Charcoal and ink on paper

47.5 x 28 cm. 18 3/4 x 11 in.

Provenance：
Private collection， Asia.

Note：
This work shares the same provenance as the other three sketch works in the exhibition of Sanyu in Parisian Nostalgia： the National Museum of History’s Sanyu Collection.

After years of preparation， the largest solo exhibition of Sanyu， Parisian Nostalgia： the National Museum of History’s San yu Collection， was finally held in March， where 49 oil paintings and three sketches were exhibited in commemoration of the 50th death anniversary of the passing of Sanyu. Those who love Sanyu’s art were excited to hear the news. On the first day of the exhibition， artists， collectors， historians and art lovers from around the world made their pilgrimage to the exhibition. As described in the exhibition album， it was ‘the best collection of the most renowned works from Sanyu gathered from the most reliable sources’， in which the three sketches were included. These three sketches together with the lot Dancing Nude fell into the hands of the late Taiwanese collector Dr. Antoine Chen. Upon his decease in 2011， the National Museum of Taiwan History purchased three of the sketches. Dancing Nude is the only sketch which was privately collected and kept before it was brought to the public this year on the 50th anniversary of the death of the artist.
Abundant colours were used in Sanyu’s works， be it the flowers in a vase， a pink horse on the grassland in solitude or goldfishes frolicking in the water. Another signature theme of his works is female nudes which were mostly presented as drawings using ink or pencil. Using simple strokes instead of a plethora of colours， Sanyu endowed each distinctive female figure with an enchantment that invites imaginations. Dancing Nude is an uncommon work of Sanyu portraying a lady on her feet. She stands upright with crossing legs， eyeing downwards to expose her tempting neck， her curly hair lying naturally on the shoulders insinuating a sensual demenour. In this sketch， Sanyu depicted a lady dancing for her own pleasure， a figure that represents the romance in the Western world and the implicitness of the East.
The female figures of Sanyu’s works are either sensual or contented with a rather corpulent body. The lot Nude in Curly Hair is， on the contrary， a sketch portraying a relatively skinny lady. When studying in Académie de la Grande Chaumière， Sanyu met the sculptor Alberto Giacometti who was famous for the elongated figures in his creations， which inspired Sanyu to portray elongated bodies in his works. In the sketch Nude， a foreign woman with curly short hair leisurely raises one arm to reach her back. The front close-up of the body with her slim arms hanging and the drooping breasts bring a sense of humour. The disproportion of the slim waist and the wide hip bone serves as an ambiguous metaphor of the furtive restlessness of the artist. The signature stamp of Sanyu at the bottom right corner confirms its authenticity.

Price estimate:
HKD： 120,000 -180,000
USD： 15,400 - 23,200

Auction Result:
HKD: 236,000