Wang Sui Pick was a significant scholar, educator and chinese calligrapher who is regarded, together with Pan Shou, as a “National Treasure” of the Singapore art scene. Renowned for his unique style of finger calligraphy utilising the cao shu cursive style, he was a generous artist who served as a judge for national Chinese calligraphy competitions and donated significant portions of his work to various museums in China and Singapore. In 1992, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

Born in 1904 in Anxi, China, Wang Sui Pick developed an interest in Chinese calligraphy from a young age that would become a lifelong passion. He practised calligraphy on his own, influenced by renowned calligrapher Huai Su’s cursive calligraphic style.

Completing his secondary school education in Amoy, China, Wang came to Singapore to join his father who had moved here earlier for work. Here, Wang taught at the Commercial and Industrial Primary School, beginning what would be a lifelong profession. He then went on to be the principal of primary schools in Kluang and Kelantan in Malaya.

In 1925, he moved back to China to attend Xiamen University. There, he practised and developed his unique style of finger calligraphy that he would become renowned for later in his career as a Chinese calligrapher. However, he put aside his pursuit of Chinese calligraphy when he graduated and focused on his career as an educator.

He taught for 16 years at various schools in Fujian, China before returning to Singapore to continue his teaching career as a teacher at Nanyang Girls’ High School. He then served as principal of Chong Hwa High School in Kluang and then Chong Hwa Independent High School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before eventually retiring from teaching in 1970.

Wang began to devote his time to his art and spent the next decade quietly and diligently practising and developing his finger calligraphy. In 1980, he joined the San Yi Finger Painting Society and the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore, whose president, Singapore Chinese calligrapher Tan Siah Kwee, would become one of Wang’s biggest supporters.

With the encouragement of Tan, Wang exhibited his calligraphic works the following year in a solo exhibition organised by the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore. By then, he had already become a recognised and acclaimed master of Chinese calligraphy. That year, he also started judging national Chinese calligraphy competitions organised by the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore and the then Ministry of Culture. He also became a part-time lecturer of the Running Style Course at the National University of Singapore’s Extramural Studies Department and conducted Chinese calligraphy demonstrations in various schools and community centres.

He went on to hold three more solo exhibitions, including a solo exhibition in his hometown of Anxi and Amoy in China. In total, five books of his calligraphy were published over the next three decades. A generous artist, Wang donated works from his exhibitions to the Anxi Musem, the National Museum Art Gallery, the National Art Museum and the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore.

In 1992, Wang received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

In 1998, Wang passed away at age 94 in Singapore. He remains, together with fellow Singapore pioneering artist and Chinese calligrapher Pan Shou, to be regarded as a “National Treasure” of the Singapore art scene.