Jolly Koh Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Jolly Koh Art Value Price Guide

Dec. 08, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Wild Flowers II, 2007
Est: RM55,000 - RM110,000
Fancy a Terang Bulan motif, popular in Jolly Koh's oeuvre in the mid-1990s, in 2007. What more the 'shooting star' motif with a bulbous head got wider play around 2009 albeit mostly on a horizontal veneer. Here, the meteor-like object shoots straight up with a little debris in the trajectory, the line demarcating the bed of wild flowers below. Seen against a pervasive golden sheen, the upward thrust with a bevy of wild flowers in luxuriant bloom, it's a spectacle. For Jolly Koh, these are all elements in prettifying the environs in another paean to Beauty. After all, As Jolly Koh had opined in his book, Artistic Imperatives (1999), that in life, one should take the opportunity to enjoy art for its intrinsic beauty, and its celebration of human values. And as Bridget Riley put it in The Mind's Eye: "I want people to enjoy my paintings, I want to give them that elation and freedom. I want them to feel as I do, or can sometimes, to have this particular joy." Jolly Koh is best remembered for the major survey exhibition, Jolly Koh@76 (White Box, Publika), in 2017, organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers, which was accompanied with an impressive book chronicling 60 years of paintings. Artist, academician, scholar and pontificator. Education: NDD (national diploma in design) at Hornsey, London, and a teacher's certificate at London University; Fulbright scholarship at Indiana University, in the United States, for Doctor of Education and Master of Science (also a teaching associate). Teaching: Mara Institute of Technology; Sabah's Gaya College; Art in Melbourne and Adelaide; MSC College (SeGi College). In the legendary Magnificent 7 GRUP exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 08, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Untitled, 2005
Est: RM10,000 - RM18,000
Red is all-immersive, with profusions of power and passion. It is one Jolly Koh loves to play with and exploit, as can be seen in works like Calm Of The Red Dreaming (2006), Private Sunday X (2007), Red Nebula (2013) and Celestial Flora (2014), all with different trajectory of emotions. Formidable and foreboding as it is, red can also change perceptions like in Kazimir Malevich's Red Square, with the subtitle A Peasant Woman In Two Dimensions, one veering towards a kind of renunciation. Or on another tack, take Mark Rothko's Seagram murals, or the gorgeous drapery of Jan Van Eyck's Lucca Madonna. What is Jolly Koh's magical all-red palette to you? Jolly Koh is one of the Magnificent 7 of the GRUP fame - historic 1967 exhibition and 2017 reprisal. He is best remembered for his Jolly Koh@76 survey exhibition in 2017 hosted by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers celebrating 60 years in art. It traced a career since his first solo in 1957 at the age of 16! And he has great academic credentials, to boot: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher's certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; and Doctor of Education and Master of Science at Indiana University, USA. After a brief stint teaching at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College, he taught in Melbourne and Adelaide, and back to Malaysia at the MSC College (now SeGi), before deciding to go fulltime painting.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 08, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Malaysia Landscape, II, 2006
Est: RM80,000 - RM140,000
There are landscapes and landscapes and all its megadiversity, and the artist in Jolly Koh, had been through them all - his studies in Britain and the United States, and nearly three decades in Australia, his birth-place Singapore and the country he grew up in: Malaysia. When he got back to Malaysia for good in 2004, the lush tropical reality awash him. After being exposed to the Australian wilderness, The Bush: Coarsely drier, more shrubby and xeric outback. It's vivid nostalgic dreams as he re-romance the tantalising tropical colours of turquoise, tangerine, canary yellow, aqua, fuchsia and coral. Yes, Jolly Koh's back, with more! Jolly Koh is one of the Magnificent 7 of the GRUP fame - historic 1967 exhibition and 2017 reprisal. He is best remembered for his Jolly Koh@76 survey exhibition in 2017 hosted by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers celebrating 60 years in art. It traced a career since his first solo in 1957 at the age of 16! And he has great academic credentials, to boot: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher's certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; and Doctor of Education and Master of Science at Indiana University, USA. After a brief stint teaching at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College, he taught in Melbourne and Adelaide, and back to Malaysia at the MSC College (now SeGi), before deciding to go fulltime painting.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Oct. 16, 2024
Jolly Koh (1941)
Est: €3,000 - €5,000
Untitled, signed 'JOLLY KOH' (lower right), oil on canvas, 120x90 cm (124x94 cm incl. frame), Provenance: Auction Shapiro Auctioneers, Sydney, 24 May 2006, lot 264,
Venduehuis der Notarissen
Oct. 16, 2024
Jolly Koh (1941)
Est: €1,500 - €2,500
Untitled, signed 'KOH' (lower right), oil on canvas, 76x91 cm (77,5x92,5 cm incl. frame), Provenance: Auction Shapiro Auctioneers, Sydney, 24 May 2006, lot 265,
Venduehuis der Notarissen
Aug. 25, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Celestial Flora, 2014
Est: RM180,000 - RM280,000
This is Jolly Koh at his most tempestuous, showing riotous lunges of colours, with a whorl of flaming red in all its incandescent hues, and mellowed somewhat by pockets of yellow with a few lolling stems on the right. It's like a volcanic outburst, ejaculatory, ecstatic and seemingly unrestrained and so intense, a spectacle of awe and beauty. Such flamboyance could be seen in his Red and Blue Nebula (2015, which stretches from 76cm x 608cm!) and Pencipta Kupu-Kupu (2011), but not with such devil-may-care derring-do. Artist-academician Jolly Koh first excelled in the legendary Magnificent 7 GRUP exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in 1967, and is best remembered for is milestone survey exhibition, Jolly Koh @ 76 (White Box, Publika, KL) in 2017, which was marked by a 350-page coffeetable book. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. His tutelage was at the Hornsey College of Art in London (national diploma in design, 1962), London University (teacher's certificate, 1993), Indian University in the United States (Doctor of Education and Master of Science, under a Fulbright scholarship, 1975 and 1973, and was also a teaching associate). He had taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College before teaching Art in Melbourne and Adelaide and then back to Malaysia at the MSC College (Now SeGi College).
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Aug. 25, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Sung Landscape, 1999
Est: RM40,000 - RM70,000
The dreamy image is lodged in an oval-shaped bean-bag crucible of soft Baby Blue, like a romantic peep of a bygone era, straddling time and space and alluding to the period of 960 to 1279 during the Sung Dynasty in China. It has a nebulous natural landscape or conversely, a symbol of incessant strife as the centerpiece, the bottom half shrouded in misty hues. This work adorns the cover of Jolly Koh's eponymously titled catalogue in 2008, which is repeated on Page 108. It shares a kindred spirit with Linga Landscape (also 1999), tilted vertically at 122cm x 66cm. The pale blue is also present in works such as The Sun and Mountain (2000) and Philosopher's Garden II (2004). Artist-academician Jolly Koh first excelled in the legendary Magnificent 7 GRUP exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in 1967, and is best remembered for is milestone survey exhibition, Jolly Koh @ 76 (White Box, Publika, KL) in 2017, which was marked by a 350-page coffee table book. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. His tutelage was at the Hornsey College of Art in London (national diploma in design, 1962), London University (teacher's certificate, 1993), Indian University in the United States (Doctor of Education and Master of Science, under a Fulbright scholarship, 1975 and 1973, and was also a teaching associate). He had taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College before teaching Art in Melbourne and Adelaide and then back to Malaysia at the MSC College (Now SeGi College).
