Artist Wu Guanzhong.
Mr. Wu Guanzhong studied oil painting and Chinese painting in China in his early years. Later, he studied in France and studied Western painting. He actively explores and practices the nationalization of oil painting and the modernization of Chinese painting, and creatively combines the formal beauty of the West with the artistic conception of traditional Chinese aesthetics. In this Yongle 2023 Autumn Auction, the two major sections of Modern and Contemporary Art and Chinese Painting and Calligraphy once again collect Mr. Wu Guanzhong's classic works from various periods, and comprehensively present his artistic creation and exploration process for collectors.
Lot 2002 Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) Jialing River
Oil on canvas in 1979.
95×65cm
Signed: Tu 79.
Publication: 1The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong III, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2007, p143.
2.Wu Guanzhong's Works, Poly Art Museum, 2010, p54-55.
3.Wu Guanzhong's Oil Painting Landscape Template, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2019, p87.
Publication cover.
In Wu Guanzhong's diverse creative sequences, in addition to the well-known "Jiangnan Water Town", "Shuzhong Scenery" is also an extremely unique and important series of creations. This series is mostly based on the theme of Chongqing mountain city and Jialing River scenery, compared with the lightness and elegance of "Jiangnan Water Town", "Shuzhong Scenery" has more of a historical weight and comfortable and open momentum. Wu Guanzhong has always had a deep affection for Shu, calling it his second hometown - during the Anti-Japanese War, he lived in the suburbs of Chongqing for five years, and then went to Shu many times to sketch, he said:
In March 1979, Wu Guanzhong, then a professor at the ** Academy of Arts and Crafts, and Su Baozhen of Southwest Normal University exchanged, and each went to each other's school to teach for a period of time, taking this opportunity Wu Guanzhong returned to Shu and spent an unforgettable time in Beibei, Chongqing. The small city of Beibei is surrounded by mountains and rivers, there are both Jinyun Mountain with nine peaks competing for show, and there is the Jialing River with clear and turbulent streams, Wu Guanzhong is intoxicated by the local scenery, often goes to the Jialing River to sketch, this "Jialing River" was made at this time, and it is also a rare representative work of Chinese landscape painting with far-reaching meaning and unique formal beauty in the series.
In 1979, the cover of the 5th issue of Fine Arts magazine and the text "The Formal Beauty of Painting".
The creation of Jialing River coincided with the end of the 70s of the 20th century, which coincided with an important turning point in the history of the development of modern Chinese oil painting. In the 50s, Chinese oil painting was particularly influenced by the Soviet academic realistic painting, and due to the needs of the special period, the art of "socialist realism" became the mainstream of creation at that time, and Wu Guanzhong, who was unwilling to be constrained, chose landscape painting as his own theme, and continued to explore the modeling language of oil painting in a relatively safe field.
In the spring of 1979, Wu Guanzhong created a huge oil painting "Three Gorges of the Yangtze River" for the Great Hall of the People
At the end of the 70s, with the initial development of China's economy and the impact of Western modernism, the field of oil painting gradually entered a stage of diversification and individualization. They not only re-examine the tradition and the status quo, but also extensively absorb the forms and concepts of Western modern art, use artistic experiments that integrate Chinese and Western art to bring forth the new, and use bold forms and flamboyant colors to vent emotions and feelings. From the late 70s to the 80s, Chinese oil painting ushered in a new period of development, and this work is a representative work in this wave of change.
Jialing River (detail).
Created in 1979, Jialing River was a period of unusually critical stylistic transition for Wu Guanzhong's oil landscapes, as well as European urban landscape sketching during the Paris period of the forties.
Five. After the exploration of the language of oil painting in the 10s and 60s, Wu Guanzhong entered a more relaxed state, and he began to try to integrate the techniques of oil painting, watercolor painting and ink painting, especially after returning to ink painting in 1974, his technical space has been greatly expanded. Taking this painting as an example, we can clearly see that Wu Guanzhong has deeply developed the correlation between oil painting and other art forms, such as the complementary advantages between the fixed viewpoint of oil painting and the scattered perspective of Chinese painting, the harmony between the realism of oil painting and the artistic conception of ink painting, and the free linkage between scene sketching and subjective imagination, all of which provide him with new perspectives and more diverse layout formats. Although Wu Guanzhong's works in this period were still under the tone of realism as a whole, due to the addition of expressive vocabulary and ink charm, oil painting acquired the formal structure of modern art and the aesthetic conception of traditional landscape painting.
Jialing River (detail).
