Ink and colour on paper

93 × 186 cm. 36 5/8 × 73 1/4 in.

Signed in Chinese, dated and stamped with an artist's seal on middle right
EXHIBITED
14 Jun – 14 Sep 2014, Rendering the Future – Chinese Contemporary Ink Painting Exhibition, Asia Art Center, Beijing

PROVENANCE
Asia Art Center, Taipei
Acquired directly by the present important private Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Asia Art Center, Taipei

Conquer Vast Frontiers And Ultimate Peaks By His Brush Of Perseverance
The Father of Modern Chinese Ink Painting, Liu Kuo-Sung's Borderless Territory

Shiy De-Jinn wrote in his Modern Chinese Art Development: “Despite the name of modern Chinese painting, it should not use the tools that break with traditional Chinese painting. In other words, one could add new material but should not forget Chinese pen and paper; one might create modern and untraditional shape but should not completely of western style.” This argument clearly explained the core spirit and direction of after-war modern ink painting.

Liu Kuo-Sung, the founder of “Fifth Moon Society” and known as “the Father of Modern Chinese Ink Painting”, was the most radical pioneer in the process of the reform of ink painting since the late 1950s. After graduating from the Fine Arts Department of Normal University in 1957, he immediately founded the Fifth Moon Society. In 1968, he expanded it to the Chinese Ink Painting Association, and put forward the slogan of “modernizing Chinese painting”. Combined tradition with modernity in an abstract form, he drastically changed the language and tools of traditional painting, and opened up a new situation of modernism with his unique painting ideology.

In recent years, Liu Kuo-Sung's creation has reached a new stage of integration. The “Tibet Series” created after the millennium is entitled as “the last peak of landscape painting” by Johnson Chang of Hanart TZ Gallery. Since 1967, his works have been constantly showcased in international exhibitions. In 1997, he was invited to participate in the “Chinese Art Exhibition” sponsored by the Shanghai Art Museum. The next year, he participated in the “China: 5,000 Years” exhibition sponsored by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 2016's “Echo of the Universe - Ink Art of Liu Kuo-Sung” retrospective exhibition held by the Chinese Art Palace in Shanghai, “Tibetan Series” was specially presented to be the cover page, which shows the favour and pride of the artist towards this post-2000 series. The exhibit today is the “Tibet Series: The Peak Surrounded by the Mountains” that was completed in 2014 and was praised as “the peak of millennium art”. The artwork will unveil its artistic realm, which is established on his unique painting technique, to the grand audience.

Storm of Snow, Peak of Pinnacle

In 2000, at the invitation of Tibet University, Liu Kuo-Sung went to Mount Qomolangma, where he was deeply moved by the world of snow and ice. Since then, the thousand-mile-ice haunts his mind and turned into the snow mountains mark with clear texture under his brush. The nearly 2 meters of painting, Tibet Series: The Peak Surrounded by the Mountains, perfectly reveals the artist's accumulated talents and enthusiasm in his 80s.

Admirable Soul of Abstract Landscape

In the work, the artist naturally integrates his unique technique of “painting on revised cotton paper and rip off the paper fibre” created in the 1960s. On special rice paper with thick paper tendons, he first sweeps the picture with a big brush to outline the broad contour of the mountains and rivers. Then he uses ink to render, indigo to pick up and extend. This creates a sense of remoteness and magnificence of the mountain. Then he removes the paper tendons to create a natural texture of snow, which makes the work full of fluidity in its majestic atmosphere.

In this unconventional composition that is against the traditional rule, he presents a panoramic view of the depth and breadth. Although the picture does not place Mt. Everest in the centre, through the use of depth of field, it highlights the sense of “the peak surrounded by the mountains”. Apart from echoing the title, it offers a more dangerous and unique perspective. The wild ink depicts the vast of the rock lands, and the white texture shapes the flowing clouds and snow that reach the top of the mountain in the recursive process as if it is the reflection on artist's mind. At the age of 80, he started from the sensory natural experience and draw incisively and heroically. He created a magnificent scene of the oriental aesthetic in his 50 years of artistic career that gives a new name to modern ink painting.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,400,000 – 2,400,000
USD: 180,500 – 309,500

Auction Result:
HKD: --