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
May. 19, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Untitled, 2008
Est: RM2,200 - RM4,000
Jolly Koh is a prime mover of modern art in Malaysia. His refined brushwork imbues the surface with a sense of movement and volume. Executed with swift dark strokes against a white background, this exquisite composition reveals a delicate balance between lines, space, depth and texture. Artist, art academician and intellectual-theorist, Jolly Koh has transcended his GRUP Magnificent Seven persona of 1967 as an alchemist of colours. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, studied in England and the United States, taught in Malaysia and Australia, he had several solo exhibitions since his first in 1957 culminating in his major survey show Jolly Koh@76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017, accompanied by a 350-page retrospective book. His academic credentials: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher's certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
May. 19, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Malacca Morning III, 2003
Est: RM12,000 - RM20,000
In Malacca Morning III, Jolly Koh expands the horizon of The Picturesque as defined in the 18th Century by William Gilpin, "that kind of picture which is agreeable in a picture," and reminiscent of the hypnotic Sunrise, Sunset song by Topol in The Fiddler On The Roof. Its subdued hues and tones exude an almost watercolour effect on the whole composition bereft of the foreground-midground-distance perspective, with a slightly slanted headland breaking the monotony of the horizontal. The colour play sluices to the melancholy. As Federico Garcia Lorca wrote: "At the heart of all great art is an essential melancholy." Jolly Koh had in 2002 done themes of Malacca Night. This represents a re-familiarisation with the Malacca he grew up in as a teenager. Jolly Koh is a rare conjunction of the Right Brain and the Left Brain, excelling as an artist par excellence and a sharp academic. His tutelage supports this: NDD (national diploma in design) at the Hornsey College of Art in London (1962); an art teacher's certificate at the London University (1993); Doctor of Education (1975) and Master of Science (1973) at the Indiana University, the United States. He had been a teaching associate at Indiana University, and taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College, before teaching Art in Melbourne and Adelaide and then back to Malaysia at the MSC College (Now SeGi College). He was one of the Magnificent 7 in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967. In 2017, he had a major survey exhibition called Jolly Koh @76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers), at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
May. 19, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Palm Reflection, 2004
Est: RM23,000 - RM43,000
Jolly Koh, the supreme colourist, could transform even a mordant palm alcove into a landscape of wondrous beauty, with shimmers of reflection and under nocturnal glow. There is a great touch of romance from the luminescent play in the placid waters. Jolly Koh makes no apologies, in fact delights in, the orchestration of "achingly beautiful and moving pictures." It ends up being a pageantry of Nature in all its complexities and colourful theatricality. Jolly Koh is a rare conjunction of the Right Brain and the Left Brain, excelling as an artist par excellence and a sharp academic. His tutelage supports this: NDD (national diploma in design) at the Hornsey College of Art in London (1962); an art teacher's certificate at the London University (1993); Doctor of Education (1975) and Master of Science (1973) at the Indiana University, the United States. He had been a teaching associate at Indiana University, and taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College, before teaching Art in Melbourne and Adelaide and then back to Malaysia at the MSC College (Now SeGi College). He was one of the Magnificent 7 in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967. In 2017, he had a major survey exhibition called Jolly Koh @76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers), at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 14, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Sunrise In Titiwangsa, 2004
Est: RM18,000 - RM32,000
Such a luminous scene depicting the light and atmosphere of the morning. Dr. Jolly Koh, the supreme colourist, has let the beautiful scene congealed by itself, retaining the main forms but swathed in his inimitable palette. The lower section is comprised of confident and agile overlapping brushstrokes in contrasting colours that evokes spatial distance. A sumptuous feast. As he had intoned with unabashed candour: “My aim is to produce achingly beautiful and moving pictures.” The evocative sunrise was magically transformed by his brush and vivid imagination. It's incredible that the cosmopolitan Dr. Jolly Koh, at 82, is still spooling his beauteous landscapes since his first solo in 1958, though he gained fame as one of the Magnificent 7. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, educated in the finest traditions of art in Britain and the United States, and teaching in Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and Australia. Jolly Koh graduated with a NDD (national diploma in design) at the Hornsey College of Art in London in 1962, followed up with an art teacher's certificate at the London University (Institute of Education) in 1993. He won a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Indian University in the United States, completing his Doctor of Education in 1975 and Master of Science in 1973 (he was also a teaching associate from 1973-1975. He taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College before teaching Art in Melbourne and Adelaide and then back to Malaysia at the MSC College (Now SeGi College). He was one of the Magnificent 7 in the GRUP exhibition in 1967. In 2017, he held a retrospective of sorts at White Box, Publika (Kuala Lumpur) which was marked by a sumptuous 350-page coffee-table book called Jolly Koh @ 76. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 14, 2024
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Wild Flowers, 2008
Est: RM55,000 - RM100,000
This must have been one of the most panoramic of Jolly Koh's exuberant flourishes of wild flowers, not in thick bulbous efflorescence, but in solitary skirmish spaced out over 300cm of expansive space, the voids a soothing backdrop as well as breather as the marauding eye jaunts merrily from one wild flower to another. Every little station is like an outburst celebrating life, vivacity and the alchemy of drip and guided paints with spores of coloured dots. A frolic of summer after a winter of discontent and brooding. Like the spirit of the Skylark, as in Percy Shelley's To The Skylark: Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, Thou from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of Unpremeditated art. Dr Jolly Koh, the quintessential colourist, pontificates on art, specifically the alchemy of colours, in print and in paint. An 8th generation Baba, he was born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, educated in Britain and the United States up to his Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States, under a Fulbright scholarship. He had taught in Shah Alam, Sabah, Australia (Melbourne and Adelaide) and back in Malaysia, before devoting fulltime to painting. A high point of his then 60-year art career was celebrated in 2017 in a major survey exhibition (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers), with a presentable 350-page book to boot.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Oct. 01, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Untitled, 2009
Est: RM3,500 - RM6,500
