Bronze sculpture

132.5 × 73 × 73 cm. 52 1/8 x 28 3/4 x 28 3/4 in.

Signed in Chinese and numbered on the back of elder deer’s right leg
Edition: 7/9


PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a guarantee paper with signature of the artist issued by Yuyu Yang Art Foundation

Bleating deer by the river
Yoyo Yang's realm of sculpture
Yang Yingfeng, pseudonym “Yuyu”, was born in Ilan, Taiwan in 1926. Because of his parents' work, his studies were divided between the Tokyo Art School in Japan, the Fine Arts Department at Fu Jen University in Beijing, and the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University. Later, in the 60s, he studied at the National University of Rome in Italy, where he further explored the creation of modern sculpture. In 1970, his work, Advent of the Phoenix, was exhibited in the China Pavilion at the Osaka World Expo in Japan. The towering structure along with the whole Chinese pavilion （a modern building featuring cubist elements） designed by architect Ieoh Ming Pei quickly caught the attention of the outside world. After that, Yoyo Yang constantly challenged himself in the field of sculpture, and in addition to his artistic creation, he was an excellent aesthetics instructor and has trained a number of outstanding artists such as Ju Ming and Ran In-ting.
“Yuyu” is Chinese onomatopoeia for the sound of deer bleat, taken from a poem from the Book of Odes, Bleating Deer. The artist's pseudonym reveals his fate to have always been intertwined with deer, and Sika Deer, created in 1962, proves this. The work was created using a unique hollow carving method. Although the artist depicts both the adult deer and the small deer in a representationalist way, this work itself belongs to Yang's Calligraphy Series. Yoyo Yang took inspiration from Chinese calligraphy, transforming the flat text （probably the ancient oracle bone script） into a three-dimensional sculpture. The adult deer has graceful, slender antlers and a deep affection for the two small deer next to it. In 1963, Yang Yingfeng went to Rome to see Pope Paul VI and Sika Deer was especially made for his audience. The Sika Deer featured in this auction is another version of that sculpture, to which the artist himself had a special sentiment.

Price estimate:
HKD: 350,000 - 450,000
USD: 44,600 - 57,300

Auction Result:
HKD : 566,400