Samat is local art folklore, for whom the pioneering Malaysian art promoter and collector Frank Sullivan set up a gallery in his (Samat’s) name. Most had only heard of Samat, few had seen him, until Yeoh Jin Leng helped GaleriWan organise the WAG (Wednesday Art Group) – Then And Now exhibition in 1996, when this painting was shown among Peter Harris’ early works. Peter Harris was the Art Superintendent of Malaya from 1951 to 1960 and the founder of the WAG in the 1950s. Sturdy built and handsome, Samat was Frank Sullivan’s gallery partner, although Sullivan ran the show. When Samat allegedly absconded with the gallery’s funds, Sullivan and other partners were not only saddled with the financial repercussions but he also reportedly helped support his (Samat’s) family. This portrait reveals a more studious study in watercolours than Peter Harris’ quick strokes when sketching pastels. It is arguably the only portrait of Samat. Dubbed the ‘White Tiger’, Peter Harris is best known for his setting-up the art coterie, Wednesday Art Group (WAG), which was active between 1952 to 1960. He was given a Retrospective in October-November 1997 by The Art Gallery Penang – his second after his 1960 Retrospective given by the National Art Gallery. In 2001, The Art Gallery Penang also organised a large Tribute exhibition for him. Peter Harris studied at the West of England College of Art in 1939, and taught at the Arts and Crafts Faculty in the College Art School in Swindon in 1947. Back in England, he was head of the Creative Arts Faculty at the Sheldon School in Chippenham until 1976, and was awarded a MBE by Queen Elizabeth II. He recovered from cancer in 1993 after a three-month treatment. He was made Art Superintendent of the then Malaya from 1951 to 1960, and the Sabah Teachers Training College (later Gaya College) in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), from 1962 to 1967.