In this painting "Jialing River", the composition is open and vast, and Wu Guanzhong shows the majestic and gentle waterfront scenery in Shuzhong at a glance from a bird's-eye perspective. The picture draws on the three-stage layout of traditional landscape painting, the primary and secondary arrangement of the composition, etc., all revealing the long-lasting atmosphere of Southern Song Dynasty landscape painting. Close-up fishing boats moored on the shore, willow trees hanging low, farmhouses standing, a half-moon-shaped slope bank surrounds all the scenery, outlining a quiet and very life-like spring scene of Shuzhong fishing village. The middle scene is a horizontal river like a mirror, the lake is clear and clear, several layers of low slope rocks are exposed to the water, undulating, the surroundings are silent, only a few light boats slowly sail by. Here, the painter is extremely restrained with his brush, and uses light ink to show his artistic conception of desolation and simplicity. The mountains on the other side of the distance are tall and towering, steep and deep, hidden or hidden under the shroud of clouds and mist, making the picture a broader field of vision and richer layers. For this reason, this work is by no means a complete sketch of the scene, but the best combination of the scenery after induction and reorganization, and the painter is committed to expressing not the simple beauty of the scene, but the emotion and vitality contained in it. In this regard, Wu Guanzhong once wrote:
Jialing River" pursues simplicity and brightness in color design, the waterfront and the river surface are laid out in blue and green blocks and white blocks respectively, dividing the picture into two parts, between the contrasting white and green, interspersed with brown, light green and light yellow, dotted with stars, scattered between the mountains and rivers, forming an undulating rhythm and jumping rhythm. The details are also extremely delicate: the willow branches in the foreground are strong, with branches on all sides, jagged and staggered, and the leaves are written in a relaxed brush, and the flying and bright yellow-green dots render a rich spring mood. The diagonal lines of the ships, the stacking of rocks and slopes, and the interlacing of trees and houses, can extract the formal elements composed of points, lines and surfaces from the collocation of these objects, so that the works have the beauty of formal composition in addition to the concrete. In this work, Wu Guanzhong perfectly combines the rich and gorgeous colors of oil painting with the clear and lofty artistic conception of landscape painting, which is very different from the simple "vernacular realism" style of the early 70s, and the formal elements and brilliant colors also indicate Wu Guanzhong's further exploration and promotion of formal beauty after the 80s.
Wu Guanzhong's "Shuzhong Scenery" series of works.
Painted in 1973.
Wu Guanzhong, "Scenery of Guilin".
Sotheby's Hong Kong, October 05, 2020 lot1014
Price realised: HKD 43,430,000
Painted in 1979.
Wu Guanzhong, "Jialing Riverside".
61x46cm, oil on board.
Collection of National Art Museum of China, Beijing.
Painted in 1979.
Mountain City Chongqing" 683x137.5cm ink and color on paper
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2020 lot3043
Price realised: HKD 50,324,000
Lot 2001 Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) Spring Rain
Oil on canvas in 1989.
37×44.5cm
Signed: 荼 **paris
Publication: 1Wu Guanzhong's Collection I, People's Fine Arts Publishing House, One Gallery, Hong Kong, 2003, p126-127.
2.The Landscape of Life: Wu Guanzhong's Art Collection II, Joint Publishing House, Beijing, 2003, p44-45.
3.The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong III, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2007, p264.
4."Kite Thread Keeps Flowing: In Memory of Mr. Wu Guanzhong's Classic Works Collection", Poly Art Museum, 2010, p135.
Exhibition: 1Wu Guanzhong's Paris Romance Exhibition, Seibu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 1989.
2.Wu Guanzhong's Paris Narrative Exhibition, Department of Culture, French Consulate in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1992.
3.The Kite Keeps Stringing: In Memory of Mr. Wu Guanzhong's Classic Works Collection, Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2010.
4.Commemoration of the First Anniversary of the Death of Mr. Wu Guanzhong, Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2011.
Spring Rain was created in 1989, in April of that year, Wu Guanzhong was invited by the president of the Seibu Department Store in Japan to go to Paris to sketch. In May, Wu Guanzhong created more than 40 oil and ink paintings with the theme of Paris in Beijing. In September, the "Wu Guanzhong Painting Paris Art Exhibition" was held in Tokyo, Japan, and the album "Wu Guanzhong's Painting Paris Narrative" was published at the same time. This work is an exhibition work purchased by the collector at Seibu Department Store, and it is a masterpiece that embodies Wu Guanzhong's artistic concept of "East and West".
In March 1989, Wu Guanzhong sketched on the streets of Paris.
