Watercolour on paper

39 x 54 cm. 15 3/8 x 21 1/4 in.

Signed in Chinese with an artist's seal on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly by original collector from artist's family
Important Private Collection, Asia

The Standing Height, The Flowing Time
Gu Yuan's Taihu Landscape

“Gu Yuan is an exceptional talent in Chinese art.”
——Xu Beihong

Gu Yuan was born in Guangdong in 1919, and left for Yan'an when he reached 19 years old. With all his passion, he studied in the Shanbei Public School and Luxun Art College. By 1942, he participated in the National Wooden Sculpture Exhibition, and received a compliment letter from Xu Beihong. In 1958, his outstanding creation got him an invitation letter sent from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. As a professor, he never stopped teaching. National Art Museum of China held an exhibition in 2015, The Age of Progress, an Academic Exhibition of Chinese Watercolor History, which showed the development and achievement of Chinese watercolor creation in nearly a hundred years. Gu was respected as one of the seven greatest watercolor masters in such a history. In the creation, Gu pursues the harmony in color and composition. And during the Cultural Revolution, his works stood out with its unique elegance and delicacy, guiding people to feel the beauty in a pure way. This Tai Hu Fishng Village created in 1960s is an example of that period.

“The conflicts among classes have infiltrated in all my life, which makes me extremely nervous. I do hope to hang up a color painting (landscape painting) of yours on my bedroom wall. Suppose I could appreciate it just before I go to sleep, I would calm down…”

This is a quote from a letter to Gu in 60s~70s. The letter is written by the famous translator Cao Jinghua. Taihu in the Tai Hu Fishing Village refers to the freshwater lake across the border between Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It is a beautiful and lovely site, also the site where Ni Yunlin chose to build his hermit's hut. Ni was a painter of Yuan Dynasty who made great achievement in landscape painting. It is Taihu lake that inspired Ni to create the painting, Fishing Village in an Autumn Clear Day and some other great works, highly appreciated by the afterwards. Gu applied the famous composition style in Chinese landscape painting, front-middle-far composition. In the front part, the house is small but dynamic, with the typical white walls and grey tiles, illustrating people's rich life in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the middle part shows a clear and broad view of the lake; and the sights far away consists of the shallow lake bottom and distant hills, creating a quite and peaceful environment. The painting might enable viewers to forget all their anxieties in the real world, and leave a long lasting feelings in people's hearts.

Price estimate:
HKD: 100,000 – 150,000
USD: 12,900 – 19,400

Auction Result:
HKD: --