Art Value Price Guide

Aug. 25, 2024
Lee Joo For (b. 1929 - 2017) Faces In Blue, 1986
Est: RM1,000 - RM3,000
Lee Joo For's visual narratives are highly distinct, imbued with personal metaphors. His compositions are made with forceful calligraphic strokes and strong colours, uniting eastern and western techniques and pictorial methods. This enigmatic composition is rendered in a dramatic palette of dark teal and orange, consisting of spontaneous flowing lines portraying faces of a man and woman, with the left side profile portrayed in multiple angles. Symbolic and expressive, the work incorporates figurative and stylised elements interlocked into a poetic emotion. A man of diverse artistic talents, Lee Joo For was an artist, playwright, poet, novelist, and a writer of short stories. Lee Joo For received his education at Brighton College of Art (1957-1958), and later received additional scholarships to study at Camberwell College of Art (1960-1962). His selected solo exhibitions were held at Commonwealth Institute, London (1960), Art Council of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (1964), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (1968), Mandarin Art Gallery Singapore (1972), Retrospective exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery (2008), Art Salon @ SENI, Kuala Lumpur (2009). His group exhibitions include Selected artists exhibition, Shakespeare Festival, United Kingdom (1964), International combined graphics exhibition, Tokyo (1966), Combined graphics exhibition, Sao Paolo (1970), Italian Exposition of International Prints (1976) and joint exhibition with daughter Michellin Lee, Darwin (1998). He received the Best Playwright Prize at the Malaysian Drama Festival (1969-1971).
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 14, 2024
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - 2017) Galloping Horse, 1992
Est: RM4,500 - RM7,000
Lee Joo For was a multitalented and versatile artist and playwright. The artist used spontaneous lines and swift strokes in the composition, depicting a strong galloping horse. His enigmatic vision of horses has captured the imagination of viewers. Lee Joo For was awarded a Malayan Government scholarship to study at the Brighton College of Art, England in 1959. He furthered his studies at the Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962, and at the Royal College of Art, London in 1963 where his fellow students included David Hockney. On his return, he taught at the St. Xavier's Institution in 1948. He is famous for original plays such as The Flood, Son Of Zen, and his best-known play in Australia is The Call Of Guadalupe. He was given a Retrospective by The Art Gallery, Penang in 1995. In 2008, the Penang State Art Gallery honoured him with a major Retrospective. He also won the Best Playwright of the Year (Malaysian Drama Festival) titles from 1969 to 1971, and Best Radio Playwright (Singapore) in 1969.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 14, 2024
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - 2017) Untitled
Est: RM1,800 - RM3,200
Rendered with agile calligraphy strokes on paper, the work features one of the artist's favourite subjects, the valiant horse. In understanding John Lee's “horselogy”, it's pertinent to note an interview with Ooi Kok Chuen, in his Melbourne home, for his monograph, A Tumultous Struggle: The Life and Art and Times of John Lee Joo For, of his November 2008 Retrospective at the Penang State Art Gallery: “Mine (my horse) is rough jagged incisive, vested with human feelings of angst and anguish, of hope and frustration. My horse is more spiritual than realistic, more symbolic than photogenic… My horse is humanity. I try to transcend the horse as a symbol.” A “sentient horse, feeling pain and frustration”, as he explained in his book, My Name Is Fire. Virile, restless and unpredictable. John Lee Joo For is extraordinarily gifted in paint, printmaking and letters especially in playwrighting with a producer's choreography to boot. In art, his training pedigree was in England's Brighton, then Camberwell and the prestigious Royal College of Art. As a playwright (he had also been director, producer and stage actor), he pencilled the first few chapters of Malaysian drama in English. He was an academician in art, media studies and theatre, and was also a novelist. In Australia, where he migrated to in 1973, he had spectacular success in his Christian musical, Call Of Guadalupe, and he fought off the pain of his thyroid cancer to see the fruition of his last play, Mary Magdalene: Wanton Saint (2017). His Son Of Zen made it to Broadway. He co-founded the Thursday Art Group and the Penang Teachers Art Circle, and in London, the Malayan Art Circle. In 2008, the Penang State Art Gallery honoured him with a Retrospective, and he had an earlier Retrospective at The Art Gallery Penang in 1995.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Oct. 01, 2023
