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Studio DeLuxe Presents:
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P.S. TEO, Photographer
A Retrospective Exhibition of Works Spanning 50 Years
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5 - 31 May 2007 (12pm - 8pm)
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P.S. TEO, Artist-Photographer (1930 – 2005)
Teo Poh Seng is professionally known as P.S. Teo. Born in 1930 in Sibu, Sarawak, he came to Singapore with his parents at the age of 4.
P.S. Teo’s interest in photography started from a very young age. His father, Teo Chong Khim, was one of the founders of Studio DeLuxe established in 1947, and he encouraged his son to pursue his interest.
P.S. Teo used to spend his after-school hours at the studio located at 33 Stamford Road. He swept the floor, assisted the photographers and learned from them by observation.
When the photographers left Studio DeLuxe en masse over a pay dispute in 1948, P.S. Teo took over the role of Chief Photographer. He was only 18 then.
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Passionate and resolute, he worked hard and sought to improve himself by taking up a correspondence course in photography offered by the AGFA School of Photography in London, England. He experimented vigorously and was encouraged by famous photographers like Yousuf Karsh, Francis Wu and C.A. Gibson Hill. Karsh freely advised him via mail correspondence.
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An eye for beauty
For P.S. Teo, a photograph must please him as a work of art before it is anything else. At the same time, he was confident that his clients would appreciate his aesthetic concerns apart from how they looked in the photograph.
Portrait photography, particularly studio portraiture, may appear limited in scope. But good portraiture calls for imagination and creativity. Understanding the special characteristics and personality of the sitter is important so that a suitable pose and background can be arranged and the planes of the face structure lit to advantage. The importance of lighting cannot be over-emphasised. Being involved with light is a most exciting experience for any photographer.
“Portrait” by P.S. Teo and Yousuf Karsh’s portrait of Ernest Hemingway are just two fine examples of how the photographers used light to produce epic pictures.
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Timeless works of art
Because P.S.Teo liked his work to be admired forever, he aimed to achieve the permanent rather than the transient or fashionable. Many of the portraits on exhibition are over half a century old but the aesthetics are timeless.
In the course of his career, P.S. Teo took countless portraits of people from all walks of life, including many prominent personalities. The sole criterion for selecting the exhibited photographs is aesthetic quality in keeping with P.S. Teo’s chief interest of producing art photography.
However, the portraits of distinguished personalities -- British Governor Sir William Goode, first Chief Justice Sir Charles Murray-Aynsley, Supreme Court Judges Justices T.A. Brown and Tan Ah Tah, First Chief Minister David S. Marshall, Presidents Benjamin Sheares and Devan Nair, Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Tungku Abdul Rahman, Roman Catholic Archbishop Michael Olcomendy, cinema magnates Rumme Shaw, Run Run Shaw and Loke Wan Tho, Tiger Balm founder Aw Boon Haw and National Museum Director C.A. Gibson Hill, and more -- reveal glimpses of Singapore’s history.
P.S Teo also had the vision and foresight to record Singapore in the 1950’s for posterity. Some of these photographs are featured in this exhibition.
Awards and accolades
P.S. Teo participated in several international photography exhibitions organised by the Singapore Art Society in the 1950’s and won two bronze medals.
He had three portraits of greatly varying character exhibited in the Institute of British Photographers’ Exhibition of Professional Photography at the R.B.A. Galleries, London, in 1955. He was one of only three overseas members of the institute to have his photographs exhibited there.
In 1956, P.S. Teo was awarded the Associateship of the Institute of British Photographers (A.I.B.P.), making him the second Singaporean to receive the honour.
In 1957, he became an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (A.R.P.S.), and the following year, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (F.R.S.A.).
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Tribute to a man of distinction
P.S. Teo passed away on 11 February 2005. A simple, humble man, he never felt the need to travel abroad or possess wealth or fame. Like his father, he worked almost every day in the year. He focused on doing his work well and taking care of his siblings.
The Teo family organised this retrospective exhibition of his works out of profound love and admiration for him. It is a fitting tribute to a modest man who was Chief Photographer of Studio DeLuxe and distinguished artist-photographer of his day.
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Written by Teo Yeow Seng & Teo Eng Seng
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