Ink and colour on paper

45 × 68 cm. 17 3/4 × 26 3/4 in.

Signed in Chinese with an artist's stamp on bottom left
PROVENANCE
29 Mar 1998, JSL Taipei Spring Auction, Lot 191
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

Natural Aura in Vigorousness

The Influence of calligraphy on Shiy De-Jinn's artistic creation

Born in a rich peasant family of Sichuan, Shiy De-Jinn started to study painting and calligraphy from Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden when he was five. Though he's been very familiar with Chinese writing brush and calligraphy, he chose to make new exploration and interpretation of Chinese painting by using more watercolour and oil from 40s to mid-60s. This was what he's been pursuing in his adult life. He didn't pick up calligraphy until 1969. Then Shiy De-Jinn started to copy the inscriptions on tablets of Qin and Han dynasties, and created his own script by combining semi-cursive and cursive scripts. Calligraphy (Lot 56) is an excellent representation of his accomplishment. Two Ducks (Lot 55) and Portrait of a Seated Female (Lot 57) made the perfect examples that his diligence in calligraphy also affects how he creates in other categories.

Rhyme in Bold Strokes

“Appreciating calligraphy is to see the structure of the lines and the rhythm of the strokes. The beauty in calligraphy is abstract. And the formation principle of abstract painting is the same as that of calligraphy on tablets. They all belong to the beauty of shape.”
Shiy De-Jinn

The development of Chinese characters has made Chinese calligraphy extensive and profound. Different aesthetic pursuits in each dynasty shown on calligraphy, can be dated back to the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells in the 19th century. For example, inscriptions on ancient bronze objects of Shang and Zhou dynasties have strong and magnificent strokes, clerical and seal script of Qin and Han dynasty have narrow and evenly-sized characters, the cursive script of Han dynasty stretches continuously, while its semi-cursive script is vigorous and infinite in variety. Whether the strokes are thick or thin, dynamic or static, be drawn on the paper in a fast or slow speed, Shiy De-Jinn learned to appreciate the aesthetic pursuit that implied within, as well as various emotions blended in them. His persistency in calligraphy since 1969 brought him the ability to master the quintessence in all and sundry of scripts, while pouring in personal expression in his writing. As Shiy De-Jinn's pinnacle of work, Calligraphy was completed during 1980 to 1981. In calligraphy, two sentences of a piece of poetry from the Qing dynasty's famous artist Wang Hui's Landscape were written in a mixture of cursive and semi-cursive scripts. The ten characters written were so grandeur, just like what Hui-Mei Zheng commented in Calligraphy and Modern Art: “This work has got the cursive script's sense of speed, the strokes made their most showy display with fierce. It also reserves the firm strokes of Wei Dynasty's clerical script on tablets. The raciness, neatness and decisiveness are not only qualities of his semi-cursive script, but also that of the artist himself.” Hui-Mei Zheng considers it as a manifestation of self-expression after the artist had consumed and been able to manipulate the core of all sorts of scripts. “It's a not commonly seen masterpiece.”

Subaudition can be found when we reach to a deeper artistic conception. Wang Hui's Landscape depicts a scarlet-wall temple standing among the secluded forests and mountains. It's a place where time seems to be stagnated and can't be bothered by all the historical changes happening outside. The green leaves that travel along with the wind are just as free and high-spirited as the birds flying in the sky. Beautiful scenery in the painting echoes what the poetry's description. Calligraphy was written in the last two years of Shiy De-Jinn's life, while he was suffering from pancreas cancer. The artist's longing for nature and his ultimate nostalgia are hidden behind the characters. He described his hometown in Sichuan as “located in high elevation where mountains and forests go on for layers after layers, surrounding the village”, which was similar to what's in Wang Hui's Landscape. It seems like he ejected all the nostalgia feelings for hometown into the work, into every single stroke he ever made. Looking back to his lonely life, nature and art were the things that never bailed on him. His script is just like his personality, proud and stubborn, powerful but also gentle. Though he's suffering in illness, his heart never stopped eager for liberty.

Forcefulness and Strenuousness in “Penetrated Paper”

Shiy De-Jinn once said that there are five essential conditions of Chinese painting aesthetics: “Heavy, magnificent, innocent, skillful and concise”. “Heavy” means that the strokes should be thick and shows a certain kind of texture. “Magnificent” points out the vigorousness the painting should possess. “Innocent” is the true emotion that shows through the painting. “Skillful” requires the painter's technique to be fairly fledged. “Concise” refers to the concept that the structure should be condensed rather than perplexing. Shiy De-Jinn's Two Ducks, painted in the middle and late 1970s, is a vivid illustration of these elements. He had been working on calligraphy for more than five years by the mid-1970s, enabled to penetrate the back of the paper with powerful and dynamic strokes. This betterment can be seen as a turning point and breakthrough in his art life. His brush was drenched with ink, and as it travels on the surface of the paper, the outline of two ducks came out perfectly all at once. The artist skillfully left a blank space on where the white of the eye is supposed to be when painting the one vivaciously standing with its head up. And the one relaxing rotates its head 180 degrees so that the plump body can support its head. These two animals have the distinct structure of calligraphy on tablets, showing a sense of strong energy. People are blown away by the energy it contains even though the painting seems rather uncomplicated. This quality reminds people of his teacher Lin Fengmian's work Birds.

Proud and Proficient in Life and Art

Pencil sketching is another of Shiy De-Jinn's important part of drawing. He started learning pencil sketching when he enrolled in China Academy of Art in 1941, and continued sketching for forty years. His sketch portrait was so widely praised that a lot of people came to him for portraits in the 50s. Shiy De-Jinn said, “In the early days, my purpose was only to make a living out of it. However, later on, I was doing it to ‘sketch an appealing face'.” He observed and understood “the beauty of people's look” through sketching. Like a fortuneteller, he takes people back on a long journey of life of their own by sketching portraits.

Through the Portrait of a Seated Female, which was completed in the 1960s, we can see his confidence in every stroke, implying his hard work in calligraphy. After observing and feeling with his eyes and heart, he used charcoal to draw a woman sitting on the chair made of rattan. She has a clearly-outlined face showing a peaceful look, putting her chin on her hand. You can tell she's from a wealthy family from the way she looks—— she's having a trendy hair style and wearing a cheongsam with a relaxed but serious gesture. In this sketch, Shiy De-Jinn's stroke shows much more assertiveness and exquisiteness comparing to his works back in the 50s. Therefore, it's viewed as a top-grade pencil sketch. What's more, the rattan-made chair in the sketch explains his fondness of Taiwan folk art.

Price estimate:
HKD: 50,000 – 80,000
USD: 6,400 – 10,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 59,000