Oil on board

70 × 50 cm. 27 1/2 × 19 3/4 in.

Signed and dated in Chinese on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly by original private Asian collector from the artist
8 Oct 2020, China Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 124
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by ARZ international Corporation, Taiwan

Integration of Chinese and Western, with Sincerity and Honesty
Luo Gongliu Blazes a New Trail with Poetic Inspiration

In 1936, Luo Gongliu was admitted to the National Hangzhou Art College with the top score. He was taught by Fang Ganmin and Wu Dayu. In 1953, he was appointed as the director of the Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and was hailed as one of the founders of the academy. From 1955 to 1958, he went to the Soviet Union to study oil painting at the Repin Institute of Fine Arts, establishing a solid foundation in oil painting. Upon returning to China, from 1958 to 1976, he combined decades of research on Chinese and foreign art, proposing criticism of the popular Soviet- style oil painting in China at the time. He advocated for drawing nourishment from traditional Chinese painting techniques and proposed the concept of "freehand oil painting." This idea was echoed by the oil painting community, and his work Reservoir from this period is an important representation of this style.

As an artist who delved into people's lives and advocated nourishing creativity through life drawing, Luo Gongliu had profound achievements in both portrait and landscape painting. In the early 1950s, he showed great interest in landscape themes and continuously visited famous mountains, rivers, and historical sites such as Maijishan, Xinjiang, and Dunhuang. In the summer of 1962, he visited Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Soviet Union as a representative of Chinese artists. Reservoir is a representative work of his classic freehand oil painting style during this trip. The back of the painting was stamped with a Russian seal from the framing company, recording the traces of the times.

In the painting Reservoir, the cascading waterfalls flow down from the green reservoir, and dramatically crash against the middle section, surging and splashing, as if ancient Chinese landscape paintings have entred contemporary settings. In the predominantly "white" water flow, the artist uses delicate colours to show the various shades and changes: the peak of the waterfall resembles a light veil, revealing the blue sky behind and reflecting colourful water droplets. The middle section becomes milkier and more abundant, showing changes in depth with blue-grey and bright white lines. The lower section gradually becomes transparent, revealing faint tree shadows. In the deep blue sky, soft and layered floating clouds blend together, like the lofty and distant atmosphere of ink paintings. In the pathways above and below, only figures dressed in colourful clothes can be seen, some leaning on railings, some stopping to admire the waterfall, and some gazing at the rolling clouds. In the passageways above and below, people dressed in colourful clothes, resting on the railings, gazing at the waterfall, or watching the clouds roll by. They merge harmoniously with the majestic waterfall of the reservoir, enjoying themselves contentedly, creating a beautiful scene that is like a poetic and picturesque scroll.

Price estimate:
HKD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 10,300 – 15,400