Oil on canvas

80 x 65 cm. 31 1/2 x 25 5/8 in.

Signed in Chinese and dated on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Japan

Joyous New Year Celebration
Wu Hao is one of the most intriguing members of the Fifth Moon and Eastern Painting Groups established in Taiwan in the late 1950s. Unlike other renowned members such as Liu Guosong, Hsiao Chin and Liu Gang, who dedicated themselves to abstract expressionist painting, Wu embraced the ideas of his teacher Chung-Sheng Li on the development of modern art. His approach brought together the demands and concepts of “the East, self and sense of the times” to create an artistic path imbued with fine sentiment and cultural characteristics. For example, in Celebrating New Year, Wu chooses a baby girl as a symbol of auspicious celebration, a motif often used in traditional Chinese New Year Paintings which he combined with transformed shapes and techniques from folk paper-cut art and print art. In the painting, the dancing baby has almond-like eyes, red cheeks, rouged lips, and her arms are held aloft in such a way that the bracelets she is wearing create a musical ringing when they touch. The depiction is one of joy and happiness at the coming celebration and the baby is dressed almost completely in clothes made from combinations of different colored geometric shapes, creating a visual effect that compresses the space of the two dimensional painting. Although the piece is colorful, Wu Hao partially shrouds it in grey and black as a result of which the work does not appear garish, instead creating a sense of time that remains vital even with the passing of time.
Wu Hao reflects affectionately on Chinese tradition through the form of modern painting, repackaging memories of emotional warmth from his own life. This painting is not only one of the best works from the artist's prime, it was also a harbinger of subject matter that appeared often in his later work and as such represents a moment of particular significance in Wu's creative development.

Price estimate:
HKD: 65,000 - 85,000
USD: 8,300 - 10,800

Auction Result:
HKD : --