Who knows how many reproductions there are of the famous
Chinese girl in New Zealand? We had a
bunch of them back in the 1980s which hung in Cubewell House and least one other is on the back of
a Derek Cowie painting The white one.
There's been doubt over the model for the original
painting but now it's official: Monika Sing-Lee. She claims the painting was
done over a month with sittings twice a week. For her troubles she was paid
around twelve bucks. You can read an interview with Sing-Lee and watch
a short video about the painting or buy your own copy of the
print.
Images: Left, Tretchikoff’s Chinese girl and right, Monika
Sing-Lee
