Bronze sculpture

65×25×18 cm 25 5/8×9 7/8×7 1/8 in

LITERATURE
2004, Great Mind behind Great Artistry—A Ho Ming-chi Retrospective, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, p.71
EXHIBITED
11 Dec 2004 –13 Mar 2005， Great Mind behind Great Artistry—A Ho Ming-chi Retrospective， Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts， Kaohsiung

PROVENANCE
The Fei Shi Lou CollectionAs a great master of Chinese sculpture in the 20th century， Ho Ming-chi was born in the same year as Zao Wou-ki. Ho Ming-chi studied with Wang Linyi and Liu Kaiqu at Hangzhou National Academy of Art and received western art education as the earliest outstanding Chinese artists. Based on the distinguished artistic creativities shown in their masterpieces， they are honored as pioneers in modern art in the last century. In the years that followed， Ho Ming-chi devoted two thirds of his artistic career into the sculptural art education in Taiwan. Around 1949， he worked successively as a teacher in the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan University and Taiwan National Academy of Fine Arts. Up to today， a great number of his students are outstanding sculptors actively working at the forefront of the art world. However， Ho Ming-chi himself is not seeking for fame and gain， and has never held any exhibitions in his whole life time. His artworks are solely collected by museums. “Great Mind Behind Great Artistry： A Ho Ming-chi Retrospective” curated by the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts is a complete organization and display of the sculptural art in his career， and a demonstration of the national sentiments and modern characteristics in his sculptures.
The artistic style of Ho Ming-chi is a combination of the historical traditions and modern trends. The techniques of expression that he adopts are deeply influenced by Auguste Rodin， in the way that he followed the realistic sense of Eastern Europe to create simple but imposing figures. In terms of the theme， the majority of his sculptures are shaped as national heroes and monumental figures. Each of them represents independent personality. His individual nostalgic sensations are also expressed through traditional cultural images.
The sculptures we are promoting this time， On the Way Home （lot 805） and Combing （lot 805） are representatives of his whole life time. Created in the 1980s， On the Way Home incisively portrays the complicated sentiments of some veterans who left home at a young age and came back old. The work is also a true depiction of the emotions and sadness arising from Ho Ming-chi’s experience of being separated from the Mainland China due to historical reasons. He engraves this long journey of his heart by a quirk of fate in a decade on the figure of a revolutionary veteran， combining life realities with historical memories， and fully reveals the despair of his wandering life and the missing of being parted.
Combing was created in the 1990s， which shaped a nude female image combing her hair. Ho Ming-chi used this simple movement to reveal the theme so as to omit story-telling. Though the female figure has no significant movement， its 3D effect and the portray of details is unique in styling aesthetics. In artistic expressions， Combing embodies the inheritance of the academic style from Auguste Rodin’s time. Due to this reason， the realism of sculpture creation represented by this piece of work has left deep and profound impacts on the new generation and has secured itself a major status in the modern history of Chinese sculptures.

Price estimate:
HKD: 120,000 – 180,000
USD: 15,400 – 23,100

Auction Result:
HKD: 141,600