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - 2017) Girl Riding Horse, undated; Resting On A Horse, 1996
Est: RM4,000 - RM7,000
Featuring the subject of a female riding a horse, this exquisite set of 2 works finely executed on paper demonstrate the expressive use of lines and gestures. Lee Joo For was awarded a Malayan Government scholarship to study at the Brighton College of Art, England in 1959. He furthered his studies at the Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962, and at the Royal College of Art, London in 1963 where his fellow students included David Hockney. On his return, he taught at the St. Xavier's Institution in 1948. He is famous for original plays such as The Flood, Son Of Zen, and his best-known play in Australia is The Call Of Guadalupe. He was given a Retrospective by The Art Gallery, Penang in 1995. In 2008, the Penang State Art Gallery honoured him with a major Retrospective. He also won the Best Playwright of the Year (Malaysian Drama Festival) titles from 1969 to 1971, and Best Radio Playwright (Singapore) in 1969.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 24, 2023
LEE JOO FOR : Horse, 1995
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,500
In this artistic adaptation by Lee Joo For, strong and forceful lines are present, as are an assortment of intermingling, mellow colours. The focus of this piece is the architecture of the subject itself, accompanied by the other detailing such as the horses and the riders. The results of the artist’s works are the collective influences from his Chinese heritage, Malaysian upbringing and Western education. Lee Joo For was awarded a scholarship by the Malaysian government to study art at Brighton College of Art and the Camberwell School of Art and the prestigious Royal College of Art. He is also a leading playwright, and a lecturer for arts.
KLAS Art Auction
Mar. 15, 2023
LEE JOO FOR | Symbolic Power V, 1999
Est: S$2,000 - S$4,000
Acrylic on canvas: 42 x 58 cm Signed, lower right: LJFOR
Global Auction
Jul. 17, 2022
Lee Joo For, John (b. Penang, 1929 - 2017) Eyes And Love, 1972-1981
Est: RM3,000 - RM6,000
Lee Joo For was a multitalented and versatile artist and playwright. In this person with sharp features, there is a male face on his left cheek, and a female face on his right cheek. The two become one… Lee Joo For was awarded a Malayan Government scholarship to study at the Brighton College of Art, England in 1959. He furthered his studies at the Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962, and at the Royal College of Art, London in 1963 where his fellow students included David Hockney. On his return, he taught at the St Xavier’s Institution in 1948. He is famous for original plays such as The Flood, Son Of Zen, and his best-known play in Australia is The Call Of Guadalupe. He was given a Retrospective by The Art Gallery, Penang in 1995. In 2008, the Penang State Art Gallery honoured him with a major Retrospective. He also won the Best Playwright of the Year (Malaysian Drama Festival) titles from 1969 to 1971, and Best Radio Playwright (Singapore) in 1969.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 05, 2021
Lee Joo For, John (b. Penang, 1929 - d. 2017) Memory Of A Coffee Shop, 1986
Est: RM12,000 - RM20,000
Why paint a mundane subject of ordinary people having a meal in what looks like an ordinary kopitiam, so large, in the 100cm format? There is a gulf of alienation between the two protagonists seated around the round table, in the foreground. It’s an unusual splayed perspective used, with the round table slightly tilted, showing what’s on the table. The younger-looking lad in Bermuda pants is made to face the viewer, his left leg brusquely tucked up on the chair. He has his back turned to an older-looking companion looking a mite morose. Is this about a generation gap? The dramatist in John Lee Joo For would be tempted to inject tension and to pique curiosity, and value-add, by turns of gestures or poses, even expressions. Behind them, three persons are huddled over another table, with a fan hovering in the ceiling. Such scene is unheard of in an Australian eatery where there is proper seating protocol. Maybe it was just a reminiscence of the carefree days of kopitiam chatter in Malaysia before he migrated to Australia in 1973.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Aug. 22, 2021
Lee Joo For (b. Penang, 1929 - d. 2017) Galloping Horses; Strong Bull
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,500
