Oil on board

40.8 x 53.5 cm. 16 1/8 x 21 1/8 in.

Signed in Chinese and dated on bottom left
PROVENANCE
2 Dec 2007, Ravenel Taipei Autumn Auctions, Lot 0107
Private Collection, Asia

The Happiest Painting, the Loveliest Men
The Labourers Painted by Chen Danqing

In the transition period between the Cultural Revolution and the Open and Reform, Tibet Series by Chen Danqing marks the shiniest milestone, making him well known in the Chinese art field. He left China in the early 80s, and settled in New York for 18 years, during which period he focused on still life painting. When he came back to the motherland in 2000, he was invited to teach in the Academy of Arts&Design of Tsinghua University. In the following teaching time, he restarted his sketch creation on figures. In the Autumn of 2003, he led his students to sketch in the suburban area of Beijing. The topic of migrant workers hadn't shown in his paintings for 20 years, and he put them in his paintings again this time. Workers from Zhangfang Village is an example of the creations of that time.

In this painting, there is a pair of peasants sitting next to each other. The stooped old man is the father and the straight young man is the son. The pair of father and son forms a high-low composition, which is his classic composition repeated shown since his Tibet Series. The yellow-brown color pair blends with the grey-white color pair, shaping their muscular shoulder and modest faces. On the young, the dark black is applied on the hair and the beige is on his shirt; on the old, the grey is used on the hair and the shiny white is the color of the shirt, which is not only a presentation of the characteristics of the figures, but also create a variation in lighting condition via the color contrast. Few red strokes on the face and nose of the young bring out the vitality of the workers. The mild young man is looking towards the viewers firmly, which shows the purity and kindness of the workers, especially in the consistent tone of the painting. Paints left a unique and special texture on the wooden board, echoing the coarse skin of the peasants in a sensual way. The figures painted by Chen is so expressional and the faces is filled with the marks left by age and life. In this painting, he recorded the people we are forgetting in the modern times, the loveliest men. In a sense, the painting testifies Chen's passion for painting. In another sense, the painting is a flash for people out of their hometowns, and inspire people to stop the daydream and save them from all the void.

Price estimate:
HKD: 140,000 – 250,000
USD: 18,100 – 32,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 354,000