Mixed media on paper

80.5 x 99.5 cm. 31 5/8 x 39 1/8 in.

Signed and dated in Taiwan phonetic， and dated on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

Adventures in art and the joys of solitude
Liu Qiwei, known affectionately as the “Peter Pan” of painting, was born in 1912 in Fujian. He moved to Japan with his family at a young age and later studied at the National Railway Technical College of Tokyo. After graduation, he served as an assistant professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. At the time of China's political turmoil, he moved to Taiwan and worked as a professional engineer. Having extricated himself from his tumultuous life in China, Liu Qiwei had the energy to pursue his artistic dreams and thus began to teach himself painting. Due to his work, in 1965, Liu Qiwei was sent to Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War. Inspired by the rustic quality of the local living environment, his painting style began to shift toward one of primitive art, and he used scenes from nature as his creative theme. In 2001, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts featured his works in an exhibition entitled Exploring 90. He has also held several exhibits at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and other galleries, and his works have been collected by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.
Liu Qiwei has a passion for studying animals and portraying them in his paintings. His works, including Wildlife—God's Script and Homer, present viewers with the results of his research on animals. It is thus evident that he has a special emotional bond with such beings. In Horse, the artist uses bold swaths of ink to form the contours of a strong, stout horse against a backdrop of green grasslands. The horse, with its head bowed and its legs curved, seems to be at rest, and it appears to be licking its left leg in a leisurely manner. The green grass in the background exists in perfect harmony with the horse's glossy light-brown body and dark mane. Under the exaggerated, deformed contours, one can see the animal's undulating muscles, evoking a sense of dynamism. The white limbs and underbelly further reveal the artist's careful observations of nature and his shrewd ability to capture the animal under his brush.

Price estimate:
HKD: 40,000 -80,000
USD: 5,100 - 10,200

Auction Result:
HKD : 47,200