Oil on canvas

99.5 x 79.5 cm. 39 1/8 x 31 1/4 in.

Signed in Chinese and pinyin, dated on bottom right
PROVENANCE
6 Jun 2016, Council Beijing Spring Auctions, Lot 2769
Private Collection, Asia

Under the Heaven, Spirit Awakened
Tibetan Girl by Ai Xuan

The history of Chinese realist paintings can be traced back to the 1950s. That Xu Beihong was appointed the President of Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) marked realism as a formally recognized style in China. As the country opened up in the late 1970s, the emerging modern artworks have been challenging the conventional approach which dictated that the content determines the form. Against the competitive landscape, Ai Xuan, together with Wang Yidong, Yang Feiyun and Chen Yifei, founded China School of Realism, an organization with over 30 elitist realist painters from all over China who shook the domestic market in the early 21st century.

An Interplay of Technique and Spirit

Ai has anchored the creation and promotion of realism in China. He proposes to rise above pure aesthetics and delve deep into the rich tapestry of life. He subjects, giving off a special aura of their own, are all based on his experience and firm grasp of the lifestyle in Tibet. After graduating from the Affiliated High School of CAFA, Ai was dispatched to Chengdu Military Region where he worked as a staff painter. Over his 11-year stint, he travelled in and out of Tibet many times, developing a thorough understanding of local social dynamics, customs and values.

Ai, like many of his peers, was influenced by the realist artist Andrew Wyeth in the 1980s. He projected his concerns about nature and mankind onto native Tibetans, adding a new lease of life to the increasingly rigid paradigm of Chinese oil portraits. Since 1982, Ai's portfolio had featured the bleak plateau and its unworldly inhabitants, revealing the trauma caused by wars and the Cultural Revolution in his teenage years and the resulting strong will. In the late 1990s, Ai focused on the rendition of Tibetan girls. He put up a unique interplay of untouched purity and time-tested sophistication, making the girls qualify as the most iconic figures of the rapidly changing Chinese society. Tibetan Girl for auction is a rare piece that has witnessed the climax of the artist's creative career in terms of techniques, mindset and reputation.

A Gaze that Speaks Volumes

Created in 2001, the close-up portrait creates a sense of affinity with the viewer. In terms of her clothing and accessories, every lump of cotton wadding of the felt coat is substantially detailed, adding to the likeness and bringing the viewer to the bitter cold of Tibet, but the girl's indifferent gaze seems to push the viewer away. The artist leveraged composition and detailed rendition to present the intense contrast, implying the unintentional self-protection of local people. The red-cheeked, sympathy-eliciting girl looks into the distance with a gaze that outruns her age. Her tightly clenched left hand gives away her repressed grievances about the reality. The cool tone of the painting highlights her unflagging spirit against the ruthless wind and storm. The girl, leaning on the wooden post, seems to seek the comfort of reliance. As the painter's iconic technique, the thought-provoking composition helps reinforce her personality and organizes the in-frame elements in order. Ai's style resembles that of Symphony in White, No.1: The White Girl by the British painter James McNeill Whistler. While Whistler contextualizes his subjects into an artificial setting, Ai sides with natural surroundings.

An Epic that Recounts Vicissitudes

Since 2000, snow land has been a constant component in Ai's paintings. Tibetan Girl features the signature countenance without having animals or herdsmen at the background, reflecting the original purpose of the themed series. The tough-spirited young girl stands on the boundless plateau with nobody else in sight. It shows on one hand the artist's depressed mental state by then, and on the other his pursuit of further breakthrough in the realm of oil paintings with limited theme choices. Ai the pilgrim has been in search of spiritual enlightenment among the vast immensity of nature. The remarkable techniques of the painting help bring out the charm of conventional realism, and its humanitarian propositions draw the viewer's attention to the disintegrating social fabrics, the fleeting days and the hopeful outlook. The painting is thus not only an aesthetic collectible but a song of praise to the tenacious nature of life and even an epic that retells the vicissitudes of an era.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,800,000 – 2,800,000
USD: 232,300 – 361,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 撤拍