Oil on board

28 × 36 cm. 11 × 14 1/8 in.

Dated and signed in Chinese on bottom right; signed in Chinese and dated on the reverse

LITERATURE
2010, An Unbroken Line: In Commemoration of Wu Guanzhong, Poly Art Museum, Beijing, p. 28
EXHIBITED
30 Aug – 6 Sep 2010, An Unbroken Line: In Commemoration of Wu Guanzhong, Poly Art Museum, Beijing

PROVENANCE
Received as a girt directly by the artist's granddaughter from the artist
1 Dec 2010, Poly Beijing Autumn Auction, Lot 1003
7 Apr 2013, Poly Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot 105
Acquired directly by the present important private Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied with a certificate of authenticity signed by artist's granddaughter

Kite String, The Revival Of Modern Chinese Aesthetics

During the exploration, Wu Guanzhong became the most outstanding and influential successor of Lin Fengmian's path to Chinese painting innovation through his research and practice upon the theories of “beauty in the form” and “abstract beauty” in the 1970s. He taught at different institutions, cultivated many talented protégés such as Wang Huaiqing, and his influences became a catalyst to the 85 New Wave movement. What he did has laid a solid foundation for the transformation of Modern Chinese Art.

Upon the changes in aesthetic taste and modern cultural environment, Wu addressed the challenge by starting with landscape paintings. During the 30 years since the 1970s, he had providently summed up the new principles of art forms that could cope with the alternation. Together with his famous quote, “carrying forward tradition by rebelling against tradition”, he promoted the innovation of Chinese modern painting and became the most important definer of Chinese modernity.

The Crucial Inception Of The Exploration Of “Beauty In Form”: Spring In Guilin
Wu once said: “what I love to do most is painting, and what I love to paint most is my hometown in Jiangnan”. In this season, Hong Kong Guardian is honoured to present two masterpieces of Wu's landscape painting, in the theme of “Guilin” and “hometown” respectively. We would like to memorize the artistic achievements of Wu Guanzhong's “brilliant 30 years”, a period during which he injected new vitality into Chinese landscape tradition that had lasted for thousands of years. In the first item, Pondside Households (hometown) (Lot No. 59), he conquered the eyes of the masses with “beauty in the form” through his in-depth exploration of Jiangnan scenery. In the other item, Spring in Guilin (Lot No. 60), he switched back to the abstract beauty of nature and expressed abundant Chinese-style emotion on simplistic canvas with the theme of «kite string».

Spring in Guilin was created in 1973. It was Wu's first description of Guilin's landscape, which also initiated his “Guilin landscapes series”, a continuous creation throughout his life. As the initial work in this series, Spring in Guilin is rare in its kind that included macroscopic perspective, rich visual elements and panoramic composition. It covers Yangshuo and Lijiang bamboo groves, two core landmarks in Jiangnan landscape that are still admired by nowadays' artists. This item also demonstrates extraordinary value for collection since many representative works of the series is merely the extension of this blueprint. Wu himself treasured this work so much that he gave it to his only granddaughter. The artwork was firstly released to the market in 2010 with a clear source, which is valuable as well.

Pick a Straw To See The Wind, On A Spring Day With Lucid Water And Lush Mountains

In a slight top view from a broad perspective, the picture shows the beautiful and well-organized landscape of Yangshuo with plenty of details. Wu rubbed a series of neat colour blocks in the picture with his brush. The rows of colour blocks not only construct the space but also added some extent of rhythm and melody of ups and downs, attracting the viewers' eyes to follow. This arrangement echoes the aesthetic pursuit of Wu that emphasizes the structural beauty of integrated colour and planes, described as “the beauty that lies on the permutation of rows and the variety in height”.

In the picture, the overall tone of grey-green is used to show the spring dawn, a time when the earth is not completely “changed into the green clothes of spring”. The left half of the picture takes green as the main tone, while the contrasting colours of red and brown are added from left to right, blended layer by layer. In the foreground, the green-wall tile-roofed village houses in parallel with the adjacent rivers and mountains form a colour harmony. In the small-scale canvas, colour and shape are ingeniously managed to certain positions that demonstrate the dynamic of lines and planes and the balance of hue. It feels as if a Jiangnan beauty is whispering softly beside one's ears. Along the way, the river flows back and forth between the embankment and the mountains, and the splashes hit the levee one after another near the newly sprouting willows. The atmosphere is close to the description in a famous poem, “a spring breeze rippling the surface of the pond”, a scene that is perfectly illustrated by the artist.

Spring in Guilin also reveals the technique of traditional Chinese ink painting -- dry, wet, thick and light -- especially when the wet brush reflects Guilin's humid weather and inserts a smell of nostalgia in the air. The picture adopts rich colours in oil painting to capture “the ever-changing and fleeting colour of nature” thus convey the message of a spring atmosphere and pleasant feeling of life. It inherited the traditional technique of Chinese culture to “integrate emotion and scenery” and “express emotion in the scenery”, which demonstrates Wu Guanzhong's achievement of “nationalize oil painting”.

Price estimate:
HKD: 5,500,000 – 10,000,000
USD: 709,200 – 1,289,500

Auction Result:
HKD: 7,050,000