Chen Wen Hsi is known for his menagerie of feathered and furry friends, particularly his consummate portrayal of gibbons, for which Zhang Daqian, the Picasso of China, compared him to the Sung Dynasty master Yi Yuanji (1000-1064). “The gibbons are so well-captured, I could almost hear their cries emerging from ancient mountains and thick clouds,” commented Zhang, whose forte, among others, is also on gibbons. In this work, Chen focuses on the delicate hair, and he has the primate in three dramatic poses – squatting, swinging and upside-down, forming a triangle which symbolises a variable of change. Like Zhang, Chen reared chickens, ducks, geese and gibbons, which he used to observe the mannerisms and quirks meticulously. Of his feathered friends, there were herons, cranes, storks, sparrows, rails, pigeons, peacocks and peahens. Chen Wen Hsi had the distinction of being awarded a retrospective by Singapore (1982) and China (National Art Museum in Beijing). His laurels include the Singapore Meritorious Service Star Award (1964), the Asean Cultural and Communications Award (1987), Taiwan's Golden Chapter (1980) and posthumously the Gold Award (1992). His art tutelage was in the Shanghai College of Art and then the Xinhua College of Art, where he taught from 1946-1947. Fleeing the Sino-Japanese War in China, he settled in Singapore in 1948 and taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, from 1951-1959. He was among Singapore's Gang of Four pioneers visiting Bali in 1952, together with Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Chong Swee and Liu Kang. He was Malaya's representative at the Commonwealth Arts Today exhibition in London in 1962. Chen Wen Hsi was also a gallerist, with two outlets in Singapore.