Oil on board

30.2 x 35 cm. 11 7/8 x 13 3/4 in.

Signed in Chinese on bottom left; titled and signed in Chinese on the reverse

LITERATURE
1996, Guan Liang, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, p. 46 and 47
2000, Guan Liang: 100 years Retrospective, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, p. 56
2009, History of Chinese Oil Painting in 20th Century: Guan Liang, Culture & Art Publishing House, Beijing, p. 158
2009, Guan Liang, Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, p. 89
EXHIBITED
1963, Rural Life Art Exhibition, Beijing
16 Mar – 2 Apr 1996, The Exhibition of Guan Liang's Oil Paintings, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei
19 Apr – 14 May 2000, Guan Liang: 100 years Retrospective, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei

PROVENANCE
Original Collection of the artist's family
Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei
Acquired by present important private Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist's family issued by Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei

Note: An exhibition label of 1963 Rural Life Art Exhibition is affixed on the reverse

Painting an Era, Indomitable National Spirit
The Timeless Treasures of Guan Liang

National sentiment has always been the spiritual home of Chinese art and as a renowned first generation Chinese oil painter Guan Liang's works are intimately connected to the rise of China. At the age of 17, Guan gained admission to Pacific Arts School in Tokyo and at a time that when Western learning was spreading throughout Asia, he was influenced by pure color expression and the modern tension of simple single lines as showcased in the works of Post Impressionist School and Fauvist painters. Guan also used the Eastern traditions of Japanese Ukiyo-e painting and Chinese ink painting to develop his own clear distinctive line style. In 1924, he returned to China and held a solo exhibition in which his wild unruly brushwork and enthusiastic colors had a major impact on the outlook of traditional painting. The different responses and reactions they elicited also provided an outlet for reflections on Chinese oil painting, ultimately resulting in the artist ingeniously connecting the appeal of Western modernist painting and Eastern freehand aesthetics. In this way, Guan established an expressive core that was based on “a national foundation and international outlook,” creating a brand new approach imbued with “Chinese style.”

As we look back at Guan Liang's art from more than half a century ago, the boundless maturity of his technical style is very much on a par with renowned Western painters, but it is also richly imbued with the style of the times and replete with national meaning. Moreover, as the artist said himself this offered a path to break down the barriers between Eastern and Western aesthetics, leading us to praise the vision and achievements of a master artist.

Only by Being National is it Global
Images of 'Chinese Style in an Era of Great Construction

I always thought there were two types of oil painting, one completely Western, the other a combination of East and West, but after getting to know Guan Liang I have discovered a third type, namely 'the image oil painting of Chinese people'
——artist Chen Junde

In the 1950s, China rapidly industrialized, a social production movement swept the country and painters in Shanghai started to depict landscapes that showcased a country in the throes of accelerated development. In the 1940s, several went into factories and the countryside to experience life first hand at a time of vibrant growth and many works were produced with social production motifs. In this period, Guan Liang and Li Keran represented the Chinese art world with a large scale painting exhibition at the Academy of Sciences of Berlin, enchanting the West with works that were deeply infused with national charm, demonstrating how Chinese oil painting established a national foundation and conquered the world.

Because Guan Liang experienced the hardships of growing up during wartime and in later life focused on ink painting, fewer than 400 oil paintings by the artist are know to exist, making them particularly valuable. At the spring auction we offer two paintings from the 1950s-1960s, important treasures that attest to the wave of construction that swept New China. These works also reflect the style of the era as advocated through art education and art/cultural work in the first two decades after the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The first of these paintings titled Steel Mill (Lot 22 ) was painted to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the PRC and is one of the best of Guan's oil paintings held by public and private art museums or seen on the market. The second work, Killing Bugs (Lot 21), was painted in the 1960s and is included in several catalogues of the artist's most important collected works. Moreover, on the back of this painting there is also an invaluable early exhibition note from the “Rural Life Art Exhibition” in 1963. Over half a century later, is it appearing on the market for the first time and attracting much interest.

