Transcultural negotiations in the artistic practice of Nanyang artists: a case study on Lim Hak Tai (b. 1893, d. 1963)

This paper addresses how the development of Nanyang art arguably emerges through transcultural processes rather than a simplistic “fusion” of Eastern and Western art. This paper discusses how Lim Hak Tai’s artistic philosophy and teaching practice, particularly his “Six Principles for the Development of Nanyang Art,” as well as his own artistic production, inevitably contributed to the shaping and early development of Nanyang art. This study employs transculturalism as its framework. Transculturalism is used to analyse Lim’s practice and pedagogical thinking in relation to the processes of acculturation, deculturation, and neoculturation that could be observed through his life. It is argued that Lim’s Six Principles are not merely aesthetic guidelines but a form of pedagogical tool to guide cultural mediations in Nanyang art. Using Lim Hak Tai as the main case study, this paper discusses how the artistic norms and transformation of inherited traditions enabled new hybrid forms, foregrounding Nanyang art as a continuous process of cultural negotiations and adaptations. This paper contributes to the scholarship on regional modernity, firstly by offering a more precise explanation of transcultural negotiations in Singapore and Southeast Asia and, secondly, by foregrounding Lim Hak Tai’s pivotal role in fostering modern artistic frameworks that later influenced the development of Nanyang art.