Through an exuberant blend of colours, this peaceful and harmonious scene features a young elephant roaming freely in the wilderness. The hills were executed in washes of fresh blue colours. Besides strength and magnificence, a sense of lyrical movement and joy is felt throughout the composition. Artist, art academician and intellectual-theorist, Jolly Koh has transcended his GRUP Magnificent Seven persona of 1967 as an alchemist of colours. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, studied in England and the United States, taught in Malaysia and Australia, he had several solo exhibitions since his first in 1957 culminating in his major survey show Jolly Koh@76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017, accompanied by a 350-page retrospective book. His academic credentials: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher's certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Oct. 01, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Untitled, 2006
Est: RM2,800 - RM5,000
Jolly Koh is a prime mover of modern art in Malaysia. His refined brushwork imbues the surface with a sense of movement and volume. Executed with swift dark strokes against a white background, this exquisite composition reveals a delicate balance between lines, space and texture. Artist, art academician and intellectual-theorist, Jolly Koh has transcended his GRUP Magnificent Seven persona of 1967 as an alchemist of colours. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, studied in England and the United States, taught in Malaysia and Australia, he had several solo exhibitions since his first in 1957 culminating in his major survey show Jolly Koh@76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017, accompanied by a 350-page retrospective book. His academic credentials: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher's certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Oct. 01, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Sunrise At A Li Shan, II, 2006
Est: RM42,000 - RM72,000
Indulge in the luxuriant decadence of pleasure amidst Nature's abundance, like here in the Alishan mountain enclave in Taiwan, with spectacular rock formations and the majestic Jiao Lung Waterfall. Idle in forgetfulness, where time stops and the environs full of golden hues and leafless trees hug the sides like portal guardians. Herein, colours can be joyous as well as ecstatic, seeping into the soul like an elixir. A veritable "Xanadu â¦ a stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea." (Kubla Khan, Samuel Taylor Coleridge). Such are the lush colours of Dr. Jolly Koh, the consummate colourist, evoking dreams of yesteryears. It's incredible that the cosmopolitan Dr. Jolly Koh, at 82, is still spooling his beauteous landscapes since his first solo in 1958, though he gained fame as one of the Magnificent 7. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, educated in the finest traditions of art in Britain and the United States, and teaching in Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and Australia. Jolly Koh graduated with a NDD (national diploma in design) at the Hornsey College of Art in London in 1962, followed up with an art teacher's certificate at the London University (Institute of Education) in 1993. He won a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Indian University in the United States, completing his Doctor of Education in 1975 and Master of Science in 1973 (he was also a teaching associate from 1973-1975. He taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah's Gaya College before teaching Art in Melbourne and Adelaide and then back to Malaysia at the MSC College (Now SeGi College). He was one of the Magnificent 7 in the GRUP exhibition in 1967. In 2017, he held a retrospective of sorts at White Box, Publika (Kuala Lumpur) which was marked by a sumptuous 350-page coffee-table book called Jolly Koh @ 76. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 24, 2023
JOLLY KOH, DR : Untitled, 1996
Est: RM7,000 - RM9,000
Born in 1941 in Singapore, Dr Jolly Koh is possibly one of the most illustrious artists in Malaysia. He is widely considered as one of the prime movers of the local art scene where he brings with him a vast range of experience he gained through living in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and many other countries. Jolly Koh’s paintings have a strong and resolute quality that reflects his personality. His works also present a lyrical and romantic quality, which surely showcases his private persona. The artist’s creations, awash with the quietude of a meditative soul, stand as a testament to his profound connection to the natural world and his ability to translate its essence onto canvas with unerring finesse.
KLAS Art Auction
Jul. 09, 2023
JOLLY KOH : Untitled, 2001
Est: RM38,000 - RM70,000
“I believe a painting must be beautiful in order to be able to fulfill its function of uplifting the soul.” – Jolly Koh True to his word, Jolly Koh creates a dream landscape – a dark, luminous wash of intense blend of blacks and grey, interspersed with splashes of white. With a vast amount of space, this piece is stunning in its bareness, the focus being on the wonderful nightscape. It is akin to the atmosphere at night, when the sun has completely disappeared from view, and it is peaceful, quiet and comforting. His exploration of the relationship between colour and space result in this beautiful masterpiece, with the only disruption of the beautiful colour-space being the strokes and streaks at the bottom. This piece is translucent and breathtaking, as Jolly Koh successfully takes the viewer to another fantasy world with the use of oil, producing yet again another romantic and lyrical painting.
KLAS Art Auction
Jun. 25, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Flame Of The Forest III, 2007
Est: RM30,000 - RM45,000
The flamboyance of the Flame of the Forest (Butea Monosperma), like the purplish jackaranda, offers not only refuge from its foliage, but a riot of bright colours when it blooms luxuriantly in orangey red in certain months. The ground will also be an ornamental carpet from the dropped beak-shaped keel petals. It's a sight to behold while it lasts. Jolly Koh captures its vivacity, simulating movements with pointillist renditions as if the flowers are floating in the air. The mimetic in Art of Nature sometimes treads a thin line. As Piet Mondrian put it (1938): "Art has to be forgotten: Beauty must be realised." The Flame of the Forest bloom is revered by the Hindus and is a sign of Myanmar's Thingyan Festival, which falls in April. Jolly Koh is best remembered for the major survey exhibition, Jolly Koh@76 (White Box, Publika), in 2017, organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers, which was accompanied with an impressive book chronicling 60 years of paintings. Artist, academician, scholar and pontificator. Education: NDD (national diploma in design) at Hornsey, London, and a teacher's certificate at London University; Fulbright scholarship at Indiana University, in the United States, for Doctor of Education and Master of Science (also a teaching associate). Teaching: Mara Institute of Technology; Sabah's Gaya College; Art in Melbourne and Adelaide; MSC College (SeGi College). In the legendary Magnificent 7 GRUP exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jun. 25, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Branches, 2005
Est: RM6,000 - RM10,000
Jolly Koh is a prime mover of modern art in Malaysia, whose powerful works showcase an exquisite blend of brushstrokes and forms that convey rhythmic movement and energy. Long brushstrokes were used to accentuate the branches, applied with force across the surface. The exuberant tones are enlivened through the artist's continuous exploration of light, colour and space. Jolly Koh's defining moment is his 2017 milestone exhibition in Kuala Lumpur celebrating 60 years of painting, marked by a presentable coffee-table publication. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. It marks his twin achievements straddling academia and painting practice. Apart from his pedagogical writing, Jolly Koh had taught Art in Malaysia (ITM, Gaya College in Sabah and back at MSC College later) and Australia (12 years, ending as a senior lecturer at TAFE College in Adelaide). He was educated in the United Kingdom (Hornsey and London University) and the United States (Indiana University, Ed.D and Msc, where he even taught Masters students for a year). His early prominence was as one of the Magnificent 7 abstract artists in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jun. 25, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Wild Flowers II, 2007
