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

May. 19, 2024
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - 2017) Abstract, 1965
Est: RM800 - RM3,000
With a combination of rustic shades, the vigorous lines and expressive use of colours give this work a brilliant sense of energy. 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
Jun. 25, 2023
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - 2017) Abstract, 1965
Est: RM1,700 - RM3,400
With a combination of rustic shades, the vigorous lines and expressive use of colours give this work a brilliant sense of energy. 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. 19, 2023
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - 2017) Faces In Blue, 1986
Est: RM2,000 - RM6,000
Lee Joo For's visual narratives are highly distinct, imbued with personal metaphors with forceful calligraphy strokes, forming a unity between eastern and western pictorial methods. This enigmatic composition is rendered in a dramatic palette of dark teal and orange, and consists of spontaneous flowing lines portraying faces of a man and woman, with the left face viewed in adjacent profile. This allegorical work incorporates figurative and stylized elements interlocked into a poetic emotion. 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
Mar. 19, 2023
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - 2017) Horse Picture Language 1, 1999
Est: RM3,000 - RM5,500
Lee Joo For was a multitalented, versatile artist and playwright. Horse Picture Language 1 is an equine themed work characterised by strong expression and delightful colours. Joo For's horses are powerful and full of vigour, strengthened with dark outlines. A recurring motif within his artwork, horses are associated with valour and freedom. 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. 06, 2022
Lee Joo For, John (b. Penang, 1929 - 2017) Faces In Blue, 1986
Est: RM4,000 - RM7,000
Lee Joo For's visual narratives are highly distinct, imbued with personal metaphors with forceful calligraphy strokes, forming a unity between eastern and western pictorial methods. This enigmatic composition is rendered in a dramatic palette of dark teal and orange, and consists of spontaneous flowing lines portraying faces of a man and woman, with the left face viewed in adjacent profile. This allegorical work incorporates figurative and stylised elements interlocked into a poetic emotion. 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
Mar. 27, 2022
Lee Joo For, John (b. Penang, 1929 - 2017) Galloping Horse, 1992
Est: RM3,500 - 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 a strong galloping horse. 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) Domestic Drama, 1985
Est: RM6,000 - RM10,000
The horse has become an alter ego for John Lee Joo For with the emotional quotient of the painted moment. Here, the horse is surrounded by three people, one astride it. The one on the right is clad in telling scarlet dress and the one on the left is apparently in the buff. Seen in totality, the horse seems transformed into the biblical ‘apple’ though it seems a mite pique with his head violently turned back, its mane taut and looking positively off-footed. 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
Nov. 15, 2020
Lee Joo For, John (b. Penang, 1929 - d. 2017) Christ, 1972-1981
Est: RM7,000 - RM12,000
Lee Joo For was a multitalented and versatile artist and playwright. Christ is Lee Joo For’s interpretation of faith and religion in his signature style combining Christian imagery with vivid colours. Golden rays of light surround the head of Christ, signalling his divine status. There is a male face on his left cheek, and a female face on his right cheek. The two become one...religion option for mankind. 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. 03, 2019
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - d. 2017) Untitled, 1967
Est: RM8,000 - RM14,000
It’s a rare early work by John Lee Joo For, arguable one of Malaysia’s (and Australia’s) most versatile and flamboyant paint and print genius, but his strictures on anatomy and composition were already well honed by his triple England art stints at Brighton, then Camberwell and the prestigious Royal College of Art (1962-63). The work is boldly taken at the diagonal, with the awkward balancing act of the Samsui women, the amazons working on the treacherous tin mines, carrying tin ores on either end of the heavy trays strung over the shoulder with a pole, and sauntering steadily despite the rickety makeshift platforms. This was still his realism phase, before he launched into his world-famous Oriento-Byzantine art fusion. Apart from being a top-class painter and printmaker, John Lee Joo For was also a theatre director and producer and actor, and a prodigious playwright, sweeping