HONG KONG.- Mee-Seen Loong, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman, Chinese Art, said: “The sale held on 5 October was exhilarating with animated bidding from multi-national collectors especially for works by Liu Guosong, Fang Zhaolin and Wang Jiqian. We achieved almost four times the pre-sale estimate, and this first dedicated auction of contemporary ink paintings showed the growing strength of this genre. The buyers yesterday were especially enthusiastic about this sale’s focus on the early expatriate ink masters who inspire the current great ink artists. The top lot, Midnight Sun by Liu Guosong, fetched HK$6.28 million / US$ 805,128, five times its pre-sale estimate (Est. HK$1.2 – 1.6 million), with spirited bidding in the room and on the phones among more than ten bidders.

Sotheby’s has been an innovator in the field of contemporary Chinese ink paintings and works of art holding auctions and selling exhibitions worldwide ^. With this momentum, we look forward to the next incarnation of literati-inspired works in 2014.”

THE TOP LOT:
Liu Guosong (Liu Kuo-sung; b. 1932), Midnight Sun, 1970, Ink and colour on Liu Kuo-sung paper, 150.8 x 371 cm, Fetched HK$6.28 million / US$805,128 (Est. HK$1.2 –1.6 million/ US$155,000 –207,000)

As a student of both traditional ink painting and Western expressionist oil painting, Liu Guosong’s experimentation with textured paper surfaces and vivid colours is one of the most significant contributions to new ink painting in the 20th century. Drawing ink onto paper from a wet, watery surface, or using an airbrush with acrylic colour, his non-brushwork based paintings combine both abstract and expressionist visions in landscape painting. Midnight Sun is a massive painting inspired by the manned moon landing in 1969, whereupon Liu began to synthesize geometric forms with his explorations in brushwork. This painting is an early example of subsequent moon-inspired landscapes and his combination of expressionist brushwork and defined forms that influenced the next generation of painters.


NOTES TO EDITORS
:


^
PAST AUCTIONS AND SELLING EXIHIBITIONS:


Hong Kong |
Since 20
09
Sale Series |
Water Pine and Stone Retreat Collection


Hong Kong | 2008 Spring Sale Series | Tao: The Jiansongge Collection


New York |
14
-
28 March 2013 | Shuimo / Water Ink: Chine
se Contemporary Ink Paintings
-
a Selling Exhibition


Hong Kong | 7
-
28 June 2013
|
The Spirit of Ink: 12 Hong Kong Artists
-
A S
elling Exhibition



UPCOMING SELLING EXHIBITONS
AT SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG GALLERY
:


25 October
-
3 November
|
The Eternal Spring
–
Contemporary Ceramics By Caroline Cheng


8
-
24 November |
Labyrinths
–
Contemporary Ink Paintings by Zeng Xiaojun


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