Ju Ping Kuo Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Ju Ping Kuo Art Value Price Guide

Dec. 05, 2021
Kuo Ju Ping (b. China, 1908 – d. 1966) Self Portrait
Est: RM8,000 - RM14,000
Here rendered in oil, is a self-portrait of the artist himself. The work demonstrates using muted colors giving a vintage look and feel to the piece. Kuo Ju Ping (the name was taken after a water plant) was in the pioneering batch of students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore but had to return a year before graduating to tend to his father’s import-export business, Sing Guan Thye & Co. He was a founding member of Thursday Art Group and Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936. He was one of the first artists to paint ordinary people and places such as rubber estates, oil palms / cocoa plantations, paddy fields, kampung and make-shift hawker centres. He was a mentor of Tan Choon Ghee (1930-2010) who became a legendary watercolourist.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 05, 2021
Kuo Ju Ping (b. China, 1908 – d. 1966) Village Food Vendor
Est: RM18,000 - RM32,000
Celebrated Nanyang painter Kuo Ju Ping revelled in portraying the serenity of village life. Filled with sensuous colours and mastery of light, the work of an open market shows Kuo Ju Ping’s perceptive talent for capturing the atmosphere of the landscape. The work suggests a quiet morning market shed, with a gathering of women beautifully dressed in traditional attire of sarongs, baju kurung, and scarves. The proximity to nature is felt through the framing of vertical coconut trees, surrounded by a gaggle of geese in the foreground. Kuo Ju Ping (the name was taken after a water plant) was in the pioneering batch of students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in Singapore but had to return a year before graduating to tend to his father’s import-export business, Sing Guan Thye & Co. He was a founding member of Thursday Art Group and Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936. He was one of the first artists to paint the ordinary people and places such as rubber estates, oil palms / cocoa plantations, padi-fields, kampung and make-shift hawker centres. Kuo died of a stroke in March 1966 at the age of 58.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 05, 2021
Kuo Ju Ping (b. China, 1908 – d. 1966) Tree-lined Pathways
Est: RM7,000 - RM12,000
The artist manages to capture the beauty of nature with hues of greens and browns. It creates a positive and peaceful vibe. It is pleasant to look at. Kuo Ju Ping (the name was taken after a water plant) was in the pioneering batch of students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore but had to return a year before graduating to tend to his father’s import-export business, Sing Guan Thye & Co. He was a founding member of Thursday Art Group and Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936. He was one of the first artists to paint ordinary people and places such as rubber estates, oil palms / cocoa plantations, paddy fields, kampung and make-shift hawker centres. He was a mentor of Tan Choon Ghee (1930-2010) who became a legendary watercolourist.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
May. 26, 2019
KUO JU PING (MALAYSIA, 1913-1966) Bridges oil on canvas 50.5 x 60 cm. (19 7/8 x 23 5/8 in.)
Est: $50,000 - $80,000
KUO JU PING (MALAYSIA, 1913-1966) Bridges oil on canvas 50.5 x 60 cm. (19 7/8 x 23 5/8 in.)
Christie's
Apr. 29, 2018
KUO JUPING (b. 1908 - d. 1966) UNTITLED (SELF PORTRAIT), 1952, Oil on canvas laid on board
Est: RM16,000 - RM30,000
Kuo Juping had done several self-portraits but this is perhaps one with more rough-hewn textures to show more tough character and colour. He looks studious, like a teacher, rather than the businessman he is in an import-export trade, or even an artist. Looking straight at the viewer, his simple white shirt reveals his humility and someone prim and conservative, rather than his status as one dealing with rattan, cloves and nutmeg. According to his main chronicler, Dato’ Dr. Tan Chee Khuan: “He never sold a single painting during his lifetime and signed his canvas only in Chinese, but someone later added a signature in English, probably to boost the value of the works. Sometimes, he would not sign and sometimes he would add a Chinese seal chop.” Kuo Juping (the name was taken after a water plant) was in the pioneering batch of students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art (NAFA) in Singapore but had to return a year before graduating to tend to his father’s import-export business, Sing Guan Thye & Co., in Victoria Street. He was a founding member of Thursday Art Group and the Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936. He was one of the first artists to paint the ordinary people and places such as rubber estates, oil palms / cocoa plantations, padi-fields, kampung and make-shift hawker centres. He was a mentor of Tan Choon Ghee (1930-2010) who became a legendary watercolourist. Kuo died of a stroke in March 1966 at the age of 58.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Apr. 29, 2018
KUO JUPING (b. 1908 - d. 1966) MY NEIGHBOUR, undated, Oil on canvas
Est: RM16,000 - RM30,000
