Oil on canvas

80 × 100 cm. 31 1/2 x 39 3/8 in.

Signed in Chinese and dated on bottom left

LITERATURE
1993, Paintings by Tomos, Inner Mongolia People’s Publishing House, Hohhot, Illustration 55
2000, Oil Painting Techniques of Tuo Musi, Tianjin People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, Tianjin, p.37
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

The After-Snow Scenery on the Prairie
Tuomusi’s Ethnic Art
Tuomusi is a renowned Chinese oil painter from Inner Mongolia. He is dedicated to presenting the scenic and humanistic landscape peculiar to Mongolia through artistic expression, pioneering the “Prairie Painting School.” In the 1980s, Tuomusi strived for simplification in composition and color of his works, highlighting the geographic landscape of Mongolian prairie and the unyielding spirit of local people. The form and spirit of his painting are highly unified, creating a lyrical and harmonious atmosphere. In 1981, the “Tuomusi Oil Painting Exhibition” held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the National Culture Palace marked a milestone of his artistic career, further demonstrating the academic recognition that he has gained.
The painting, Early Winter Morning, completed in 1983, is a representative at the height of his artistic career. By painting a large area in white, Tuomusi presents a vast horizon of the sky and the earth, in which the layered color of greyish-white, light-grey and steel grey appear harmonious. The painting depicts the scene of two Mongolian women driving in an early winter morning when heavy snow just finished, capturing the encounter of each other’s sight and turning it into eternity. From where their eyes meet rises the sun, whose soft golden light brings warmth to the long prairie journey and shines on their brotherly affection. The traces of the horseshoe and axles in the foreground indicate that there are already herdsmen heading for the distance earlier than them. Such detail has brought the Mongolian people’s spirit of dauntless to the front.
As part of the Mongolian family, Tuomusi depicts the Mongolian national spirits of diligence, modesty, and righteousness through his romantic and lyrical brushstrokes. His deep love for the prairie has touched every viewer in the 1980s, soul-stirring until nowadays.

Price estimate:
HKD: 300,000 - 400,000
USD: 38,500 - 51,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 354,000