Oil on canvas

63.2 x 75.7 cm. 24 7/8 x 30 in.

Signed in English on bottom left； one artist’s seal on bottom right
LITERATURE
1994, Yee Bon, Lingnan Fine Arts Publishing House, Guangdong

PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

Cliff and Sea, Longing for Old Friends
The Art of Yee Bon
Yee Bon graduated from OCAD University in 1931 and settled down in Hong Kong in 1935. His artistic creations and educational work had a major influence on the art circles of Hong Kong, and by 1956, he returned to his hometown of Guangzhou. Over the course of his 70-year art career, he never ceased to innovate in his painting — taking Chinese-style languages and infusing them with the essence of romanticism and classical Western realist painting. In this way, Yee was able to create works with distinctive Chinese characteristics while also forming his own unique artistic identity.
The work featured in this auction, Drawing up the Net, is representative of the early stages of Yee Bon's career. The painting depicts a scene of net fishing as night begins to set in. Laborers stand atop a high cliff as fishermen pull on the fishing net below, creating a dynamic episode of teamwork. This scene evokes a similar emotional tension as that of The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault. The artist intentionally leaves out other actions that take place over the course of fishing, instead focusing on the most reminiscent act of “drawing up the net”. The artist applies the passion of romanticism to an ordinary moment in life, giving the work a special significance. Yee Bon depicts a scene of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature taking place under the strong contrast of light and shadow at sunset, conjuring similarities to the dynamic seascape paintings of William Turner and the realism of landscape paintings of the academics. The artist employs a wide near-to-far angle of view, with the nearness of the cliff on the left making the sea on the right appear far off in the distance. The small silhouettes of sailing boats simply add a busy atmosphere to the sea, bringing out the vast span of the water and sky in the background.
In this work, Yee Bon frequently transforms and integrates Eastern and Western artistic languages to stimulate an extremely strong sense of field. This seemingly ordinary everyday scene in Drawing up the Net is actually the result of the artist's sophisticated concept in which the cliff and fishing activity occupy the main portion of the painting, contrasted sharply against the immenseness of the sky and sea. This method of composition combines the opposing approaches of compactness and extension to leave viewers with pure aesthetic enjoyment. Yee Bon employs faint yellow tones characteristic of romanticism and the realistic style of academicism to depict humans harvesting food during the waning hours of the day, highlighting the strong will and determination of the workers. In the context of the harmonious relationship between humankind and nature, the artist expresses hislonging to see once again the friends of his past.

Price estimate:
HKD: 400,000 - 600,000
USD: 51,000 - 76,400

Auction Result:
HKD : --