The eighties of the twentieth century was a period of transition in Wu Guanzhong's oil painting style.
Five. After the initial explorations in the 10s and 60s, and the stage of vernacular realism in the 70s, he began to try to integrate the techniques of oil painting, watercolor painting and ink painting, especially after returning to ink painting in 1974, his expressive techniques were expanded.
Wu Guanzhong, A Corner of Versailles, 1989, oil on canvas.
By the late 80s, his landscape paintings had gone beyond realism, reducing the narrative content in the paintings, no longer being constrained by the limitations of objective objects and concreteness, Wu Guanzhong refined, simplified and summarized the natural landscape, transformed it into geometric shapes and lines, and then used abstract points, lines, and surfaces to construct the picture, using complex formal symbols and rich colors to express the inner emotions, and integrating the charm and artistic conception of ink painting into the oil painting, forming a concise, generalized, Lyrical semi-abstract style. "Spring Rain" is a representative work of this period in terms of color, composition and form.
Wu Guanzhong, Wall, 1989, oil on canvas.
Spring Rain presents Paris in the rain, and the imagery and pictorial elements of the work are very simple: on the verdant green meadow, a willow tree sprouts new branches, gently swaying in the drizzle, dotted with scattered flowers under the tree, and a few small birds are perched and foraging; The middle ground is a mirror-like lake with no ripples; There are hazy shadows of trees on the island in the distance. The three-stage style of the painting is obviously the same as that of literati landscape painting, and at the same time, it also conforms to the principle of spatial perspective in landscape painting. In this work, Wu Guanzhong combines the formal theories of Western modern art with the brushwork of Chinese painting, using the division and contrast of block surfaces, the repetition and dispersion of points, and the stillness and rhythm of lines to form a rhythmic picture, which gives the painting an eclectic flatness and decorative interest.
Spring Rain (detail).
In the painting, the grass, willows, water and sky form green, yellow and gray blocks respectively, and the green ground with higher purity forms a complementary color contrast with the yellow willow trees. The tall weeping willows are written in calligraphic lines, which are flexible and rhythmic, and then colored on the branches with light yellow and light green, with more water in the color, deliberately creating the soft, transparent and infiltrating spring rain effect of willow leaves. The birds on the ground form irregular dots with large and small flowers, which are related to each other and full of fun, and at the same time form a contrast with the ground between movement and stillness, cold and warmth. In contrast to the rich hues of the foreground, the water and islands are presented in gray tones, the lake is clear and clear, and there are a few trees on the gentle slopes in the distance, with thin trunks, sparse foliage, and staggered branches. The large area of blank space, the cold gray tone, and the use of ink brushwork give the work the artistic conception of landscape painting, and the setting of the vista is reminiscent of Ni Zhan's "Autumn Ji Picture of the Fishing Village". The composition of the whole painting is simple, the colors are clear and elegant, and the dots, lines and planes are criss-crossed, which not only reflects the beauty of the formal composition of Western modern art, but also has the literati interest of traditional Chinese landscape painting.
Lot 3658 Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) Jiangnan Yangui Jingxin ink and color on paper.
47.8×44cm
Seal: Sketch in the crown, 80's.
Publication: Painting of Modern Chinese Masters, Plate 25, Zokei Center Co., Ltd., November 1990.
Exhibition: "Modern Chinese Masters Painting Exhibition", Akasaka Prince Hotel, Tokyo, 19907.9-7.11。
In the early 70s of the last century, Sino-Japanese relations broke the ice, normalized diplomatic relations, resumed economic exchanges, and devoted themselves to developing friendly and cooperative relations. In the 80s, after the reform and opening up of Chinese mainland, it began to vigorously promote cultural diplomacy and introduce Chinese modernism to neighboring countries such as Japan. Throughout Wu Guanzhong's artistic history, since the 70s, he began to try ink media, to the 80s his achievements in the field of ink painting has been very mature, this painting as a representative of Wu's new aesthetics, was selected by the Ministry of Culture as an important work to neighboring Japan, in 1990 in Tokyo to participate in the Chinese Embassy, China-Japan Friendship Association, China-Japan Cultural Exchange Association and other diplomatic institutions jointly organized the "Modern Chinese Masters Painting Exhibition", with Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi, Fu Baoshi, Li Kuchan, Wu Zuoren and other art masters were exhibited together.
Lot 3659 Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) Jiangnan Mirror Heart Ink and color on paper.
48.8×67.8cm
Style: Wu Guanzhong, 1987.
Seal: Wu Guanzhongyin, 80s.