A Gem from the Era of Industrialization
'Steel Mill' – Fifth Largest Oil Painting by Guan Liang on the Market

From 1958-1960, on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the PRC and while reflecting the production slogans of the three-year “Great Leap Forward,” Chinese society was immersed in an all-out industrial movement. In 1959, Shanghai Steel Company No. 1 blast furnace officially started production and to commemorate this proud nation building achievement Guan Liang selected the major symbol of industrial production at that time —— “Shanghai No. 1 Steel Mill” —— as subject matter for which he produced many sketches on paper such as Blast Furnace Plant. He later donated the painting with which he was most satisfied to the Propaganda Department at the plant and it is that work Steel Mill that is now being auctioned. This is the fifth largest oil painting by Guan Liang ever to become available and in, when compared to his works with similar motifs, the artist scales new heights in overall arrangement, use of lines and color, expression of detail and creating atmosphere, making it a particularly eye-catching painting.

Symphony of Color, Brilliant Times

“Shanghai No.1 Steel Mill” has operated for 61 years and was once an industrial mainstay in Shanghai and East China. This special background gives the painting a unique historical value and also ensures it stands out from similar themed works by the artist, but it also showcases Guang Liang's hopes for the Chinese nation. In the painting, we see the imposing sight of the steel mill with two 15 tonne open-hearth furnaces, while the solid main buildings establish a tone for the work and the towering chimneys create a clear sense of order. The green-grey uniforms of the four workers walking around the site in the foreground at the center of the painting ingeniously blend into the environment of the steel mill. They are also contrasted against the huge steel structures at the rear of the scene and establish a spatial echo with the workers in the distance, while also using the forward movement and extended path of the rails on the ground to guide viewers deeper into the scene. Although there is no clear indication of time, Guan uses the contrast of dark and light as seen on the bodies of the workers to reflect the light and shade of dusk, indicating that it is the end of the day. The sides of the steel mill buildings are coated in the golden hue of twilight, as if heralding the coming of a new era of wonder and brilliance.

The use of rich and unified colors is a core feature of this painting, which gives the work a demonstrably different focus to those with similar subject matter. The thick smoke from the six huge chimneys billows in the wind, as the cloud like strokes of red, yellow and green establish a clear contrast with the more solid brushwork of the buildings below, while the grey-black smoke further back alludes to a subtle progressive relationship. In terms of stroke color, the contrast of the multicolored rising thick smoke and iron bars piled on the right of the foreground adds warmth to the cold atmosphere of this industrial production scene. Guan Liang uses the lack of color saturation to unify the smoke and buildings in the painting, enriching the sense of layering and rhythm through a wide range of brushwork that seen from a distance is harmonious and up close rich and resplendent. Moreover, the powerful dynamic feel, relationship between broken up spaces and clear sense of form, all bring to mind Claude Monet's The Saint-Lazare Station. Guan uses the “free” brushwork of the Impressionist School to create a “structural” industrial scene and the “emotional” colors of the Pleinairist School to depict the “rationality” of labor and construction. He also imbues the thick heavy oil colors with ink painting lines, as a result of which the work both transcends the beautiful painting style of Impressionism and rewrites the sublime expressionism of realism.

Heroically Developing One's Full Potential

As in works such as Xin'an Hydroelectric Plant and Shanghai Port which also reflect the construction process, the artist likes to showcase spectacular scenes of the times in “deep” spatial relationships, a feature that is even more pronounced in Steel Mill. The meticulously depicted machine equipment, tightly packed buildings and coming-and-going of goods vehicles, all use the radiating space to reach into the depths of the painting, which gives the work a strong cohesiveness and order. This is not only consistent with the magnificent vision of the artist's later landscapes the detailed and precise image expression also imbues the painting with considerable historical value. Moreover, Guan Liang's typical figure depiction is evident in the workers wearing safety helmets moving back and forth —— small, simple and full of spirit. In addition, the shape of these figures is contrasted with the vastness of the steel mill and placing the workers in the center of the foreground in sunlight makes them seem particularly alive and full of vigor, the epitome of the booming industrial era.

