Syed Ahmad Jamal

Born:        1929

Education:  1951 - Chelsea School of Art, London

1964 - School of the Art Institute,Chicago, Illinois

1973 - University of Hawaii, Honolulu

Syed Ahmad Jamal had followed in the wake of Tay Hooi Keat and had studied in an English art college from 1951 to 1956. He had returned home in 1957 and was overwhelmed by his re-discovery of the tropical landscape and its forms, that he had been separated from for so many years. Nipah Palms may thus be viewed as being a celebratory work, bearing in mind that it was created in the same year that this nation had also achieved its independence, in 1957. The exuberance of the work, employing both expressionist and cubist influences, may even be read as denoting the new optimism and euphoria of nationhood. And indeed, in so far that the land allows for a sense of place-ness and a sense of emotional belonging, this particular muddy, riverine scene, located near his hometown of Batu Pahat, may be viewed as especially significant to the artist in his re-living of his childhood memories and recalling the rural contexts within which he had been brought up.

The work operates on two levels. On the one hand, it is descriptive and depicts a cluster of recognisable Nipah palm plants that are usually found along the muddy banks of Malaysian rivers. The artist has captured the essence of organic growth as the plants seem to reach restlessly upwards towards the sky and the big, oval-shaped cloud at top, bearing the seeds of the life-giving rains. On another level, the work is interesting for its formal experiments, reflecting Cubistic and Expressionistic influences. The artist's organization of the plant and cloud forms is tightly structured and reiterates an interest in formal, planar inter-relationships. The two dimensionality of the picture plane is emphasised. The nervous expressive energy contained in this work, already foretells the emergence of a highly significant, major expressionistic artist within the Malaysian art scene.