Oil on canvas

80 x 70 cm.31 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.

Signed in Chinese on upper right.

PROVENANCE Private collection，Belgium.

Sha Qi 1914 - 2005

Sha Qi is a legendary artist and also a rare genius in painting. Sha Qi has demonstrated his unique art talents since childhood. Starting from 15 years old，Sha Qi studied in Shanghai Chang Min Art College，Shanghai Art College，Hanzhou Art College，and Central University Department of Fine Arts for 9 years，where he gradually demonstrated his talents in oil painting. With the referral by Xu Bei-Hong in 1937，the 23-year-old Sha Qi went to Belgium in pursuit of advanced study at Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After arriving to Belgium，Sha Qi focused on the study of painting and conducted systematic research on traditional European painting. He received the“Gold Medal of Art Excellence”twice. Sha Qi was well acclaimed by his western colleagues for his talent and gift and became a renowned artist.

It is without doubt that Sha Qi not only appreciated European expressionism but understood the connection between European paintings and traditional Chinese paintings. From this early work by Sha Qi，one can tell that Sha Qi interprets the exceptional style of western and oriental fusion with his own sensations.

Sha Qi has a profound background in Chinese traditional culture. Under his father’s influence from childhood，he had access to large quantity of Chinese traditional culture and arts in addition to paint many traditional Chinese flower and bird paintings. Consequently Sha Qi upholds to the principles of Chinese painting for his oil paintings with traditional themes，paying attention to principles，structure，composition structure and style，as shown in the typical Chinese literati’s house in his work“Great Aspiration”，demonstrating vivid oriental characteristics.

Nonetheless，in the traditional style，Sha Qi’s use of color displays his profound skills with western oil painting. The thick and layered colors in“Green Aspirations”originated from Western art masters，such as Diego Velázquez and Goya. Sha Qi combined and re-interpreted their skills. Although the use of this technique is usually restrained for traditional themes in order to achieve the overall effects of oriental painting，the brushes resembling to Velázquez and the appealing color of Goya have still been revealed from the traditional oriental outlines. Last but not least，Sha Qi’s work rarely mentioned text but this work employed the tablet inscription in traditional Chinese hall to display“Great Aspirations”in order to highlight the theme，no matter for complement or self-motivation. It is one of the most unique works by Sha Qi.

Price estimate:
HKD：600,000 - 800,000
USD：77,400 - 103,200

Auction Result:
HKD : 1,085,600