Unadorned Vitality, Real Life in the Fields
Rare Art Exhibition Classic —— 'Killing Bugs'

After the wave of industrialization ended, in the 1960s Guan Liang went deep into the countryside where he observed and experienced great beauty in simplicity. At this time, his expressive method moved away from realism and was more freehand than in earlier work, applying the Chinese painting maxim: “thought precedes painting, the brush stops when the ideas stop” to his Western paintings that are optimistic, uplifting and bright in outlook. Killing Bugs is an important representative work from this period in which Guan uses fresh light colors together with free and unrestrained brushwork to compose a deeply moving poem of life.

Wonders of Rural Life, Seeing Nobility in Common People

In Killing Bugs painted from 1961-1963 Guan Liang focuses on two peasants spraying bugs in the fields, a very different approach to the group of figures seen in the distance in Steel Mill. In contrast, the figures in Killing Bugs are not merely a foil to the scene, but rather the central focus of the painting. This change in the relationship between subject and environment displays the artist's focus on “crafting figures,” but even more speaks to his return to the “painting from reality” tradition of the Impressionist School. It is also at this point that Guan introduces a local Chinese context, using fine and vital brush strokes to depict the appearance and actions of these rural residents. The female at the front pays close attention to the crops she is spraying, holding the nozzle in her hand as she sprays back and forth. The male figure behind her holds the pesticide tube as they work in tacit understanding. The pole the two figures carry on their shoulders strengthens the emotional connection between them, as if a snapshot in the daily life of a married couple in the countryside. In addition, placing this ordinary moment in a particular time and place imbues it with a duality of vision as a microcosm of “national sentiment.”

Free and Unsophisticated, Concise and to the Point

In the 1960s, Guan Liang's Chinese freehand oil painting style matured, with the use of color and lines sufficiently well honed to imbue his paintings with exquisite meanings. Indeed, in this we can already see the essential “focus on meaning over form” that informs his later ink painting operatic figures. Simplification was also a key pursuit of the artist in this period with a focus on expressing the implicit nature of the object in an effort to summarize his own feelings as much as possible. To that end, the results of Guan's constant experimentation with technique are evident in the maturity and transformation of Killing Bugs, especially in terms of color expression, to which he devotes much of his energy. The bright grass-green and orange-yellows in the foreground infusing the painting with vital life energy can be traced back to the simple colors of the Impressionist School. Guan also uses his own life observations and understanding of the charm of ink painting to “mediate,” creating a color atmosphere that is Eastern and Western, simple and innocent. He gives rein to the easy and smooth character of ink painting, using light and diluted colors, though when necessary Guan also employs thicker colors and a painting knife. Examples include the daubed white pigment that makes up the thick growth of grass in the foreground and the bubbling stream that pours into the painting in a way that is instantly wonderful.

In addition, Guan Liang courageously mixes his colors directly on the canvas, so we can see that he directly mixes dark green, azure green and yellow, on the leaves, branches and trunks of two trees in the background, as well as infusing brown with gray. This creates changes that give the impression the branches are swaying in the wind. It also showcases the fact that the artist subjectively guides visual images in the same way as Monet in Poppies, the people and objects becoming one within the overlapping colors and light, with the large landscape scene providing a life scenario backdrop. In Killing Bugs, Guan does not employ the “floating light and shade” of the Impressionist School, but rather mixes colors to create a bright and sunny bucolic scene. Indeed, the free and looser brushwork employed in the more generalized scene behind the figures, with its simple form and clear meaning, adds a sense of romance to the painting. This comparison also highlights the down-to-earth labor performed by the central figures, which not only imbues the work with a realism that is akin to the painting of Jean-François Millet, it also echoes the context of an era in which a nation was reborn.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
USD: 154,900 – 232,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 2,596,000