Watercolour on paper

41.5 x 57.5 cm. 16 3/8 x 22 5/8 in.

Signed in English and Chinese， dated and located with one artist’s seal on bottom right； signed in Chinese on reverse
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

When the empty valley is freshened by spring rain,
the splendor of nature remains
Ran In-ting: A Sudden Rain at Tamsui River
Ran In-ting was born in 1903 to a peasant family in Yilan County, Taiwan. From his upbringing sprang his specific appreciation towards the rustic beauty of nature and rural life. After turning into an adult, Ran studied from Kinichiro Ishikawa, a renowned Japanese watercolor artist during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Drawing inspiration from landscape sketching, he started landscape painting in watercolor. Ran went to Japan for fine art study in 1923 and successfully exhibited at the Imperial Fine Arts Academy exhibition, the Teiten, in 1926. Later on, in 1929, he was selected as a member of the British Royal Watercolor Society. Having been active in painting for years, he was rated as one of the ten most important watercolor artists of the world in 1971, by major art critics of Europe and the United States. In 1991 and 1998, the National Palace Museum and the National Museum of History in Taipei successively hold his retrospective exhibitions, and published catalogs of his complete works, paying tribute to the lifelong art creation of the master of watercolor.
The work, A Sudden Rain at Tamsui River, presented here, is one of the representatives of Ran's watercolor works depicting the scenery of his hometown, which has always been his major interest. The open composition of the work fully unfolds the enchanting scenery of Tamsui River at rain time to the viewer. At the embankment, a group of young people is caught by the rain unprepared, hastily steering the boat inshore and preparing to jump off. Employing techniques from traditional Chinese ink wash painting, Ran combined calligraphy strokes like ‘dot' and ‘rise' with the shading technique of ink wash painting. By splashing navy paint of high transparency with rough strokes, a heavy downpour scene is vividly presented. Looking from a distance, the light shining through the clouds is reaching the surface of the lake from behind the dark clouds and blended with raindrops, from where a profound artistic conception has risen.

Price estimate:
HKD: 75,000 -95,000
USD: 9,600 -12,100

Auction Result:
HKD : 200,600