Watercolour on paper

25×36 cm. 9 7/8×14 1/8 in.

Signed in Chinese with an artist's seal on bottom left
PROVENANCE
20 Nov 2010, Huachen Beijing Chinese Oil Paintings and Sculptures Auctions, Lot 1063
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

Brilliantly Painted, Breathtakingly Impressive
Guan Liang's Rare Masterpieces of the Age

"I am particularly fond of Guan Liang's works. The bold strokes and rich colours in his paintings reflect naivety, but are in fact of boundless curiosity, which was indeed a new attitude in the world of Western painting at the time."
—Ni Yide, Artist

As a giant of modern Chinese art, Guan Liang has made his mark in the history of modern Chinese art. At the age of 17, he went to Tokyo to study Western painting at the Pacific Art School, where he was impressed by Impressionism's free spirit and the boldness of Fauvism. After returning to China in 1922, he created a new personal style with his simple and sincere brushwork, incorporating the aesthetics of traditional Chinese painting. Not only did he contribute to the innovation of Chinese art, but he also cultivated outstanding achievements in major art schools in China.

This is the first time that Composition (Lot 32) has been presented at the auction. Being passed down through two generations in the artist's family, it is the only work in the last 30 years to boldly combine his iconic theme of Chinese opera with the abstract painting style, which is a testament to the artist's daring artistic innovations. The work shows a surging symphony in his heart through wild brushwork and vibrant, leaping colours.

The watercolours that he created were the least in his oeuvre, with no more than 170 surviving. Among them, those with Buddhist elements are an even rarer number of 11. An essential piece of the group is The Giant Stone Buddha at Leshan Mountain (Lot 31), which is being auctioned this time.

An Artistic Language of Skillful Simplicity

Guan Liang believed that the Eastern art concept of "drawing spirit through form" aligned with the essence of modern painting; Chinese oil paintings, then, should break away from rigid imitation and embody the true spirit of the times. Besides painting, he was a fan of Chinese opera. To Guan Liang, opera was not only a performance but also a concentration of the essence of Chinese history, culture and folklore. He once praised Chinese opera as an integrated art combining sound and movement in addition to sight. Painting Chinese opera must also capture the atmosphere and vigour of the performance, rather than simply recording and reproducing it. The vivid expressiveness of Chinese opera has deeply inspired his artistic creation.

As seen in one of Guan Liang's earliest surviving oil figural paintings, Figure, he pioneered in the Chinese art world in the 1930s with his highly simplified silhouettes and lively use of colour in painting figures. In the mid-to-late 1950s, he began to use oils to portray Chinese opera characters, such as Backstage, which cleverly combines the light and shadow of Western oil painting with the free-flowing strokes of Chinese ink painting. In the 1970s, his paintings became increasingly minimalistic and flat, with unrestrained brushwork and bright, vivid colours, as seen in The Tiger and Monk Tang and Wukong, among others. In Composition, which was completed in 1981 and is currently on auction, Guan Liang went to the extreme, boldly combining abstract brushwork with traditional opera scenes to depict an ink-pouring scene of The Flooding of Jinshan Temple, which is the climax of The Legend of the White Snake.

Surging Excitement: Unprecedented Abstraction of Opera Figures

The lines and forms in Composition are minimal and highly simplified, and the colours are bold and bright: simple blue and black strokes outline Bai Suzhen's long, snake-like body and robe. In the background, to the right, rising silvery waves tower down like a mighty beast running free, submerging the earth in a split second, leaving the tiny roof of the Jinshan Temple swaying in the waves in stark contrast to the enormous Lady White. The mountains in the distance are veiled in darkness by looming black clouds, while gold and blue rays of light flash like thunderbolts in the sky, bringing a legendary overtone to the scene. The climax of The Legend of the White Snake is vividly recreated.

To express the vigour and power of the scene, the bold strokes in the painting have an abstract and lyrical quality. Holding a sword in her hand, Lady White's face is reduced to a single point and line, and her long hair is wildly painted in blue to show her anger. Beside her, a bold clash of red, yellow and green colours can be seen, highlighting the fierce battle between the monk and the devil with abstract brushstrokes. Underneath his feet, Guan Liang uses a brilliant black stroke to open up the earth, like a rock breaking through the sky and shattering the mountains and rivers, highlighting the White Snake's heartbreaking loss of her lover, as well as a sense of fate: the two are destined to be separated from each other. Looking at this work, one can almost hear the river rumbling, feel the thunder and lightning, and step into the heart-wrenching love story and intense emotional tension behind the opera work.

Guan Liang's Rare Humanistic Landscape of Exceptional Colour and Charm

Guan Liang's interest in Buddhist art was born from a trekking trip to central and western China in 1942. On the way, he visited the Longmen Grottoes, the Leshan Giant Buddha, and the Dazu Rock Carvings, leaving behind a series of rare watercolours and sketches. Since then, Buddhist art has profoundly inspired his career.

In this work, Guan Liang merges the thousand-year-old Buddha icon with a literati interest in landscapes, revealing his innovation and promotion of the art of his nation. The ochre-coloured Buddha, almost as tall as the mountain, is accompanied by his guardians. He gazes down at the river with solemn eyes, observing the changes in the world and its quiet magnificence. Layers of distant mountains are rendered by a change in colour from ochre to cyan, while an unexpected touch of hazy light purple is used to paint the small slope to the left. On both riverbanks, clusters of green pigments embellish the mountains, showcasing the beautiful natural scenery.

Located at the confluence of the Min River, Dadu River and Qingyi River, the Leshan Giant Buddha is the world's tallest stone statue of the seated Buddha. Carved in the early years of Tang Xuanzong's reign, the Giant Buddha blessed the passing ships in turbulent waters, harbouring the prayers of countless forebearers. In Guan Liang's painting, a canoe sails steadily along the river at the foot of the Giant Buddha, as travellers gaze at this embodiment of faith from the shore. With his minimalist ink dabs, the artist subtly and skillfully illustrates the richness of humanistic sentiment, creating a simple yet profound emotional bond and manifesting the harmony between man and nature.

Price estimate:
HKD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 12,800 – 19,200

Auction Result:
HKD: 168,000