Lee Joo For was a multitalented and versatile artist and playwright. The artist used spontaneous lines and swift strokes in the compositions, depicting galloping horses (one can feel the speed) and strong bull (one can feel the strength). Lee Joo For was awarded a Malayan Government scholarship to study at the Brighton College of Art, England in 1959. He furthered his studies at the Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962, and at the Royal College of Art, London in 1963 where his fellow students included David Hockney. On his return, he taught at the St Xavier’s Institution in 1948. He is famous for original plays such as The Flood, Son Of Zen, and his best-known play in Australia is The Call Of Guadalupe. He was given a Retrospective by The Art Gallery, Penang in 1995. In 2008, the Penang State Art Gallery honoured him with a major Retrospective. He also won the Best Playwright of the Year (Malaysian Drama Festival) titles from 1969 to 1971, and Best Radio Playwright (Singapore) in 1969.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 15, 2020
Lee Joo For, John (b. Penang, 1929 - d. 2017) Horse On The Waves No. 1; Fantastic Landscape No. 4
Est: RM3,500 - RM7,000
Lee Joo For was a multitalented and versatile artist and playwright. The artist used spontaneous lines in the composition. On offer here are two sets of stunning pieces, the first piece with his signature horse, and the second an abstract landscape. Lee Joo For was awarded a Malayan Government scholarship to study at the Brighton College of Art, England in 1959. He furthered his studies at the Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962, and at the Royal College of Art, London in 1963 where his fellow students included David Hockney. On his return, he taught at the St. Xavier’s Institution in 1948. He is famous for original plays such as The Flood, Son Of Zen, and his best-known play in Australia is The Call Of Guadalupe. He was given a Retrospective by The Art Gallery, Penang in 1995. In 2008, the Penang State Art Gallery honoured him with a major Retrospective. He also won the Best Playwright of the Year (Malaysian Drama Festival) titles from 1969 to 1971, and Best Radio Playwright (Singapore) in 1969.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 15, 2020
Lee Joo For, John (b. Penang, 1929 - d. 2017) Horses And Hopes, 1966
Est: RM8,000 - RM12,000
Lee Joo For was a multitalented and versatile artist and playwright. The artist used spontaneous lines in the composition. This work shows his elaborate style, combining architecture, human figures and animals in poetic movement. Lee Joo For was awarded a Malayan Government scholarship to study at the Brighton College of Art, England in 1959. He furthered his studies at the Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962, and at the Royal College of Art, London in 1963 where his fellow students included David Hockney. On his return, he taught at the St. Xavier’s Institution in 1948. He is famous for original plays such as The Flood, Son Of Zen, and his best-known play in Australia is The Call Of Guadalupe. He was given a Retrospective by The Art Gallery, Penang in 1995. In 2008, the Penang State Art Gallery honoured him with a major Retrospective. He also won the Best Playwright of the Year (Malaysian Drama Festival) titles from 1969 to 1971, and Best Radio Playwright (Singapore) in 1969.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 29, 2019
LEE JOO FOR : Dead Heat Race, 1969
Est: RM8,000 - RM12,000
"The late Lee Joo For was a man of many talents. He was recognised as a prolific writer, novelist, director, lecturer and art critic. His visual narratives are highly distinct, imbued with personal metaphors and forcefully calligraphy strokes. The ferocity of the horses depicted in the artwork could likely depict a sens of unwavering faith, strength and loyalty."
KLAS Art Auction
Nov. 12, 2017
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN (b. 1929 - d. 2017) MOVEMENT AND RELATIVITY, undated, Oil on canvas
Est: RM3,500 - RM6,000
The composition, by John Lee Joo-for’s oeuvre, is so sparing that it’s almost Zen. Horses is one of the favourite themes of this multi-pronged Malaysian-born Australian artist, and a woman (in passionate red, some more) astride a horse always convey sexual connotations. Yet, the woman in purity white, with legs crossed, seems rapt in meditation. Is she (white) meditating in a celestial realm, or has she given way to her baser instincts of a frivolous lark, presumably turning naked on an energetic horse in full gallop. The contrasting woman, one calm and sedate and the other feisty and adventurous, could reside in one same person or be two different individuals, siblings perhaps. The spirit and virility of the horse are most evident in Joo-for’s most “horsey” work, The Spirit That Cannot Be Contained (1980, 114cm x 201cm). In an interview in his Melbourne home for his monograph months ahead of his November 2008 Retrospective at the Penang State Art Gallery, he told Ooi Kok Chuen: “Mine (my horse) is rough jagged incisive, vested with human feelings of angst and anguish, of hope and frustration. My horse is more spiritual than realistic, more symbolic than photogenic…”My horse is humanity. I try to transcend the horse as a symbol.”
