SINGAPORE – Midway through National Gallery Singapore’s new blockbuster exhibition Into The Modern: Impressionism From The Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston, the parade of familiar names is interrupted by an unexpected display. 

Singapore art educator and painter Lim Yew Kuan’s prints are given prominent space alongside a display of printmaking tools. A quartet of etchings dedicated to Paris’ Place Vendome sits next to a trio of woodblock prints, including a Self Portrait, all made in the early 1960s. 

These prints, illustrating experiments in the medium, are a surprising choice to juxtapose against the more famed Impressionist classics. 

Dr Phoebe Scott, senior curator at the gallery, says this is a deliberate decision by the curatorial team, which includes curatorial assistants Alexis Chen and Celine Ho.

“Many people will be surprised by that selection, and that was part of our intention because we also wanted people to rethink what Impressionism actually means,” says Dr Scott.

“Experimental print work is an important part of Impressionism, even though now it’s so much more associated with painting. In fact, Degas, Cassatt and Pissarro were obsessed with p...