• News
  • Add Your Events
  • Support & Advertise
  • Contact Us

Logo

Navigation
  • Art News
  • Art Listings
    • Current Exhibitions
    • Upcoming Exhibitions
    • Auctions
    • Workshops
    • Talks
    • Guided Tours
    • Festivals, Markets, Parties
    • Kids’ & Families’ Events
    • Performances
    • Film
    • Open Calls
  • Art Venues

[Anniversary Lecture] William Willetts and the Practice of Asian Art History

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

7 – 9pm

University Cultural Centre Theatre

Limited seats available; free admission with registration: http://willetts.peatix.com/

Image credit: Willetts at Angkor, Cambodia, 1968. Courtesy of Southeast Asian Ceramic Society.

In 1963, William Willetts was appointed by the University of Singapore to succeed Dr Michael Sullivan as lecturer in the History of Art course and Curator of the Art Museum, the predecessor institution of the NUS Museum. He oversaw the division of the Art Museum’s collection following the 1962 separation of the University of Malaya between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. He pioneered scholarships into Southeast Asian architecture, textiles and ceramics, and was influential beyond the Art Museum as the founder of the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society. Following the discontinuation of the History of Art course and the closure of the Art Museum in 1972, he continued his teaching career at the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur).

As part of the NUS Museum Anniversary Lecture Series, Kwa Chong Guan will deliver a lecture on William Willetts, his contributions to scholarship, museum practice and the broader regard for cultures in Southeast Asia in Singapore, through which perspectives into the roles of the museum and the curator lodged within a university institution may be drawn, and prospected across periods and contexts.

About the speakers

Kwa Chong Guan recently co-edited with Dawn Rooney a long lost guide to Angkor by William Willetts for the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society. He was the last Director of the National Museum, leading it through a strategic planning process to transform it into three museums under a National Heritage Board in 1994. He continues to advise NHB’s museums, and was consulted in the formation of the Singapore Discovery Centre, the Army Museum of Singapore, and the Malay Heritage Centre. He also reorganised the Oral History Department, and was the Chairman of the National Archives Advisory Committee. He is a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University, where he works on a range of regional security issues, Adjunct Associate Professor (Honorary) at the History Department at the National University of Singapore and an Associate Fellow of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Peter Schoppert began his career writing on the visual arts, and has written for newspapers, magazines and journals like Far Eastern Economic Review, The Straits Times, Art Asia Pacific, and Inter-Asian Cultural Studies. He has worked in book and internet publishing in Singapore since the 1980s, for Times Publishing, Editions Didier Millet and now NUS Press. He did a stint with McKinsey & Company, and is currently President of the Singapore Book Publishers Association. He recently served a three-year term as Chair of Singapore’s Public Art Appraisal Committee. He was on the Board of the Substation, Singapore’s first independent arts centre, from 2006 to 2014. He was one of four editors for the recently released Writing the Modern: Selected Texts on Art & Art History in Singapore, Malaysia & Southeast Asia, by T.K. Sabapathy.

When: 25 Apr 2018, 7pm - 9pm

By: NUS Museum, NUS Centre For the Arts (CFA)

Share this story:
  • tweet

Comments are closed.

Art Calendar

SAGG on Facebook

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 day 16 hours ago

cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/watch/singapores-founding-fathers-pop-art-cartoonist-sonny-liews-nostalgic-tribute-467716

Singapore’s founding fathers as pop art: Cartoonist Sonny Liew’s nostalgic tribute

For the upcoming art exhibition Artist’s Proof: Singapore At 60, cartoonist Sonny Liew reimagined three of Singapore’s founding fathers as toy figurines.

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

3 weeks 3 days ago

theindependent.sg/national-gallery-singapore-reveals-untold-legacy-of-asian-artists-in-modern-art/

National Gallery Singapore reveals untold legacy of Asian artists in modern art - Singapore News

This new art show tells the story of Asian artists in 1920s Paris that most people have never heard.

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

3 weeks 3 days ago

thesmartlocal.com/read/retro-places-singapore/

14 Retro Places In Singapore To Feel Like You've Travelled Back In Time

Retro's back in fashion, so here's a list of 14 retro places in Singapore you can go to to immerse yourself in an old-school charm.

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 6 days ago

www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-design/national-gallery-singapores-ink-show-ambitious-unsatisfying

National Gallery Singapore’s ink show is ambitious – but unsatisfying

[SINGAPORE] National Gallery Singapore’s new ink exhibition sets out with an ambitious goal: to show ink not as a fixed tradition but as a living, changing language shaped by calligraphers, poets, abstractionists and experimental artists over time and across cultures. Read more at The Business Tim...

2
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 1 week ago

www.littledayout.com/ocean-diving-into-the-unknown-exhibition-alliance-francaise-singapore/

Ocean: Diving Into The Unknown At Alliance Française Singapore

Take a dive into the blue world at Alliance Française’s latest exhibition, Ocean: Diving into the Unknown. A collaboration with the French National Museum of

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 3 weeks ago

www.eco-business.com/press-releases/uob-partners-sg-eco-fund-to-bring-sustainability-and-art-to-the-community/

UOB partners SG Eco Fund to bring sustainability and art to the community

UOB, one of Singapore’s leading banks, and the SG Eco Fund have announced a two-year partnership to drive greater community awareness of sustainability and art.

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 3 weeks ago

www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/eight-singapore-indie-booksellers-launch-bookshop-sg-as-amazon-alternative

Eight Singapore indie booksellers launch Bookshop.sg as Amazon alternative

The online store, which launches on May 14, describes itself as an act of "radical cooperation". Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

2
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 4 weeks ago

www.asiaone.com/singapore/over-50k-gold-coins-cash-stolen-veteran-artist-koeh-sia-yongs-home-while-he-was-bali

Over $50k in gold coins, cash stolen from veteran artist Koeh Sia Yong's home while he was in Bali

SINGAPORE — While veteran Singaporean artist Koeh Sia Yong was away in Indonesia for nearly two months earlier in 2025, his bedroom drawers back home were emptied of more than $50,000 in valuables. The 87-year-old returned to his two-bedroom unit at The Interlace condo in Depot Road on March 15 to...

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

2 months 21 hours ago

danamic.org/2025/05/11/order-is-essential-what-we-learnt-about-fernando-zobel-at-his-national-gallery-exhibit/

Order is Essential: What We Learnt about Fernando Zóbel at his National Gallery Exhibit

Come learn with us about the life, thoughts and works of Fernando Zóbel in a truly transcontinental exhibition that's open right now!

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

2 months 2 weeks ago

www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-design/how-one-man-made-nude-art-possible-singapore

How one man made nude art possible in Singapore

Yeo Workshop celebrates the legacy of Solamalay Namasivayam, who fought for nude figure drawing when it was still considered 'indecent'. Today, nude figure drawing is a cornerstone of artist training in Singapore Read more at The Business Times.

2
View on Facebook
Share
  • News
  • Add Your Events
  • Support & Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy & Terms
© 2020. Singapore Art & Gallery Guide
We use cookies that are necessary for the website's functions. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.