Est: RM42,000 - RM72,000
Fancy a Terang Bulan motif, popular in Jolly Koh's oeuvre in the mid-1990s, in 2007. What more the 'shooting star' motif with a bulbous head got wider play around 2009 albeit mostly on a horizontal veneer. Here, the meteor-like object shoots straight up with a little debris in the trajectory, the line demarcating the bed of wild flowers below. Seen against a pervasive golden sheen, the upward thrust with a bevy of wild flowers in luxuriant bloom, it's a spectacle. For Jolly Koh, these are all elements in prettifying the environs in another paean to Beauty. After all, As Jolly Koh had opined in his book, Artistic Imperatives (1999), that in life, one should take the opportunity to enjoy art for its intrinsic beauty, and its celebration of human values. And as Bridget Riley put it in The Mind's Eye: "I want people to enjoy my paintings, I want to give them that elation and freedom. I want them to feel as I do, or can sometimes, to have this particular joy." Jolly Koh is best remembered for the major survey exhibition, Jolly Koh@76 (White Box, Publika), in 2017, organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers, which was accompanied with an impressive book chronicling 60 years of paintings. Artist, academician, scholar and pontificator. Education: NDD (national diploma in design) at Hornsey, London, and a teacher's certificate at London University; Fulbright scholarship at Indiana University, in the United States, for Doctor of Education and Master of Science (also a teaching associate). Teaching: Mara Institute of Technology; Sabah's Gaya College; Art in Melbourne and Adelaide; MSC College (SeGi College). In the legendary Magnificent 7 GRUP exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 19, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Dragon, 2010
Est: RM7,000 - RM12,000
Dragons hover all over Jolly Koh's painting repertoire of 60 years, numbering easily a dozen. In profiles, standing erect, celestial or as an imperial insignia (the five-clawed dragon of Manchu emperors), they are depicted singly and floating, in the air, on land and underwater. There are dragons in profiles (left and right) as shown in the dual exhibition with Choy Weng Yang at Singapore's Sunjin Galleries (June-July 2010), and others with telling titles like Urat Naga (Dragon Veins), Dragon Scent, Dragon Landscape, Dancing Dragon, Dragon Country I-III, Dragon Dance I-II, Kangxi's Dragon, Celestial Sea Dragon, Night Of The Dragonâ¦ Some works can stretch up to (66 x) 244cm. Jolly Koh finds the dragon invested with supernatural powers, regal and a sign of fame and prosperity. The work exudes a sense of something precious and auspicious. It will be good to acquire this work as the Year of Dragon is coming in 2024. The Asian dragon has also become a chauvinist symbol of masculinity, though lexiconography lists dragonelles as those of matured female variety. Jolly Koh's defining moment is his 2017 milestone exhibition in Kuala Lumpur celebrating 60 years of painting, marked by a presentable coffee-table publication. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. It marks his twin achievements straddling academia and painting practice. Apart from his pedagogical writing, Jolly Koh had taught Art in Malaysia (ITM, Gaya College in Sabah and back at MSC College later) and Australia (12 years, ending as a senior lecturer at TAFE College in Adelaide). He was educated in the United Kingdom (Hornsey and London University) and the United States (Indiana University, Ed.D and Msc, where he even taught Masters students for a year). His early prominence was as one of the Magnificent 7 abstract artists in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967. His last solo, Jolly@80, was held in January 2022.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 19, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Estuary, 2004
Est: RM8,000 - RM14,000
Jolly Koh is a prime mover of modern art in Malaysia, whose powerful works showcase an exquisite blend of brushstrokes and forms that convey rhythmic movement. Luscious, translucent colours are applied with force across the surface of the painting. The exuberant tones are enlivened through the artist's continuous exploration of light, colour and space. Estuary is the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream. Jolly Koh's defining moment is his 2017 milestone exhibition in Kuala Lumpur celebrating 60 years of painting, marked by a presentable coffee-table publication. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. It marks his twin achievements straddling academia and painting practice. Apart from his pedagogical writing, Jolly Koh had taught Art in Malaysia (ITM, Gaya College in Sabah and back at MSC College later) and Australia (12 years, ending as a senior lecturer at TAFE College in Adelaide). He was educated in the United Kingdom (Hornsey and London University) and the United States (Indiana University, Ed.D and Msc, where he even taught Masters students for a year). His early prominence was as one of the Magnificent 7 abstract artists in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967. His last solo, Jolly@80, was held in January 2022.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 19, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Red Dreaming, III, 2005
Est: RM55,000 - RM85,000
Dr. Jolly Koh mostly has his gorgeous monochromes in vertical awe of height, distance and light, this over-powering expanse of resplendent red: mysterious, seductive and divine! The bottom dark realm titillates with movements, presumably of fauna and flora and Nature's gestated beauty. Dr. Jolly Koh is of course one of the most consummate colourists in the land and a devotee in the meditative joy of colours and all the intrinsic beauty. On his colours, he had intoned in his book, Artistic Imperatives (Maya Press, 2004): "My objective of utilising colour is to evoke or objectify feelings. Colour also evokes memories and other associations. Colour relationships can visually objectify emotions." This is a rare work of absolute quality. Jolly Koh's defining moment is his 2017 milestone exhibition in Kuala Lumpur celebrating 60 years of painting, marked by a presentable coffee-table publication. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. It marks his twin achievements straddling academia and painting practice. Apart from his pedagogical writing, Jolly Koh had taught Art in Malaysia (ITM, Gaya College in Sabah and back at MSC College later) and Australia (12 years, ending as a senior lecturer at TAFE College in Adelaide). He was educated in the United Kingdom (Hornsey and London University) and the United States (Indiana University, Ed.D and Msc, where he even taught Masters students for a year). His early prominence was as one of the Magnificent 7 abstract artists in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967. His last solo, Jolly@80, was held in January 2022.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 11, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2009
Est: RM3,800 - RM6,800
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2009
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 11, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) A Family Portrait, 2008
Est: RM4,800 - RM8,800
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) A Family Portrait, 2008
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 11, 2023
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2006
Est: RM2,800 - RM5,800
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2006
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 28, 2022
JOLLY KOH (1941)
Est: €3,000 - €5,000
Untitled Signed lower left Oil and acrylic on canvas, 75.6 x 90.8 cm Provenance: - Auction Shapiro Auctioneers, Sydney, 24 May 2006, lot 265 - Private collection, the Netherlands Note: In artist's frame. Please note: condition reports and additional photos are available upon request. For more information please visit our website: www.aagauctioneers.com.