This must have been Presgrave Street, the street where Kuo Juping lived in Penang. The houses then had a big front-yard or compound which could be partitioned to create smaller cubicles to rent out. This place which Kuo Juping said was his neighbour’s looks cluttered although the high gateway, like that reserved for a temple precinct, was imposing for the time. On one side was stacked several long planks, indicating that the owner could have been in the sawn-wood business. Freely roving chicken were raised either to supplement the income or to help sustain a large family. On the left is shown the front marque of a parked Morris Minor, indicating that the house occupant was someone well-to-do. It’s not known how Kuo Juping’s own house looked like, although his import-export business, Sin Guan Thye Co. was located nearby, in Victoria Street.Kuo Juping (the name was taken after a water plant) was in the pioneering batch of students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art (NAFA) in Singapore but had to return a year before graduating to tend to his father’s import-export business, Sing Guan Thye & Co. He was a founding member of Thursday Art Group and Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936. He was one of the first artists to paint the ordinary people and places such as rubber estates, oil palms / cocoa plantations, padi-fields, kampung and make-shift hawker centres. He was a mentor of Tan Choon Ghee (1930-2010) who became a legendary watercolourist. Kuo died of a stroke in March 1966 at the age of 58.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 11, 2018
PORTRAIT OF A BOY
Est: RM5,000 - RM9,000
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The Edge Auction
Mar. 11, 2018
KAMPUNG SCENE
Est: RM3,500 - RM4,500
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The Edge Auction
Nov. 12, 2017
KUO JU PING (b. 1908 - d. 1966) MY DAUGHTER PLAYING PIAONO, undated, Oil on canvas laid on masonite board
Est: RM30,000 - RM45,000
The name of the girl in a white frock with broad bluish bands playing the piano is Serene Koay Chooi Hoong. She is Kuo Ju-Ping’s (nee Koay Seng Chye) daughter from his second marriage to May Fong Sien, who was an art teacher and who died in an accident in 1995. (Kuo had another daughter, born 1944, from his first marriage; his second marriage was around the early 1950s). For a girl to be able to take piano lessons during the 1960s, it must have been a luxury. Because of prejudices still prevalent those days, some girls don’t even get to be sent to school. The local music scene in Penang at that time was ruled by Jimmy Boyle and Paul Augustin. But Kuo, who took over his father’s import-export (rattan, cloves and nutmegs) business, Sin Guan Thye and Company, in Victoria Street, was fairly well-to-do, although he had to abruptly stop his studies as a pioneering batch of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art (NAFA) in Singapore, to return to tend to the business. Kuo died of a stroke in March 1966 at the age of 58, but Serene Koay remembered him fondly: “He used to bring along a sketch-book wherever he went. While waiting to fetch me after school, or at the seaside or on a business trip to Balik Pulau, he would doodle on his sketchbook. I always admired his concentration in painting.” (Kuo Ju Ping Memorial Exhibition, the Penang State Art Gallery, Aug 5-30, 1997, by Dato Dr Tan Chee Khuan). Even though he left NAFA a year ahead of graduation, Kuo was already sound in all departments of the art field. He was a founding member of the Penang Chinese Art Club and was a mentor of Tan Choon Ghee (1930-2010), who became a legendary watercolorist.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 05, 2017
RUBBER ESTATE
Est: RM2,500 - RM4,000
Painting with frame
The Edge Auction
Jan. 15, 2017
KUO JU PING Street Scene, 1957 Watercolour on paper
Est: RM2,500 - RM5,000
KUO JU PING Street Scene, 1957 Watercolour on paper 37.5 x 54.5 cm
KLAS Art Auction
Jun. 26, 2016
KUO JU PING (B. China, 1913-1966) Fishing Village
Est: RM10,000 - RM15,000
Stamped with one seal of the artist on lower left
KLAS Art Auction
Apr. 17, 2016
KUO JU PING (b. 1913 - d. 1966) Fishing Village, Undated, Mixed media on paper
Est: RM6,000 - RM8,000
Kuo Ju Ping is known for mastering the art of sketching from life and would often organize sketching trips with artists and students to observe nature and people. This work appeals in the simplicity of composition and solid grounding in academic art. Receiving his education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art, Kuo Ju Ping was influenced by Western art movements from artists who were educated at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux- Arts in Paris. He returned to Penang after graduation in 1940, to manage his family’s import-export business, Sin Guan Thye Company. He was a founder member of the Penang Chinese Art Society in 1936 and a dedicated teacher who regularly conducted classes at Chung Ling High School, Union High School, Li Tek School and Han Chiang High School. He was honoured with a memorial exhibition by Penang State Art Gallery in 1997. His works are found in the collection of the Penang State Art Gallery, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore Art Musuem and the Fukuoka Museum, Japan. REFERENCE Pioneers of Malaysian Art, Dato’ Dr. Tan Chee Khuan, Penang State Museum & Art Gallery, 2013.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Oct. 04, 2015
KUO JU PING (b. 1913 - d. 1966) Kampung Scene, c. 1950s, Mixed media on paper
Est: RM6,000 - RM10,000
Kuo Ju Ping is known for mastering the art of sketching from life and would often organize sketching trips with artists and students to observe nature and people. This works appeals in the simplicity of composition and solid grounding in academic art. The pastoral scene is composed of an idyllic kampong house enveloped by lush tropical vegetation. Receiving his education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art, Kuo Ju Ping was influenced by western art movements from artists who were educated at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux- Arts of Paris. He returned to Penang after graduation in 1940, to manage his family’s import-export business, Sin Guan Thye Company. He was a founder member of the Penang Chinese Art Society in 1936, and a dedicated teacher who regularly conducted classes at Chung Ling High School, Union High School, Li Tek School, and Han Chiang High School. He was honoured with a memorial exhibition by Penang State Art Gallery in 1997. His works are found in the collection of the Penang State Art Gallery, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore Art Musuem and the Fukuoka Museum, Japan. REFERENCE Pioneers of Malaysian Art , Dato’ Dr. Tan Chee Khuan, Penang State Museum & Art Gallery 2013.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 09, 2014
KUO JU PING (b. 1913 - d. 1966), Fishing Nets, undated, oil on canvas laid on board
Est: RM15,000 - RM25,000
KUO JU PING b. China, 1913 - d. Penang, 1966 FISHING NETS, undated Oil on canvas laid on board 48cm x 57cm Celebrated Nanyang painter Kuo Ju Ping illustrates a scene of a coastal community mending nets in a hut while waiting for their fish nets which are lined on tall poles to dry by the shores. Known as the "Cezanne of the East", Kuo Ju Ping's stylistic expression is greatly influenced by the French Impressionist - juxtapositions of hues to illustrate the clear blue sky and calm waters, goldenhued hut to portray the heat of the sun with shadows against the sand formed in a grid-like manner almost cubism in style - appropriating Cezanne's Cubism period. True to the style of Nanyang, the artist incorporates local subject matter with Western technique to create a picture that defines the region. Kuo Ju Ping was formerly known as Koay Seng Chye but he changed his name to something more propitious, after a water plant. He was from the pioneering batch of students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore under the founder Lim Hak Tai in early 1941, but his studies was disrupted by the Japanese Occupation in December that year. He was also called back to Penang to help run his father's import-export business, Sin Guan Thye Company in Victoria Street. He founded the Thursday Art Group in 1957 and the Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936. He was accorded a Memorial Exhibition by the Penang State Art Gallery in 1997. REFERENCE Kuo Ju Ping Memorial Exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery, 1997.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 09, 2014
KUO JU PING (b. 1913 - d. 1966), Jetty Life, undated, oil on board
Est: RM15,000 - RM25,000
KUO JU PING b. China, 1913 - d. Penang, 1966 JETTY LIFE, undated Oil on board 50cm x 64cm A theme favoured by the accomplished painter Kuo Ju Ping, the clan jetties located in Weld Quay, Penang is an early Chinese settlement which was originally constructed to house the dock labourers and indentured coolies who could not afford accommodation on land. Illustrated here is a view of stilt houses along the jetty and a temple located at the entrance distinguished by the temple's circular windows and an iron furnace outside. A man adorning a conical hat sits on the temple steps and a woman in traditional attire is seen walking towards the jetty entrance. Over a century old, the waterfront dwelling in Georgetown has been listed a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008. Kuo Ju Ping was formerly known as Koay Seng Chye but he changed his name to something more propitious, after a water plant. He was from the pioneering batch of students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Art in Singapore under the founder Lim Hak Tai in early 1941, but his studies was disrupted by the Japanese Occupation in December that year. He was also called back to Penang to help run his father's import-export business, Sin Guan Thye Company in Victoria Street. He founded the Thursday Art Group in 1957 and the Penang Chinese Art Club in 1936. He was accorded a Memorial Exhibition by the Penang State Art Gallery in 1997. REFERENCE Kuo Ju Ping Memorial Exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery, 1997.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 21, 2014
Kuo Ju Ping 郭若萍, Fishing Boat (undated), watercolour on paper
Est: RM5,500 - RM8,000
KUO JU PING 郭若萍b. Fujian, China, 1908 - d. 1962 FISHING BOATS, undatedSigned (lower right)Watercolour on paper37.5cm x 52cm
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 21, 2014
Kuo Ju Ping 郭若萍, Kampung Hut (undated), mixed media on paper
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,000
KUO JU PING 郭若萍b. Fujian, China, 1908 - d. 1962 KAMPUNG HUT, undatedOne seal of the artist (lower left)Mixed media on paper24cm x 35cm
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 21, 2014
Kuo Ju Ping 郭若萍, Rural Landscape (undated), mixed media on paper
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,000
KUO JU PING 郭若萍b. Fujian, China, 1908 - d. 1962 RURAL LANDSCAPE, undatedOne seal of the artist (lower right)Mixed media on paper36.5cm x 28cm
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Sep. 21, 2014
Kuo Ju Ping 郭若萍, Fine Afternoon (undated), mixed media on paper
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,000
KUO JU PING 郭若萍 b. Fujian, China, 1908 - d. 1962 FINE AFTERNOON, undated One seal of the artist (lower left) Mixed media on paper 37cm x 27cm
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers