Malaysian artist Tew Nai Tong came to Singapore at age 21 to pursue his art education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts before enrolling at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts, Paris, in 1967. Tew was a co-founder of the Malaysian Watercolour Society and Contemporary Malaysian Watercolourist Association and was awarded Grand Prize Asia Art Award in Seoul, South Korea, in 2009, for his artistic contributions to Malaysia and the wider Asian community. Tew passed away in 2013.
Sunday Morning, painted in 2005, features figures with almond-shaped eyes— a typical style in Tew’s oeuvre. Here, they stand on a balcony with hoisted bird cages. The male figure whistles to a dove perched on his fingers while the female figure watches with a birdcage in her hands. This scene is reminiscent of locals sending their doves to bird singing competitions, a popular hobby in twentieth-century Singapore.