AAG Auctioneers
Nov. 06, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2009
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,000
Through an exuberant blend of colours, this peaceful and harmonious scene features a young elephant roaming freely in the wilderness. The hills were executed in washes of fresh blue colours, on the right a golden sun rises above the sky. Besides strength and magnificence, a sense of lyrical movement and joy is felt throughout the composition. Artist, art academician and intellectual-theorist, Jolly Koh has transcended his GRUP Magnificent Seven persona of 1967 as an alchemist of colours. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, studied in England and the United States, taught in Malaysia and Australia, he had several solo exhibitions since his first in 1957 culminating in his major survey show Jolly Koh@76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017, accompanied by a 350-page retrospective book. His academic credentials: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher's certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 06, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Song Landscape, II, 2004
Est: RM34,000 - RM60,000
Sweet dreams are made of these. A luscious landscape in soft golden hues stretching beyond the eyes' ends, reminiscent of the resplendence of the Song Dynasty in China where arts and literature flourished in Neo-Confucianism glory. Its stillness animated. A paean of placid tranquility, the mind calmed, and embalmed in frozen time. A loose calligraphic line cavorts across a stunted nebulous mass while a slanted blob breaks the smooth veneer. A dark horizon separates the yellow pinkish top; and then the silence, the peace. Jolly Koh's defining moment is his 2017 milestone exhibition in Kuala Lumpur celebrating 60 years of painting, marked by a presentable coffee-table publication. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. It marks his twin achievements straddling academia and painting practice. Apart from his pedagogical writing, Jolly Koh had taught Art in Malaysia (ITM, Gaya College in Sabah and back at MSC College later) and Australia (12 years, ending as a senior lecturer at TAFE College in Adelaide). He was educated in the United Kingdom (Hornsey and London University) and the United States (Indiana University, Ed.D and Msc, where he even taught Masters students for a year). His early prominence was as one of the Magnificent 7 abstract artists in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967. His last solo, Jolly@80, was held in January 2022.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 06, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Dragon Scent, 2008
Est: RM42,000 - RM72,000
Dragons feature periodically in Jolly Koh's art repertoire, from 2004 to 2014, with the artist-academician's fairy-tale fascination with the celestial being celebrated in Oriental and Western folklore for its magical prowess in the sky and under the sea. Jolly Koh was born in 1941 in the Chinese lunar year of the Metal Snake which shares some similarities with its more supernatural brethren. The dragon is the symbol of imperial China and is said to control the four seasons, and thus, climate change. But how do you manifest the scent of a dragon? Here, Jolly Koh departs from his bright illuminating colours for a plethora of ethereal cloudburst and a spectral darker-hued enclave of colour spectrum. The scent, it seems, veers towards the visual rather than the smell. This work was a feature piece in the âJolly Koh at Petronasâ exhibition at Galeri Petronas in May 2008. Jolly Koh's defining moment is his 2017 milestone exhibition in Kuala Lumpur celebrating 60 years of painting, marked by a presentable coffee-table publication. It was organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers. It marks his twin achievements straddling academia and painting practice. Apart from his pedagogical writing, Jolly Koh had taught Art in Malaysia (ITM, Gaya College in Sabah and back at MSC College later) and Australia (12 years, ending as a senior lecturer at TAFE College in Adelaide). He was educated in the United Kingdom (Hornsey and London University) and the United States (Indiana University, Ed.D and Msc, where he even taught Masters students for a year). His early prominence was as one of the Magnificent 7 abstract artists in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967. His last solo, Jolly@80, was held in January 2022.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jul. 17, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Balloon Nebula, 2013
Est: RM50,000 - RM90,000
On top of the stylistic developments in his poetic oeuvre, Jolly has always maintained his own vision and interest in the aesthetic experience. Works from this period reflect the artist transitioning into a sophisticated realm, with defter composition placing emphasis on bold colours that reflect the interior landscape of the artist’s conception. As such the Nebula series has become one of his most important works in recent years. What an efflorescence of cosmic ecstasy with sonic orchestral bloom and boom. Jolly Koh’s Balloon Nebula strikes at a new manifestation of intergalactic combustion: a miasma of molten colours of various hues, light and dark, magical, and enticing. Its rich varieties of textures were created using an elaborate process of pouring and splashing paint across the surface, resulting in an overpowering mix and density of gaseous colour spectrum interacting in an infinite space. So grand and exhilarating! Artist, art academician and intellectual-theorist, Jolly Koh has transcended his GRUP Magnificent Seven persona of 1967 as an alchemist of colours. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, studied in England and the United States, taught in Malaysia and Australia, he has had several solo exhibitions since his first in 1957 culminating in his major survey show Jolly Koh@76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017, accompanied by a 350-page retrospective book. His academic credentials: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher’s certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jul. 17, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Yellow Reflection III, 2006
Est: RM50,000 - RM90,000
Yellow Reflection III is testament to Jolly’s endless imagination in his compositions, with enticing, saturated colours that invites the viewer to enter a passage of time. The slivers of blue on top with the tidal yellow heightening evokes a misty, fluid atmosphere, as the illusion of depth gradually unfolds. The yellow is imbued with its inherent tensions, with vertical strokes moving across the surface of the painting, exuding confidence, and warmth. A sense of happiness and energy and even cheerfulness pervades in this languorous ode to Beauty. Artist, art academician and intellectual-theorist, Jolly Koh has transcended his GRUP Magnificent Seven persona of 1967 as an alchemist of colours. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, studied in England and the United States, taught in Malaysia and Australia, he has had several solo exhibitions since his first in 1957 culminating in his major survey show Jolly Koh@76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017, accompanied by a 350-page retrospective book. His academic credentials: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher’s certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jul. 17, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Dragon Country, 2006
Est: RM52,000 - RM92,000
Dragons are forever. Real or mythic, they capture the human imagination like no other and exist in emblems and entablatures and in the Chinese zodiac legend as one of the 12 mythical lunar creatures. They can be invisible, in feeling and scent only, as in this Jolly Koh’s Dragon Country, one in a series of three, with swift but graceful movements in some celestial space. Executed in a vast expanse of red sienna colours that are luminous, the work resonates with harmony that produces a sense of motion across space. It simultaneously suggests the impressions of a place, and connection between the self and the environment. At the paintings right edge, exuberant and free-flowing vertical bands overlap, swirl, and merge seamlessly into one another, channelling the energy of movement. Jolly Koh himself, born in 1941, is a Metal Snake, sharing the sinuous movements and physiological characteristics of the dragon. Jolly Koh’s dragon repertoire spans the years 2001-2006. Artist, art academician and intellectual-theorist, Jolly Koh has transcended his GRUP Magnificent Seven persona of 1967 as an alchemist of colours. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, studied in England and the United States, taught in Malaysia and Australia, he has had several solo exhibitions since his first in 1957 culminating in his major survey show Jolly Koh@76 (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, Publika, Kuala Lumpur, in 2017, accompanied by a 350-page retrospective book. His academic credentials: National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art in London; Art Teacher’s certificate at the Institute of Education in London University; Doctor of Education and Master of Science at the Indiana University in the United States.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 27, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Reflection In Titiwangsa, 2007