Publication: Modern Chinese Painting: Masters - Wu Guanzhong Exhibition, p34, Seibu Department Store, Rong Bao Zhai, Beijing, 1988.
Exhibition: "Masters of Modern Chinese Painting: Wu Guanzhong Exhibition", Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan, 1988.
Lot 3660 Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) Bamboo Forest Stone Spring
1992 Mirror Heart, ink and color on paper.
68.5×69.5cm
Style: Ninety-two, Wu Guanzhong.
Seal: Wu Guanzhongyin, 90s.
Publication: 1The Complete Works of Modern Chinese Masters of Calligraphy and Painting - Wu Guanzhong - Looking for the Old Man, p60-61 (Han Moxuan, October 1995).
2.Wu Guanzhong's Works Collection, p232 (People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 2003).
3.The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong 7, p120, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2007.
Publication. Bamboo, pine, and plum were praised by the literati as the "Three Friends of the Cold". In the earliest collection of poems "The Book of Songs", there is "Zhan Bi Qiao, green bamboo and green green". Elegant and green, Confucian and noble, but showing low-key quality. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, bamboo grows with vigorous vitality or grows leisurely on the banks of streams, ponds, willow banks, paths, or quietly secluded in deep ravines, wilderness, valleys, far away from the world, blooming alone. Contrasting with the natural scenery, the green bamboo is more graceful, elegant and indifferent.
Wu Guanzhong, like most literati and inkers, did not hesitate to love bamboo, as early as 1988 in the "Wu Guan's Chinese Collection" in the chapter "Gossip about Bamboo".
Lot 3661 Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) Erased old drawings of Jiangnan
1990, Mirror Heart, ink and color on paper.
66×44cm
Style: Jiangnan erases the old paintings, and the wanderer's hometown dreams are not gone. Wu Guanzhong, 199o.
Seal: Sketch in the crown and crown.
Publication: 1The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong 6, p298, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2007.
2."My Own Country: Wu Guanzhong's 100th Birthday Exhibition" p82, Rong Bao Zhai, 2019.
Exhibition: "Wu Guanzhong's 100th Anniversary Exhibition", Rong Bao Zhai, May 2019.
Somewhere between figurative and abstract, the imagery is blurred and vaguely recognizable, and it is an important work that heralds Wu Guanzhong's stylistic transformation.
In Wu Guanzhong's artistic career, "Jiangnan Water Town" is not only his emotional belonging, but also an iconic painting theme for the realization of his artistic concept, in this series of works, he uses dots, lines, and planes to form a complex structure, exploring a visual schema with great tension between simplicity and complexity.
Wu Guanzhong deconstructs the natural scenery into abstract figures, and then reconstructs them in a concise and vivid form.
Reference: Wu Guanzhong's sketch.
Lot 3662 Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) Gaoshu Snow Mountain
In 1988, he painted and colored on paper.
86×69cm
Style: 1988, Wu Guanzhong.
Seal: Wu Guanzhongyin, 80s.
Publication: "Wu Guanzhong - Thousands of Purples and Thousands of Reds", published by Wan Yutang, Hong Kong, cover and plate 47, 19**.
Exhibition: "Wu Guanzhong - A Thousand Purples and a Thousand Reds", Wan Yutang, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, 19**.
This composition is often reflected in the sketches he went to Xishuangbanna and Yulong Snow Mountain in 1978. Wu Guanzhong rarely copied the scenery, he often observed first, ran all over the front and back of the mountain, the south and north of the village, and then synthesized, organized the image, and excavated the artistic conception in his mind. Compared with other works with posterior and posterior compositions, "Tall Trees and Snow Mountains" makes the whole picture full of upward ascending power with its vertical composition and smooth lines. The tall trees rise from the ground and soar into the sky, with scattered colored spots representing the falling leaves, as if with a dynamic illusion, guiding the viewer's vision to sink into it. The towering mountain cliffs in the distant background also pave the whole picture with a pale gray and light ink line structure, and a kind of artistic conception of "the wind blows the snow mountain and moves the branches" jumps on the paper.
"Gao Shu Snow Mountain" is created in the transition period of the first ten years, Wu Guanzhong in the twentieth century after the seventies of the vernacular realism stage, in the eighties towards a simple and simple semi-abstract style, his brushstrokes are more and more crisp, the lines are more and more simple and clear, extracting the most fundamental visual characteristics of the object from the sketch, in the smooth combination of points, lines, and planes, so that the natural reflection in the heart jumps on the paper, through the eye of art will show the abstract factors of beauty in the real scene.