Lee Joo For was born in Penang, Malaysia into a family of wealthy family of Chinese and Polynesian heritage in 1929. He taught art at St Xavier College, Penang until 1957, when he was awarded a scholarship by the Malaysian government to study art at Brighton College of Art, before undertaking further training at Camberwell College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London. He held a solo show in London in 1960, before relocating to Malaysia in 1964 and eventually to Australia in 1973, where his often experimental paintings (alongside writing poetry novels and plays) continued to blend western techniques with Chinese calligraphy and sketches.
Painter, printmaker, teacher and writer, Lee Joo For was born in Penang, Malaysia in 1929, the fourth of eleven children. He came from a wealthy family of Chinese and Polynesian heritage which suffered a reversal of fortune following the 1930s Depression. For studied at Penang's St Xavier College, where he was later appointed art teacher. He held this post until 1957, when he was awarded a scholarship by the Malaysian government to study art at Brighton College of Art, England (1957–58), where he met fellow Malayan students Anthony Lau and Tay Hung Ghee.
For continued his art studies at Camberwell College of Art (1960–62) and subsequently won a two-year post-graduate scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art, London, where his fellow students included David Hockney. In 1960 he held his first London solo exhibition at the Commonwealth Institute (known as the Imperial Institute until 1958), whose aim was ‘to give promising, as well as better known, artists, in other parts of the Commonwealth opportunities for showing their work in England at a minimum cost to themselves, and to make the Institute gallery the natural home for Commonwealth art in London’ (Bradley 1963, p. 7). The Jewish Chronicle described For as a ‘talented Expressionist’ artist, noting that ‘He comes of Chinese and Polynesian stock and, having studied at Brighton College of Art he has obviously been affected by many influences. What will eventually emerge from the synthesis he is obviously trying to make, there is plenty of time to tell; but in the meantime his own vital works are the many studies of wild horses in which he has allowed nothing to muddy the purity of his Chinese inspiration' (Stone 1960, p. 27). For produced unconventional and unique works, and his abstract paintings were ‘rough yet intricate, dynamic yet subtle, aggressive yet gentle’ (Phaik Kin 1999, p. 3).
For returned to Malaysia in 1964 where he quickly built a reputation as a prolific – if sometimes provocative – artist. He later explained that his paintings ‘began as intersections and traffic jams of ideas and images, the conscious and subconscious. Lines flourish and pictures proliferate, faint lines, forming lines, probing lines, samurai lines. Marks, vectors, signs, sometimes controlled and monolithic, often times roaming wild, begging for interpretation’ (as cited in New Straits Times 1998, p. 7). In 1965 he contributed lithographs, linocuts, and etchings to the Commonwealth Arts Festival, organised in Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff, and London for visual artists, musicians, dancers, poets, and writers representing various national cultures from Commonwealth nations. In 1973 For moved to Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and five children – three of whom were born with muscular dystrophy, so that they could receive better care. For continued to paint, often using animals and celestial objects, such as horses, bulls, sun, moon and tigers, to convey his thoughts. Other symbols embedded in his works included the crucified hand with a hole in it; the fish (food and fertility); the triangle representing ‘God, you and I’ in a ‘love thy neighbour’ analogy; and the U, possibly denoting the outstretched hands in supplication (Ooi 1996, p. 3). For’s art was a blend of western techniques, calligraphy and sketches. He experimented with acrylics, oils, and Chinese ink on canvas and paper, but was equally adept at presenting his works in mixed media on paper. He exhibited extensively in Australia as well as in his home country, including Penang and Kuala Lumpur. For devoted his life to art in all forms and also wrote poetry, novels and plays – which enjoyed considerable success. In Australia he taught art and drama at PLC and the Caulfield Institute, and lectured at the Institute for Catholic Education (now ACU) for fifteen years. Lee Joo For died in Melbourne, Australia in 2017. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Lee Joo For]
Publications related to [Lee Joo For] in the Ben Uri Library