This painting speaks by itself, it is definitely a museum-quality masterpiece, the biggest size ever of Liu Kang’s paintings that appear in world art auction market. Three’s a crowd, but nine, and nubile nude figures at that, and coming from the hands of Singapore art pioneer Liu Kang, and with the forms well-enunciated, and fully oil and not the usual pastels stuff, and all fully in the buff, and with some of the subjects looking straight at viewer coquettishly, or however one feels like taking it, this must take some beating! Set against the unspoilt panoramic Balinese landscape of terraced paddy fields and a lesser hill in the distant, not the Gunung Agung (or is it?), it’s truly au naturel. One of his very few known oil with full nudes is Bathers (1997) in the National Heritage Board collection of Singapore. This work was inspired by Liu Kang’s famous 1952 field trip to Bali, at the invitation of Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres, with Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Wen Hsi and Chen Chong Swee. Apart from Le Mayeur, this might also have been inspired by Rembrandt’s Bathers. “Anyone who talks about Bali will definitely associate it with half-naked women. Honestly, this is a distinctive feature of Bali,” Liu Kang wrote in 1953. “The human body is the most important object in nature… its form, shape and texture of the skin. It is intricate yet complete and is very difficult to represent… If you can master a human body, you can draw anything. You can close your eyes and draw an apple.” Liu Kang, Singapore first generation artist, a seminal figure of the Nanyang Style, had done numerous portraits and figures, among other subjects and in various styles. His portrait studies in pastels was developed during the War years, when oil was scarce. His approach seemed always to centre on serenity and mood, even lyrical. Liu Kang studied (under Liu Hai-su) at the Xinhua Arts Academy, Shanghai, China, graduating in 1928, and later taught there. He also graduated from the Academie de Grande Chaumiere, Paris in 1933, and went back to teach in China from 1933-37, before moving to Malaya (Muar) in 1937 and settling in Singapore in 1942. He was a founding member of the Singapore Art Society (president, 1968-79). His major exhibitions are the Liu Kang Retrospective (National Museum, Singapore) in 1981, and Liu Kang: A Centennial Celebration (Singapore Art Museum) in 2011. His awards include the Singapore Public Service Star (1970) and the Singapore Meritorious Service Medal (1996) besides the Asean Creative Award in Brunei in 1993.