Acrylic, aluminum, collage on paper mounted on canvas

75 × 73 cm. 29 1/2 × 28 3/4 in.

Signed in Chinese with an artist's seal on bottom left

LITERATURE
2000, By Design: The Art of Tseng Yuho, Kaido Journal, New York, p.31, plate no.9
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly by previous collector from the artist in 1999
Private Collection, Asia

Take a Light Dream to Seek a Voice In The Empty Valley
Tseng Yuho's Artistic Scenery

“Tseng's artwork is like a cup of light and warm tea, always distant from intense, and would never astonish the viewer. The stones and trees, reduced to abstract shapes, are completely different from the conventional style of her American peers. It's not surprising at all that her artworks have gained significant recognition from art enthusiasts in New York and San Francisco......She is like a hermit, leading a solitary life in the mountains just outside the modern metropolis, as she attempts to convey her nostalgic memories and dreams of old times to the crazy people of nowaday's society.”
——Shiy De-Jinn

This is a passage written by Shiy De-Jinn after meeting Tseng Yuho in his first visit to the United States in 1965, which shows her highly recognized status in the US since the 1960s. Tseng comes from a well-educated family in Beijing. In 1940, she was admitted to Fu Jen Catholic University's Art Department. In 1942, she met her future husband, German art historian Gustav Ecke, who had left his native country to teach in Beijing. In 1949, the couple moved to Hawaii and Tseng got her master degree in Asian Studies at University of Hawaii and doctoral degree in New York University. After that, she taught at the University of Hawaii in 1973 and kept creating artworks. In 1953, she put forward a new method of “Tsui painting”, which is to tear paper of different quality, put collage on the painting, and then use the brush stained with acrylic paint and ink to paint according to the rich texture and fibre. Since the 1950s, she has held individual exhibitions in important institutions at home and abroad, such as the San Francisco Museum of modern art, the Paris Museum of Asian art, and the Taipei National Museum of history. When President Nixon visited China in 1972, he presented a calligraphy research work of Tseng to Mao Zedong as a gift, which is evidence of her special status.

Jade Floating In the Water, Mountain Hidden In Clouds

“How Beautiful is My Valley” is the product of her dedication to the creation in the 1990s after she retired from teaching in Hawaii in 1985. On the nearly square paper, you can see that the paper materials and aluminum foil are naturally combined in the picture through the “Tsui” technique, supplemented by acrylic paint and ink colour such as unsaturated orange-brown, dark blue and indigo. The painting scene is created during the process of dyeing, illustrating a scenery where white clouds surround the green mountains with songs echoing between the valleys, a picture that is natural and full of vigour. If one can listen to the life of all things in nature through meditation, one can feel the aloofness and lofty mind of ancient Chinese literati, the mind that is reposed among mountains and rivers, and the spirit of transcendence.

Price estimate:
HKD: 100,000 – 150,000
USD: 12,900 – 19,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 259,600