Oil on canvas

80 × 80 cm. 31 1/2 × 31 1/2 in.

Signed in Chinese and dated on bottom right

LITERATURE
1993, The Second Annual Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, Hong Kong China Oil Painting Gallery Limited & Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House, Hong Kong & Tianjin
1995, Selected Oil Painting Works of Song Hui Min, Liaoning Fine Arts Publishing House, Shenyang, p. 48.
EXHIBITED
9-23 Oct 1993, The Second Annual Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
19-28 Nov 1993, The Second Annual Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition, Bank of China Building China Club, Hong Kong

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the artist

Rooted in Homeland, Soaring over the World
Song Huimin's Eagle of the Dawn

Born in Changchun, Jilin in 1937, Song Huimin graduated from the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts and was appointed with distinction, and later became the director of the Oil Painting Department. Song loves to paint magnificent landscapes and is fascinated by exploring the beauty of nature. The high latitude of the northeast region brings persistent cold, while the vast land nurtures the magnificent scenery of the four seasons, which has also become the source of his inspiration. He has made many long trips to the mountains of the northeastern forest region to paint and is highly respected by the art world. Many of his representative works, such as First Snow and Cao Xueqin, were collected by the National Art Museum of China, and his masterpiece Sacred Mountain was sold for a record price of 510,000HKD at auction. Now in his eighties, Song continues to create and contribute to the cause of art education in China.

The painting Wings, an important masterpiece of Song's, was exhibited in 1993 at The Second China Oil Painting Exhibition in Hong Kong and is of great significance. In the centre of the painting is a frosty winter tree, which is combined with the iron-black mountains at the bottom, highlighting the solemn atmosphere. In the distance, white snow-capped mountains peek out from the soft greenish-grey clouds, reflected by the sunrise in a warm and soft orange colour. The contrast between warm and cold, dark and light is rich and full of inspiration. The main character of the painting is a soaring eagle. The artist deliberately blurred the details of the eagle's body, such as the colour of its fur and features, and boldly used a black silhouette to depict the eagle's brave posture. Song used a realistic approach to paint the eagle in his context. Song believes that although oil painting is a Western tradition, it has been immersed in Chinese culture for over a century and can express the aesthetic interests of Chinese people. His rich and intense colours along with natural and spontaneous brushstrokes inject a rich poetic mood into this work. The “sunrise” and “an eagle soaring” in the painting both contain the meaning of vigorous and upward movement, and the viewer will surely be infected by Song's artistic enthusiasm as this work of youthful spirit was created in his elder age.

Price estimate:
HKD: 60,000 - 100,000
USD: 7,600 - 12,700

Auction Result:
HKD: 132,000