Est: RM42,000 - RM70,000
For vegetation sprouting up over water or under, there are different states of mind, and of life, the top with the effusive swathe of light and that under with an aqueous movement and growth of silence. There is a contemplative calm as the leaf blades dance or sway, each balancing each other in an awkward interdependence. Life is not all about flamboyance and pageantry and can be celebrated in such inobtrusive natural forms, and still exude a gorgeous aura. There is a schism in Jolly Koh’s art. The intellect of theory and philosophy honed from his academic background: National Diploma in Design, Hornsey College of Art, London; Art Teacher’s Certificate, London University; MSc Indiana University, USA (Fulbright scholarship), and his teaching Art in the United States, Australia and Malaysia. And the other is the incorrigible romantic in his canvas. His first claim to great fame was as one of the Magnificent 7 in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967.In 2017, he published the 350-page retrospective book defining his 60-year art career called Jolly Koh @ 76, which was also the title of the accompanying exhibition (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, MAP Publika. A great achievement for one who was given his first solo, at the tender age of 16, at the British Council in Kuala Lumpur in 1957.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 27, 2022
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Jumping Fish And The Rising Sun, 2010
Est: RM100,000 - RM180,000
The title is just pure embellishment, with the ‘rising sun’, a source of energy and light, having little or none to do with fishes, jumping or otherwise, while the sea tides are tied to the phases of the moon. Jumping fishes can be ascribed to the carp, an auspicious creature oft emblazoned in Chinese ink paintings, or the breaching of the dolphins, out for lark rather than escaping from predators or preying on others. The juxtaposition is just a double conjunction of joy and beauty, as Jolly Koh unabashedly pursues the elixir of beauty on his canvas through luscious forms and oft incendiary colours. Whether it be sunrise, sunset or twilight, Jolly Koh is only in pursuit of beauty personified. This piece is a major work, a masterpiece. There is a schism in Jolly Koh’s art. The intellect of theory and philosophy honed from his academic background: National Diploma in Design, Hornsey College of Art, London; Art Teacher’s Certificate, London University; MSc Indiana University, USA (Fulbright scholarship), and his teaching Art in the United States, Australia and Malaysia. And the other is the incorrigible romantic in his canvas. His first claim to great fame was as one of the Magnificent 7 in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967.In 2017, he published the 350-page retrospective book defining his 60-year art career called Jolly Koh @ 76, which was also the title of the accompanying exhibition (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, MAP Publika. A great achievement for one who was given his first solo, at the tender age of 16, at the British Council in Kuala Lumpur in 1957.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 05, 2021
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Dragon, 2012
Est: RM15,000 - RM30,000
Dragons hover all over Jolly Koh’s painting repertoire of 60 years, numbering easily a dozen. In profiles, standing erect, celestial or as an imperial insignia (the five-clawed dragon of Manchu emperors), they are depicted singly and floating, in the air, on land and underwater. There are dragons in profiles (left and right) as shown in the dual exhibition with Choy Weng Yang at Singapore’s Sunjin Galleries (June-July 2010), and others with telling titles like Urat Naga (Dragon Veins), Dragon Scent, Dragon Landscape, Dancing Dragon, Dragon Country I-III, Dragon Dance I-II, Kangxi’s Dragon, Celestial Sea Dragon, Night Of The Dragon… Some works can stretch up to (66cm x) 244cm. Though not born in the lunar year of the Dragon himself, Jolly Koh finds the dragon invested with supernatural powers, regal and a sign of fame and prosperity, unlike in the West where it is vilified as a monstrous villain spewing missiles of fire. Embellished in gold, it exudes a sense of something precious and auspicious. The Asian dragon has also become a chauvinist symbol of masculinity, though lexiconography lists dragonelles as those of matured female variety. Artist-academician Jolly Koh has a chequered career in art, with tutelage at Hornsey College of Art and London University (England) and Indiana University (Masters, United States). He had taught at the Mara Institute of Technology, Gaya College in Sabah, Melbourne and Adelaide (TAFE College), and MSC College (now SeGi University). In 2017, he was given a major survey exhibition (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at MAP Publika (White Box), Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by a book chronicling 60 years of his life paintings.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 05, 2021
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2001
Est: RM38,000 - RM68,000
This is a rare ‘Black Painting’ by Jolly Koh, the incorrigible master of colours. Not the dull monochromes of Kazimir Malevich and Ad Reinhardt, or Goya’s macabre Black Paintings, of course. To Jolly Koh, there’s pulchritude in black, not totally black of course, because there’s a subtly imperceptible illumination that add nuances and titillate the imagination. Like Lord Byron’s marvelling at how Rembrandt made his darkness equal light. Darkness is oft something to be feared, the occult or something similarly sinister. But to Jolly Koh, ‘Darkness’ is like the Simon & Garfunkel Sound of Silence refrain, “my old friend”, a bosom pal one visits and revisits for succour and solace. A challenge to plunge the depths of the unknown, to make it known. It is a reassuring nocturnal cocoon, a safe space, a hideout, where one can be inconspicuously “not there”. Some may view it as a romantic night scene, and on a night like this, lovers embrace with caressing whispers, and everything lies between remembrance and forgetfulness. Artist-academician Jolly Koh has a chequered career in art, with tutelage at Hornsey College of Art and London University (England) and Indiana University (Masters, United States). He had taught at the Mara Institute of Technology (briefly), Gaya College in Sabah, Melbourne and Adelaide (TAFE College), and MSC College (now SeGi University). In 2017, he was given a major survey exhibition at MAP Publika, White Box (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by a book chronicling 60 years of his life paintings.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Aug. 22, 2021
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2002
Est: RM38,000 - RM68,000
Can your ever dream it, a night like this? As light dims in the distant yonder, an orangey crimson sky makes a gorgeous splash from the loving brushes of Jolly Koh, the supreme colourist unabashedly producing “beautiful and moving pictures”, and things get animated and cavort in the near front. Imagine the lilting ivory keys from Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major, Op 9 No. 2, with its sonorous rhythms making the strains of a wide-awake lullaby. The soothing waves lapping and the cool wind rustling through your ears. Yes, on a night like this, lovers embrace with caressing whispers, and everything lies between remembrance and forgetfulness. Jolly Koh was schooled in the finest art institutions in UK and the USA — Hornsey College of Art and London University; and Indiana University (Fulbright scholarship for his Masters, and was made teaching associate too). He taught briefly in Malaysia before teaching in Melbourne and then Adelaide in Australia for most of his 20 years there. On his return to Malaysia, he taught at the MSC College (now SEGi) from 2000 to 2004. He was accorded a milestone late-survey exhibition by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers at MAP Publika Kuala Lumpur in 2017, celebrating 60 years of painting since his first solo at the British Council Kuala Lumpur in 1957 at the age of 16! It was accompanied by the publication of a fine book (Jolly Koh @ 76) of his life paintings.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 21, 2021
