Oil on wood panel

46 × 61 cm. 18 1/8 × 24 in.

Signed in Chinese and dated on bottom right; titled and signed in Chinese on the reverse

LITERATURE
1996, Art of Wu Guanzhong: 60's - 90's, China Three Gorges Publishing House, Beijing, p. 87, pl. 66
2007, The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong, vol. II, Hunan Art Publishing House, Changsha, p. 267
PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

Towering Cedar Trees Accompany My Evergreen Art
Outstanding Sole Cedar Tree Oil Painting by Wu Guanzhong

“Trees are not only a sign of life, they are also a symbol of art. The tree of life is evergreen, as it is artistic life, but the artist always has to die for art to transcend an era.”
——Wu Guanzhong

After graduating from the National College of Art in Hangzhou, China, in 1947, Wu Guanzhong passed an exam to become the number one publicly funded Chinese student to study in France. In 1950, he said goodbye to his classmates in Paris and returned to China to teach what he had learned about aesthetics. In the 1960s, he was sent down to the countryside, but still insisted on painting and used “manure baskets” to do so, only to be filled with gushing artistic inspiration on receiving his freedom in the 1970s. Wu was invited to hold art exhibitions and became internationally renowned in the 1980s, holding the first ever solo exhibition by a living Chinese artist at the British Museum in 1992. In many ways, from the second half of the 20th century Wu served as a bridge between past and present, China and the rest of the world. He spent his entire life like an old tree, unyielding and enduring, embracing hope and pursuits, and ultimately discovered a vast expanse connecting the world. On this occasion, the work being auctioned is the oil painting Deodars of Qingdao completed in 1974, in which the artist employs the towering sincerity of the “pine tree” as both an embodiment of his own character and the ultimate reflection of his belief in life and artistic spirit.

An Unyielding Artistic Spirit, Like Trees Deeply Rooted in Mountains
New Artistic Life During an Oil Painting Golden Age in the 1970s

Deodars of Qingdao was painted in the 1970s, a golden age when Wu Guanzhong produced most of his oil paintings and masterpieces. In 1972, Wu came to the end of a six-year ban forbidding him from painting and was henceforth allowed to paint during vacations. After returning to Beijing from Li village in rural Hebei Province where he had been sent and reunited with family, Wu dedicated himself to painting. Other than including the scenery he saw in his paintings the artist also seized every opportunity presented to paint from nature and investigate the areas he visited. For example, in the spring of 1973 Wu was commissioned to paint a huge mural for the Beijing Hotel titled The Ten-thousand-li Landscape of the Yangtze River, which he used to visit the Yangtze and paint landscapes; in 1975, he was ordered to paint a landscape painting for the presidential train carriage on the Tazara Railway at Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. Ltd. and made use of the opportunity to visit nearby Longxudao and Mount Lao. As such, when Wu worked as a teacher at Academy of Arts & Design in Beijing in the 1970s his class schedule was arranged in such a way that when not teaching he was able to leave Beijing and paint from real life. As a result, he often visited coastal areas in Shandong Province to avoid the summer heat of Beijing and paint from real life. After the vicissitudes of his life, Wu Guanzhong enthusiastically threw himself into the brand-new life he had been given, his passion for art rekindled. Even with the limited material conditions at that time, he was still able to paint rich and moving works of art. Deodars of Qingdao is a rare oil painting from this important period in the artist's life.

The Only “Cedar Pine” Motif Work in the Qingdao Series

In the mid-1970s, Wu Guanzhong visited Qingdao to paint on multiple occasions. Following a visit in 1975, in the spring of 1976 Wu took his students to Shandong to teach them how to paint from real life and they visited Mount Lao and Mount Tai. Later the same year he was invited by Zhang Xia, who worked in external marketing for China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation to spend the summer in Qingdao. The iconic red buildings, wave-reefs and strangely shaped trees in the mountains became a source of unending inspiration for the artist. Of all the works Wu painted in his artistic career he produced only 11 oil paintings with a “Qingdao landscape” motif and other than Pines and Rocks on the Lao Mountains (1998) which recollects the landscapes of Mount Lao near Qingdao, the other 10 works were all completed from 1974-1976. Indeed, from this series, Pines and Rocks on the Lao Mountains and Red Chambers of Qingdao are now in the collection of the National Art Museum of China and the Shanghai China Art Museum, respectively, an indication of the high esteem with which this series is held. Deodars of Qingdao was the first Qingdao landscape the artist finished as well as the only piece he ever painted that depicted “cedar pines.” Moreover, there is also a pen manuscript of the work in the Shanghai China Art Museum collection, which compositionally echoes the auctioned piece. The fact that Wu Guanzhong used many different materials to revisit landscape scenes from this area is an indication of his love for the subject matter and how important it was to him. Indeed, one could reasonably say it was an important painting archetype into which he poured his heart and soul.

Heroes Dancing, Essence of the Ages
Unique Seven Treasures Pines

“After 60 years as an artist, old trees are the closest of friends.” Despite traveling the world, “pines trees” were a subject in which Wu Guanzhong never lost interest. He included in his paintings white-barked pines from the Forbidden City, pines between rocks in Mount Lao, visitor welcoming pines from Mount Huang and Wu Dafu pines from Mount Qin. In the 1970s, Wu painted 13 consecutive oil paintings with “pine trees” as the motif, but it was only Deodars of Qingdao that featured “cedar pines” with such luxuriant foliage that resembled pagodas.

The majestic composition of this work is comprised of seven towering pines that reach into the heavens, gradually spreading out, with the front and back seemingly strewn at random but as with the seven stars of the Big Dipper combine to create a greater whole. They are perhaps even more akin to a dragon hiding in deep waters, brilliantly and majestically showcasing a great power about to leap into the heavens. As the layers of pagoda-like tree tops open up, the dense branches and pine needles rush forth like a powerful army, or arrays of soldiers arranged in a straight line, the branches and pine needles greeting the wind in high spirits at an angle, stretching into the boundless distance, never twisting back and forth and imbued with the majestic demeanor of a warrior. The seven cedar pines are the main focus in the painting which is used to convey perfection, honour and vastness as represented by the Chinese word “seven,” as well as the auspicious “seven treasures” in Tibetan Buddhism, in a reference to imposing life character.

Vast and Detailed, Thunder in the Silence
Brushstrokes Infused with Strength

If we look at the brushwork in more detail one can see the way in which Wu infuses the work with great concentration and endurance. He firmly seizes the “density” and “thickness” of the cedar pines, employing the surging strength of calligraphic brushwork-like vigorous touches and fine strokes, continuously presenting the strength hidden in the softness of the cedar pine branches through the layered rhythm of free strokes. Each pine needle depicted with fine strokes is particularly clear, the firm dense rhythm quickly opening up the scene. The lower tree trunks are comprised of two to three strokes, one left, one right, one on top of the other, crafting a powerful three dimensional effect that exquisitely reflects the roughness and strength of the ancient trees.

In response to the dancing movements of the lines, the dots also exude a freshness of spirit, with the bright lush green, yellow, cyan and ocher coloured spots, all flying between the branches and replete with vigor. In the lower part of the work, the people on an outing are depicted in red, blue, white, and yellow dots, appearing as simple complex shapes, as if lighting a series of life fires that create distinctive individual lives. At the same time, the white blank spaces left among the trees and branches, represent an extension of space along the vertical axis, which perfectly reflects what Wu Guanzhong meant when he said: “In painting something dense the hardest thing is to make it not seem dense and still able to breathe.” The haphazard order highlights the “denseness and thickness” of the pine needles and this is perhaps the perfect depiction of “thunder in the silence.”

Pale and Verdant, Exuberant Green Rhymes
A Path to Eastern and Western Integration - Oil and Water

Deodars of Qingdao represents the starting point for Wu Guanzhong's “combination of oil and ink” but it is perhaps even more interesting to note that although green is the main colour in the work, it is blended with the “five different colours of black ink” and Cun Fa (wrinkle method) from traditional Chinese painting. Wu observes in great detail the posture and features of each tree, using their uneven height, different light/shade arrangements and light needle strokes that light up the different shades of yellow-green, blue-green, yellow-green, black-green and olive green, thereby creating layers of old leaves and new buds on the cedar pines. The beauty of the scattered colours and forms of the rough trunks and fine branches echo the vitality, lushness, vigor, weathering, and evergreen spirit of the trees. The use of hemp fiber texture strokes, ox hair texture strokes and mi-dot texture strokes from painting and calligraphy are also reproduced in the painting as deep brown, ocher, coffee, and deep black hues, creating a visual perception that has a depth of atmosphere reminiscent of Li Tang's (1066-1150) Windy Pines Among Myriad Valleys. Between the azure blue sky and beige earth, the lush greenness of the cedar pine trees becomes even thicker, reflecting the highest achievement in Wu's efforts to combine Eastern and Western aesthetics, creating something truly exciting.

Evergreen Artistic Character

Wu Guanzhong dedicated his life to the exploration of how best to showcase the “unbroken string of the kite” through his art, connected to the ideals of life sentiment. For him cedar pines were not merely symbols of life but also a portrayal of human character, a spiritual depositary connected to his heart and art.

The seven cedar pine trees in the painting are different in shape and posture, with the thicker sturdier trees like a main force standing lofty and upright, reaching upwards and holding up the sky; in contrast, the smaller and finer trees are like a new hope surpassing what came before, with accumulated leaf-crowns and high spirited branches, casting continuous shadows on the ground that speak to the beauty of interconnected movement. Moreover, the intertwined branches between the trees are like partners holding hands, engaged in building a forest together, an echo of the human silhouettes made up of floating coloured dots. Indeed, in concert with the silhouettes of the people on outings in the distance, the forest in the background quietly emerges connected by root veins, in a way that highlights the extended life vitality of the cedar pines.

Ancient trees have lived for thousands of years but remain extremely luxuriant, showcasing the fact that although we do not share the longevity of the pine trees people can still use their one and only life to create lasting value. Wu Guanzhong observed: “the tree of life is evergreen,” as too is artistic life. This means that although an artist might pass away, art transcends time and space.

Price estimate:
HKD 12,000,000 – 18,000,000
USD 1,538,500 – 2,307,700

Auction Result:
HKD: --