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 12, 2017
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN (b. 1929 - d. 2017) FACES-FACES NO. 1, undated, Oil on canvas
Est: RM2,000 - RM3,500
“There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.”Act I, Scene IV. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. (King Duncan was speaking to his son, Malcolm, about the Thane of Cawdor and his treason. Ironically, as he spoke this, Macbeth, strode in).John Lee Joo For’s faces, blown up Easter Island-like, are more about relationships, although the meanings are ambiguous. Outlines form a kind of detachment despite the kissing-range proximity: there is a white space, even, from the inside ‘rouge.’ To John Lee, love is only between a man and a woman, but trust is something between the loved couple and is left to circumstances.John Lee Joo For was an outstanding creative genius. He was an artist-printmaker, a novelist and playwright, a drama director and producer, an academician and activist (he co-founded the Malayan Art Circle in London in 1961, the Thursday Art Group in Penang and the Penang Teachers Art Circle). Joo For obtained his National Diploma of Design certificate at the Camberwell College of Art in London in 1959-62, and studied Graphic Art at the Royal College of Art, from 1962-1964. He taught at the St Xavier’s Institution and Penang Free School in Penang, the Specialist Teachers Training Institute in Kuala Lumpur, and Art and Media Studies in Australia. He had won the Best Playwright Award from 1969 to 1971, and was known for his plays like The Propitious Kidnapping of the Cultured Daughter and Son of Zen. After migrating to Australia in 1973, he saw major success in his Broadway-style Christian musical, Call of Guadalupe. He was working on another, Mary Magdalene: Wanton Saint, but died of thyroid cancer on June 11, 2017.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jul. 30, 2017
Lee Joo For, John (B. Penang, Malaysia, 1929-2017) Horse II, 1995
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,000
Lee Joo For, John Horse II, 1995 Chinese ink on paper 38 x 46 cm
KLAS Art Auction
Mar. 12, 2017
Lee Joo For, John (B. Penang, 1929) Stampede, 1972
Est: RM4,500 - RM9,000
Lee Joo For, John Stampede, 1972 Monotype 73.5 x 180 cm
KLAS Art Auction
Mar. 05, 2017
ABSTRACT
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,000
Painting with frame
The Edge Auction
Nov. 06, 2016
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN (b. 1929) Meeting Of Horses, 1964, Monotype on paper
Est: RM6,000 - RM10,000
To John Lee Joo For who has adopted the bull and horses as his alter ego, he finds horses intellectual, instinctive, robust and virile. In an interview with Ooi Kok Chuen in Melbourne for the catalogue of his retrospective at the Penang State Art Gallery, he waxed lyrical about the horses' "beautiful shape, expressive movement, mathematical balance and a touch of the metaphysical." He said his horses are often angry, demanding freedom, space and recognition (respect). "My horse is more spiritual than realistic, more symbolic than photographic," he had intoned. A Meeting of Horses was created at a time when Joo-for's graphic works were sensational like his creative overdrive in playwrighting.Novelist, playwright, director, lecturer, artist-printmaker, Joo-for migrated in 1973 to Australia where he became a born-again Catholic in 1976. He taught Art and Media Studies in Australia.He won a four-year scholarship for his National Diploma of Design certificate at the Camberwell College of Art in 1959-62. In 1962-64, he studied Graphic Art at the Royal College of Art, the cradle of British Pop Art (David Hockney was also studying there then, while Australian Brett Whiteley was getting a lot of attention in London) and which specialized in monoprint. Joo-for co-founded the Malayan Art Circle in London in 1961, after a solo at the Commonwealth Institute in London in 1960. He also co-founded the Thursday Art Group and the Penang Teachers Art Circle.He had taught at St Xavier's Institution in Penang in 1948-64, Penang Free School from 1964-66, and later the Specialist Teachers Training Institute.He was on a creative roll, and he made his mark as a playwright, winning the Best Playwright Award from 1969 to 1971 besides the Best Radio Playwright of Singapore in 1969 for The Flood. His other notable plays include The Propitious Kidnapping of the Cultured Daughter, Son of Zen and the Christian musical, Call of Guadalupe.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Apr. 24, 2016
LEE JOO FOR (B. Penang, 1929) 'Horse and Rider'
Est: RM2,500 - RM4,000
Signed and dated "LJFOR 95" on lower left
KLAS Art Auction