Modern art
A modern Malaysian art tradition emerged from modernization processes set in motion at the beginning of the 19th century. Colonialism, under the British, introduced secularization which fostered new individualized, self-expressive art making approaches, different from the earlier traditional symbolic artistic endeavours. The emergence of new multi-racial, urbanized towns during the 19th and 20th centuries accelerated socio-cultural transformations that subsequently introduced modern ideas in the visual arts.
Western-style paintings were introduced during the 19th century, but this type of artistic activity among the locals only began during the early 20th century. Reasons for this included Malay-Islamic fears and suspicions of Western education and cultural forms, the lack of exposure of non-Malay immigrants to Western artistic ideas and non-encouragement of artistic development by the British. By the early 1920s, watercolour and oil painting techniques were adopted in the larger towns. Beginning with naturalistic, idyllic modes of representation, Malaysian artists later became exposed to the modernist tendencies of the School of Paris introduced by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts—its émigré Chinese teachers provided exposure to Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. Other locally trained figurative artists who featured during the pre-independence period included those from the Wednesday Art Group and Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung in Kuala Lumpur and the Penang art groups. Batik painting was introduced during the 1950s.
By the late 1950s and 1960s, Malaysian artists pursued artistic studies in art colleges abroad and were exposed to Western international avant-garde art impulses. The emotive-expressive Abstract Expressionist idiom was introduced during the late 1950s. Yet other artists linked to abstractionist influences included the ‘New Scene’ group (late 1960s) who introduced non-emotive ‘hard-edged’ Constructivist ideas and, later, Conceptual Art tendencies.
The introduction of post-modernist elements from the late 1980s up to the present time by a younger generation of figurative artists has marked new creative approaches. They have dealt with sociological issues, politics, race, ethnic marginalization, environmental problems and gender issues. They have projected a new interest in discourse.