the top national playwright award from 1969-1971 and Best Radio Playwright Singapore (1969) and known for great works such as The Propitious Kidnapping of the Cultured Daughter and Son of Zen, which was staged off- Broadway. Before he died in 2017, he was flushed in the spectacular success of his Christian musical, Call of Guadalupe – his best known since he migrated to Australia in 1973. He was also a novelist and an art lecturer, including at the Specialist Teachers Training Institute (Kuala Lumpur), and Art and Media Studies in Australia. In London, he co-founded the Malayan Art Circle (1961), and in Malaysia, he co-founded the Thursday Art Group and the Penang Teachers Art Circle. He was accorded a major retrospective by the Penang State Art Gallery in 2008.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 24, 2019
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - d. 2017) A Proud Bull 2, 1995
Est: RM3,800 - RM6,800
The work, A Proud Bull 2, sees it backpedaling a bit, instead of butting headlong into perilous territory albeit the background being flushed in red suffused with anger and aggression. There is, however, a pacifying valley of blue on top, with a slender band of yellow below. Self-referential, it registers a more mellowed phase of the artist-thespian John Lee Joo-for aged 66, instead of the adrenalin-overdosed Angry Young Man as can be seen in another work in 1979, Raging Bull. Principles ingrained from his becoming a born-again Christian had also impacted his mind and action, as compared to his earlier works in text, paint and print(making) advancing ideas of violence, male virility and darker dramas. The bull and the horse were favourite anthropomorphic devices used by John Lee. John Lee Joo-for is an outstanding creative genius in literature and art in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. On text, he is a multi-award winning playwright, dominating Malaysian drama in 1969 to 1971, and also had been producer and director; written several poems and novels besides being an art critic. He was Best Radio Playwright in Singapore in 1969. In Australia, his most successful play was the grand staging of his musical, The Call Of Guadalupe, apart from The Passion Play. Before he migrated to Australia in 1973, some of his best known plays are The Propitious Kidnapping Of The Cultured Daughter and Son Of Zen (staged off-Broadway). He was also an educationist, having taught at the Specialist Teachers Training Institute in Kuala Lumpur, St. Xaviers Institution (1948-1951) and the Catholic University (formerly Institute of Catholic Education), retiring in 1989. He is one of the few Malaysians educated at the prestigious Royal College of Art (1962-1964), and returned as an âAssociateâ (ARSA). He also obtained his National Diploma of Design certificate at the Camberwell College of Art in London (1959-62). In London, he co-founded the Malayan Art Circle (1961), and in Malaysia, he co-founded the Thursday Art Group and the Penang Teachers Art Circle. 30 x 45cm
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 24, 2019
Lee Joo For, John (b. 1929 - d. 2017) Faces In Blue, 1986
Est: RM3,200 - RM6,000
Lee Joo Forâs visual narratives are highly distinct, imbued with personal metaphors with forceful calligraphy strokes, forming a unity between eastern and western pictorial methods. This enigmatic composition is rendered in a dramatic palette of dark teal and orange, and consists of spontaneous flowing lines portraying faces of a man and woman, with the left face viewed in adjacent profile. This allegorical work incorporates figurative and stylized elements interlocked into a poetic emotion. Lee Joo For received his education at Brighton College of Art (1957-1958), and later received additional scholarship 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 (1969â1971). 58 x 83cm
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Apr. 29, 2018
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN (b. 1929 - d. 2017) HEAVEN OR FLESH, 1969, Mixed media on paper
Est: RM6,000 - RM10,000
A man and a woman – the perennial multi-layered theme in John Lee Joo For’s creative works in paint and in print. Two beings of different sex juxtaposed together fused in union as a consummation, and as the sacrosanct family unit in his Born-Again beliefs, or as a platonic friendship veering closely to romance, and as fornication for plain lust. They are about temptation and sins, fame and glory. In his heady day, John Lee Joo For, by his own outward confession, was a philanderer and his art and plays were filled with salacious overtones. Here, the female, obviously drop-dead gorgeous, has a legion of suitors, on her left and behind her, like smitten puppies ready to do her bidding. John Lee was the toast of the day, with his play, Son