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Lilac Landscape, 1982
Est: RM28,000 - RM48,000
April is the cruellest month, Breeding lilacs out of the dead land, Mixing memory and desire, Stirring dull roots with spring rain. These opening lines from T.S. Eliot’s magnum opus, The Waste Land, springs to mind, as one of the lush visual manifestations. Unlike T.S. Eliot’s immediate post-war dislocations, Lilac Landscape is fecund with solace, hope and desire. At time of painting, Jolly Koh was already in his new home in Australia, teaching first in Melbourne and then at the TAFE College in Adelaide. It is a long, long way from home, which is Malaysia, after two bouts of studies in Britain and the United States. Malingering in abandon, behold such a vista, full of uncertainty and mystery, but oh, the beauty! Let’s stretch into a looong yawn, and lay back, and enjoy the scenery. It’s unusual to find such a beautiful conjunction of artist and academician, one with a sharp intellect. For Dr. Jolly Koh, his life is the stuff of an art adventure. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, made an impact as a boy wonder of art in Kuala Lumpur, he pursued his academic credentials in UK and the United States, and on his return, taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah’s Gaya College, before uprooting to Australia to teach there, and then back to Malaysia to teach, and now relocated here. His education read: Hornsey College of Art, London, 1959-62; London University’s Institute of Education, 1962-63; Indiana University in the United States (MSc, Ed.D, Masters), 1970-75. Jolly Koh was accorded a benchmark exhibition celebrating 60 years of art in 2017, at the Whitebox Publika, Kuala Lumpur (organised by Curate Henry Butcher), which was accompanied by an impressive monograph – a proud journey since his first solo, at the age of 17, at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur, in 1958.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 21, 2021
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Fan Fern, 1996
Est: RM50,000 - RM90,000
At the expense of being facile, Jolly Koh’s inadvertent ‘series’ under the Fan Fern label, seems formulaic: a series of rectangular blobs, with a broad vertical at the bottom filled with rising phalanxes either as a clump or just bobbing, and usually with nuances of one dominant colour. More than clumps of patterns, fan ferns are known for the unconventional germination, through a plethora of spores. Arguably the first Fan Fern was dated 1968, now in the National Art Gallery collection, and 30 years down the road, there was a burst of Fan Ferns, which doesn’t stray from the original but certainly with a creamier lather of luscious colours. The 1968 Fan Fern, an amalgam of London free abstractions and reconnection with local landscape, sets Jolly Koh’s reputation as a colourist. In this 1996 work, the bottom blob seems to succumb to something broken, or in tatters, as compared to another 1996 piece which is dominant with chromatic yellow. So, how come, there was a Fan Fern revival after a 30-year hiatus? Jolly Koh explained in his 2008 monograph (Maya Press), that he was aghast to discover his 1968 Fan Fern in a sorry state, and decided to reprise his Fan Ferns, “as an act of compensation.” It’s unusual to find such a beautiful conjunction of artist and academician, one with a sharp intellect. For Dr. Jolly Koh, his life is the stuff of an art adventure. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, made an impact as a boy wonder of art in Kuala Lumpur, he pursued his academic credentials in UK and the United States, and on his return, taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah’s Gaya College, before uprooting to Australia to teach there, and then back to Malaysia to teach, and now relocated here. His education read: Hornsey College of Art, London, 1959-62; London University’s Institute of Education, 1962-63; Indiana University in the United States (MSc, Ed.D, Masters), 1970-75. Jolly Koh was accorded a benchmark exhibition celebrating 60 years of art in 2017, at the Whitebox Publika, Kuala Lumpur (organised by Curate Henry Butcher), which was accompanied by an impressive monograph – a proud journey since his first solo, at the age of 17, at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur, in 1958.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 21, 2021
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2002
Est: RM30,000 - RM55,000
Time was when you doubted Jolly Koh would ever veer from his vibrant primary palette into a twilight zone of dark polyps of what look superficially like brown and grey, to Jolly Koh more a play of red-orange-blue, producing a tiptoe between yellow-tan and light-brown. Such suggestively nocturnal pieces can be found in his immediate new millennium pieces like Night Sky and Red Nocturne and in the later part, his ‘China’ works. Does one’s vision and palette aged, or mature like cliched phasal developments from teenaged angst, youth to middle-age… or is it, as it more likely, Jolly Koh’s new adventure into a terrain of more sombre colours? It’s unusual to find such a beautiful conjunction of artist and academician, one with a sharp intellect. For Dr. Jolly Koh, his life is the stuff of an art adventure. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, made an impact as a boy wonder of art in Kuala Lumpur, he pursued his academic credentials in UK and the United States, and on his return, taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah’s Gaya College, before uprooting to Australia to teach there, and then back to Malaysia to teach, and now relocated here. His education read: Hornsey College of Art, London, 1959-62; London University’s Institute of Education, 1962-63; Indiana University in the United States (MSc, Ed.D, Masters), 1970-75. Jolly Koh was accorded a benchmark exhibition celebrating 60 years of art in 2017, at the Whitebox Publika, Kuala Lumpur (organised by Curate Henry Butcher), which was accompanied by an impressive monograph – a proud journey since his first solo, at the age of 17, at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur, in 1958.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 15, 2020
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Palms, 2005
Est: RM40,000 - RM80,000
Such luminescent scene on a nocturnal evening. Romance is in the air, what with the sound of the waves lapping the shore and the palms swaying gently in the wind. Prone more to abstractions, Dr. Jolly Koh, the supreme colourist, has let the beautiful scene congealed by itself, retaining the main forms but swathed in his inimitable palette. A sumptuous feast. As he had intoned with unabashed candour: “My aim is to produce achingly beautiful and moving pictures.” It was at the time he was painting similar oeuvre of Titiwangsa, but it could well be any place, no doubt magically transformed by his brush and vivid imagination. Times like this, one would just love to lean against the trunk, thinking nothing thoughts, and savouring Nature’s play. Artist-academician-scholar Jolly Koh was a wunderkind in art and got to study first at Hornsey in London followed by a teaching course in London University. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study for his MFA at the Indiana University, where he was also a teaching associate. He helped set up the Fine Art programme at the Mara Institute of Technology (now a university), and taught at Gaya College in Sabah before spending many years teaching in Australia ending up as senior lecturer at TAFE College in Adelaide. On his return to Malaysia, he taught at the MSC College (now SeGi, 2000-2004). But painting is his greatest passion, since his first solo at the British Council Kuala Lumpur in 1958 at the age of 16. A comprehensive book on his 60 years of painting journey titled Jolly Koh @ 76 was published and launched in the 2017 exhibition at White Box, MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur, organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 08, 2020
JOLLY KOH, DR : Untitled, 1998
Est: RM4,000 - RM8,000
Dr Jolly Koh was born in Singapore in 1941 and moved to Malaya when he was an infant during the Japanese invasion of the country. He is known as possibly one of the most illustrious artists in Malaysia. He is widely considered as one of the prime movers of the local art scene where he brings with him a vast range of experience he gained through living in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and many other countries. In this untitled piece, a figure that represents a boy eating a piece of watermelon is accompanied by splashes of bright red and sky blue, almost bringing the boy to life.
KLAS Art Auction
Aug. 23, 2020
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Evening Glow 1, 2004
Est: RM23,000 - RM43,000
As light dims, the natural colours outdoor are suffused with little streaks, yet forming clusters of different hues in sections. Sky, sea and land go through magical transformations with ephemeral finality: a flight of wings, flower buds clasping like a Venus flytrap…the inexorability of a pulled curtain / blanket, Slumber. Eventide cometh with a colourful flourish, the trademark orangey luminosity weighing lightly on the eyelids in the chameleon colour changes. Jolly Koh’s Evening Glow is an evocative lullaby mood piece even for those who think landscape… Jolly Koh’s career as artist-academician is as flamboyant as his canvas colours. Hornsey and an art teacher’s certificate in another British institution in the early 1960s, followed by a Masters in Indiana, he had taught at the Mara Institute of Technology and Gaya College in Sabah, before a long teaching stint in Australia, in Melbourne and then Adelaide, ending up as senior lecturer at TAFE College (1976-1988). After two decades, he returned to Malaysia to teach again and later concentrated fulltime into painting. He was given a memorable major survey exhibition in 2017 by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers, at Publika, where he celebrated 60 years of painting since his first solo at the British Council Kuala Lumpur (1957) and which was commemorated with the publication of a comprehensive book of his life paintings.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 15, 2020
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Tuaran Falls, 1981
Est: RM40,000 - RM70,000
There is something therapeutic about waterfalls, especially when the cascades of water can be felt, if not observed. It is presented as an optical avalanche of white with the mossy rocks on which it plunges and glides rendered in a fuzzy mirage — so unlike an earlier work put up at the Henry Butcher Art Auction where it is a straight dip down, dividing the canvas. The cooling and curative sounds of water as what scientists call “white noise” are inescapable, what with a perceived sense of cleansing of the body and mind. In the great waterfalls, one is also in the presence of the Almighty, with the sense of awe and reverence. So it is no wonder that at one time lightboxes featuring ‘moving’ waterfalls have become a living-room antidote to stress. Artist-academician Jolly Koh is an 8th generation Baba, born in Singapore, growing up in Malacca, and spending nearly two decades in Australia, teaching for 12 years. He was educated at the Hornsey College of Art, London (NDD, 1959-1962), London University (art teacher’s certificate, 1962-1963), Indiana University (Ed.D and MSc, 1973-1975), and teaching associate thereafter. He had taught at the Mara Institute of Technology, Sabah’s Gaya College, and from 1976 to 1988 in Melbourne and Adelaide, before taking up the post of Senior lecturer at MSC College (now SeGI, 2000-2004). In 2017, he had a major exhibition (organised by Henry Butcher Art) at MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur, which saw the publication of an important book detailing 60 years of his art, a far cry from his first solo at the British Council Kuala Lumpur in 1957 when he was only 16!
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 15, 2020
Jolly Koh (b. Singapore, 1941) Untitled, 2001
Est: RM35,000 - RM65,000
Whereas Dr. Jolly Koh mostly has his gorgeous monochromes in vertical awe of height, distance and light, this over-powering expanse of Rothko-ian rectangle of resplendent orange: mysterious, seductive and divine! The bottom dark realm titillates with movements, presumably of fauna and flora and Nature’s gestated beauty. Dr. Jolly Koh is of course one of the most consummate colourists in the land and a devotee in the meditative joy of colours and all the intrinsic beauty. On his colours, he had intoned in his book, Artistic Imperatives (Maya Press, 2004): “My objective of utilising colour is to evoke or objectify feelings. Colour also evokes memories and other associations. Colour relationships can visually objectify emotions.” Artist-academician Jolly Koh is an 8th generation Baba, born in Singapore and growing up in Malacca, and spending nearly two decades in Australia, teaching for 12 years. He was educated at the Hornsey College of Art, London (1959-1962), London University (art teacher’s certificate, 1962-1963), Indiana University (Ed.D and MSc, 1973-1975), and teaching associate thereafter. He had taught at the Mara Institute of Technology, Sabah’s Gaya College, and from 1976-1988 in Melbourne and Adelaide, before taking up the post of senior lecturer at MSC College (now SeGI, 2000-2004). In 2017, he had a major exhibition (organised by Henry Butcher Art) at MAP Publika, Kuala Lumpur, which saw the publication of an important book detailing 60 years of his art, a far cry from his first solo at the British Council Kuala Lumpur in 1957 when he was only 16!
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 03, 2019
Jolly Koh (b. 1941) Evening By The River Li, 1996
Est: RM12,000 - RM20,000
Jolly Koh captures the grandeur of the natural environment. Executed in rich colours, impressions of mountains surrounded by tranquil waters exude a poetic atmosphere. Artist-educator Jolly Koh is one of the finest colourists in Malaysian art. He was given his first solo exhibition at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur at the age of 17 in 1958. An eighth generation Peranakan Baba, Jolly Koh grew up in Malacca. He excelled in art studies obtaining his National Diploma in Design at the Hornsey College of Art, London (1959-1962) and the Art Teacher’s Certificate at the London University (1962–1963). He then obtained his MSc (Fulbright scholarship, 1970-1972) and Ed.D (1972-1975) at the Indiana University in the United States, while being a teaching associate there from 1973 to 1975. He also taught Art in Melbourne and Adelaide from 1976 to 1988. He was a senior lecturer at the MSC College (now SeGi) from 2000 until 2004. His solo show in 2013 entitled Towards The Nebula represents a darker phase in his palette. His solo Jolly Koh @ 76 (organised by Curate Henry Butcher) at White Box, Publika in 2017 was a great success.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 29, 2019
JOLLY KOH : Landscape, 2011
Est: RM25,000 - RM40,000
"Concocted by Jolly Koh in 2011, ´Landscape is a medley of wonderful and harmonious hues, supplemented by different intensities and tones. It possesses an otherworldly atmosphere hallmark of Jolly Kohs works. Inspired by his own mind and skills, his style of painting is purely derived from his fantasy world and he maorphs it into a tangible form with the combined use of oil and acrylic. This arresting landscape is an incorporation of nature and his prowess as a romantic and lyrical painter. Jolly Kohs paintings are frequently exhibited in KLASs art auction _ among his highest grossing painting i from Sale XXVI, hammered after a bidding war for RM105,956.80."
KLAS Art Auction

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