Oil on canvas

200 x 200 cm 78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in.

Signed and dated with one artist’s drawing seal on lower right

Pang Jiun， born in Shanghai to an artistic family， was a student of Xu Beihong. His father， Pang Xunqin， was the co-founder of ‘The Storm Society’， an avant-garde modern art group in China. His mother， Qiu Ti， was also a talented modernist oil painter. Pang grew up under the influence of both European and Eastern cultural experiences， from which he developed an interest in painting and received formal training. In 1987， Pang settled in Taiwan where he began teaching at the National Taiwan University of Arts and held over 30 exhibitions internationally. Oil painting is the media of Pang’s art， of which he has a distinctive understanding on colours. With the artistic foundation and spirit inherited from his family， he further cultivates the possibility of oil painting to seek the equilibrium between Classicism and Modernism. His works perfectly merge the passion， expressiveness and vigour found in Western art with the freehand style and artistic philosophy of Eastern art， which is an exemplar of the Oriental Humanistic Expressionism.
Pang loves depict the poetic oriental scenery using oil painting techniques. He is able to merge the two perfectly in terms of the form and mood. In the lot Scholar’s Building in Blossoms， Pang painted the grey tiles and white walls of a Hui-style building with black and white lines， simple composition and warm colours. The scholar’s building is a typical scholar-official architecture. Pang created the mood of a Chinese ink painting with gray without diminishing the texture of oil painting. ’I do like gray’， Pang confessed， ‘before leaving China， my father and I had a talk. He said that gray is superior to all colours and the most difficult to master. My father reckoned that I am sensitive and expressive in using gray， and that I should cherish my talent.’ Now gray has become one of the most important elements of his magnum opuses. Red blossoms are also a typical element in his art. In this painting， red flowers flourish on both sides of the ‘scholar’s building’， representing the joy and prosperity of spring. In Huizhou， boys used to leave their hometown at an early age to become a merchant or to seek academic achievement. On their way of departure， the gorgeous red flowers around the scholar’s building gave them the best wishes in quietude. The simple composition imbues this large-size painting with a mood that reflects the charming simplicity of Huizhou while the embellishment of the red blossoms depicts a poetic rural scene.
Pang’s works is the merge of Classicism and Modernism， transforming the impermanence into poetic scenes of tranquility. As homage paid to the traditional Humanism， Pang’s works bring his audience a transcending beauty like a hymn dedicated to life.

Price estimate:
HKD： 1,300,000 - 2,000,000
USD： 167,300 - 257,400

Auction Result:
HKD: 1,652,000