Of Zen, being shown at the Hatch-Billops Studio Players, off Broadway, in New York on Feb 2, 1969. He had some 30 staged plays and 30 Pop-Malayan radio plays, including The Propitious Kidnapping Of The Cultured Daughter (1978), which as staged in Penang as well as in Australia. John Lee single-handedly invented the first few chapters of Malaysian drama. He won the Best Playwright Award for three consecutive years. He wrote, performed, directed and produced them. The painting was at a time when he had a one-man show in Kansas University City after another at the International Institute in New York. It came a year after his ground-breaking Oriento-Byzantine series of works in 1968, with its grandiose manifesto. The near life-and-death situation he experienced on May 13, 1969, eventually led to his migration to Australia in 1973 (A Tumultous Struggle: The Life And Art And Times Of John Lee Joo For, John Lee Joo For Retrospective, by Ooi Kok Chuen). But there was another reason. “I got frightened by the curtailment of my freedom, not only the political but the creative expressions and my spiritual search,” he told writer Ooi Kok Chuen in an interview in Melbourne in 2008 for his retrospective.John Lee graduated from the Brighton College of Art, England, 1959; Camberwell School of Art, London, 1962; and the Royal College of Art, London, 1963. He was given a Retrospective, first by The Art Gallery, Penang, in 1995, and then another by the Penang State Art Gallery in 2008. A consummate artist, John Lee’s biggest drama achievement was the staging of The Call Of Guadalupe. His first novel was called Twenty-Seven Days Has February followed by Sara And Sanjiro, a novel he co-wrote with his son-in-law Stephen Gray.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jan. 15, 2017
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN The Spirit That Cannot Be Contained, 1980 Mixed media on canvas
Est: RM7,000 - RM14,000
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN The Spirit That Cannot Be Contained, 1980 Mixed media on canvas 144 x 200 cm
KLAS Art Auction
Oct. 04, 2015
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN (b. 1929) Faces In Blue, 1986, Mixed media on paper
Est: RM7,000 - RM10,000
Lee Joo For’s visual narratives are highly distinct, imbued with personal metaphors with forceful calligraphy strokes, forming a unity between eastern and western pictorial methods. This enigmatic composition is rendered in a dramatic palette of dark teal and orange, and consists of spontaneous flowing lines portraying faces of a man and woman, with the left face viewed in adjacent profile. This allegorical work incorporates figurative and stylized elements interlocked into a poetic emotion. 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
Mar. 29, 2015
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN (b. 1929), Old & New Interlocked, Undated, Oil and enamel on canvas
Est: RM15,000 - RM25,000
A vibrant piece, Old and New Interlocked features mosaics of symbolic shapes and human faces outlined in broad black strokes against a bold red background. Executed on a panorama landscape, this energetic work is reminiscent of a hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred writing"), a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system in which during the Renaissance era, the hieroglyph was an artistic representation of an esoteric idea. In his monograph titled My Name is Fire (The Art of Lee Joo For), published in conjunction of his 70th birthday in 1999, the artist has written an essay entitled Symbolism in My Art which explains the many symbols he uses in his paintings and one of them is the human face apparent in this piece. The below excerpt is the artist's account: "My next favourite image is the human face, male and female. My eyes draw, register and record every face and profile. I look at the ordinary, the plain, the pretty, the beautiful, the handsome, the ugly, the stressed, the relaxed, the angst-ridden, the inspired, the hairy, the bald, the angry, the ferocious, the meek, the urgent. I paint them frontal, with soft or staring eyes, or in profile with high or low noses, humble or aggressive jaws or chins... In multi-face paintings I have the compelling habit of making them confront each other in given scenarios or simply in space. Or else, the faces stare at you, each one caught in his or her own thoughts. I also love to interlock and fuse adjacent faces in a kind of Picassoic way letting them share eyes, noses or mouths. It is my visual avenue to suggesting that all men and women are interlocked in one common emotion or fate." 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. REFERENCE My Name is Fire (The Art of Lee Joo For) , The Art Gallery, Penang, 1999.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers