Gouache on paper

73 × 46 cm. 28 3/4 × 18 1/8 in.

Signed in English and Chinese and dated on bottom right; stamped with an artist's seal on bottom left
PROVENANCE
6 Dec 2012, Cambi Casa d'Aste Milan Italy Modern and Contemporary Art Auction, Lot 71
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Cambi Casa d'Aste, Milan, Italy

Behold the Visage of the Rising Sun; Listen to the Melody of the Milky Way
Hsiao Chin's Cosmic Journey Across Two Decades

As the founder of the first Chinese abstract painting group "Eastern Painting Society" and a pioneer of modern Asian art, Hsiao Chin received a scholarship from the Spanish government to study art in Europe at the age of 21. He devoted himself to studying Western avant-garde art, combining the traditional Chinese emphasis on artistic conception with Western abstraction, shaking the Western art world with his Eastern cosmic perspective.

In his third year in Europe, Hsiao Chin gained the attention of the Spanish Gasset Gallery, which represented famous artists such as Picasso and Miro. Since then, he has received constant invitations and has become one of the few active Chinese abstract masters after World War II. Over the past sixty years, his works have been collected by more than forty important institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art. He is an indispensable pillar in the history of Chinese art, as art critic Peini Beatrice Hsieh said, "He is a living legend in the Chinese art world."

Hsiao Chin's most important artistic period was spent in Italy in the 1960s and 1980s. During this time, he initiated the "International Punto Art Movement" in 1961 and the "International Surya Art Movement" in 1978, establishing his solid position at the forefront. The two works featured in this auction, Senza Titolo (Lot 111) from the 1960s and Soggetto Informale (Lot 112) from the 1980s, both come from his time in Italy and represent significant stages of his Surya (Sun) Series and Landscapes of the Universe Series, add a comma showcasing his philosophical exploration of cosmic energy over a twenty-year period.

The Ceaselessly Flowing Vitality of Life

Hsiao Chin's works are highly respected from the 1960s, and the painting Senza Titolo created in the same year as the auction record-setting painting of the same name, reflects this praise. During this period, Hsiao Chin broke free from conservative academism and began to align himself with the European avant-garde art scene. He became acquainted with spatialist master Lucio Fontana and sculptor J. Subiachs, among others, and created his own artistic realm. Starting from philosophical, contemplative, and introspective thinking, he proposed the "International Punto Art Movement" in 1961. Full rectangles and circles started to appear in his paintings, expressing his pursuit of harmony in life and the universe found in Taoist philosophy. Senza Titolo is a classic representation of this.

In the painting, an indigo sun rises slowly from the bottom, and bold and unrestrained colours break free from traditional representations of the sun, echoing the saying "Masterful craftmanship." Light and heat energy burst forth from the cool-coloured circle, endowing all things on earth with life. Above the sun, layers of pink, orange, and turquoise arrow-shaped bands accumulate, pointing towards infinity and resembling the gradual diffusion of mysterious light waves in the universe, revealing a dignified and mysterious temperament. The visual collision between rounded curves and strong straight lines highlights Hsiao Chin's avant-garde artistic vocabulary. Freely scattered white dots on geometric shapes inject kinetic energy into the static scene, creating a harmonious yin-yang universe space like a power totem worshipped in ancient civilizations, which is awe-inspiring.

The Surging Rhythm of the Universe

The universe is the focus of Hsiao Chin's heart, and the Landscapes of the Universe Series created in the 1980s represents a significant breakthrough from his Surya (Sun) Series in the 1960s, which focused on cosmic meditation. Black holes, nebulae, and cosmic whirlpools appear as even more expansive imagery, showcasing infinite energy rhythms on a broader level. Soggetto Informale showcases Hsiao Chin's grand and powerful artistic vision during this period.

The work Soggertto Informale deviates from precise symmetrical geometric compositions and instead displays a graceful and dynamic atmosphere with warm and rich calligraphic brushstrokes. With a bold stroke of blue-purple, Hsiao Chin depicts a nebula wandering in the universe, seemingly simple yet full of subtle colour changes and intensity. The left side of the nebula is cyan-purple, evoking a mysterious and cold feeling of the universe, while the right side is illuminated by fibres of light, revealing a vibrant and beautiful purple-red. The changing density of colours from light to dark depicts the continuous transformation of the nebula, sometimes gathering into dense deep purple clusters and other times dispersing like flying white, brewing a storm in constant motion. At the lower edge of the nebula, he splashed ink with automatic technique, creating a cluster of colour dots, resembling celestial bodies escaping from a gravitational field and demonstrating a dialectical relationship between the whole and its parts. In the lower right corner, highly saturated green, red, and yellow dots intrude, resembling falling meteors, impacting the edge of the nebula and bringing dramatic suspense, showcasing the infinite possibilities of the universe. Hsiao Chin expresses his Eastern intuition and the unbounded state of mind in Zen Buddhism, emphasizing the individual's consciousness and aesthetic experience. With his profound understanding and exploration of the universe's inherent order and inherent energy, he reveals the immense and profound force behind the cosmos through his works. With Eastern intuition and a Zen-like state of mind, Hsiao Chin portrays the fusion of "selflessness" and the "cosmic self", leading viewers into the vast and boundless universe, leaving them spellbound.

Price estimate:
HKD 25,000 – 45,000
USD 3,200 – 5,800

Auction Result:
HKD: 36,000