Acrylic on canvas

77 × 107.5 cm. 30 3/8 × 42 3/8 in.

Signed in English and dated on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Europe
Private Collection, Asia

The Sincerest Recording of a Generation
New York Photorealism Leader Hilo Chen's Era Painting

Hilo Chen's was born in Yilan, Taiwan in 1942 in the home of scholars. He was once the youngest member of the “Tong Fong Painting Association” and studied painting under Li Chun-Shan. In 1968, he moved from Paris to New York to create and settle down. The 1960s and 1970s is the time when pop art was popular and minds were free and open. He started up his career in the field of photorealism, with the most acclaimed “Beach” series. In just a few years, he is listed as the representative of the school, standing together with the American photorealism master Chuck Close.
The “Beach” series is Chen's most representative creation, bearing his exquisite skill and vivid depiction of the scenery of the great era. This time, the work Beach we present is completed in 1974, which is a rare and outstanding example of the early works in this series.

Beach Scenery, the Bathing Girl from an Oriental Perspective

Before arriving in New York in 1968, Chen stayed in Paris for a short time and saw the neoclassical master Ingres' work The Valpinçon Bather in the Louvre. He had been to the museum several times to study the work, which is the key to his creation on the beach series of bathing female paintings.

We can see Ingres' enlightenment to Chen in Chen's work Beach, but with an interpretation in the contemporary setting. He depicts the back of a woman lying on the beach in a bikini under a clear blue sky, echoing the scene of The Valpinçon Bather. Ingres depicted the bathing posture of Eastern Turkish women from a Western perspective, presenting the pure aesthetic tension of the human body with the quiet and soft beauty of Western neoclassicism. Chen's creation illustrates his unique interpretation of the topic. He observes the Western woman on the beach from an Oriental perspective. Through looking at the body in the close-up angle, he presents the charm of the human body, which looks like the undulating mountains. Because of his exposure to the new creative methods in New York, he used airbrushes and acrylic colors to paint a mist-like fine color effect, which makes the skin elastic and soft, and presents it as realistic as a photograph. In the composition, he separates the painting with a large scale, giving the blue sky a breath of freedom, just like the melting pot New York, opened at that time. This kind of “slightly out of focus” skill shows the fogging sense of the flow of light and shadow.

The beach bathing girl in the 1970s, for Chen, is the representative of the great era in New York. He intervened in the form of photorealism, turning a glimpse of the current floating world into a real and powerful artistic language, and responding to the inspiration given to him by the times. And he organically combined the classical charm with the modern customs, presenting a real picture of the times with true feelings and characters.

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

Auction Result:
HKD: 413,000