HONG KONG.- Sotheby’s Hong Kong Autumn Sale Series 2016 will take place from 1 to 5 October at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Amongst a series of magnificent offerings by Modern Asian Art category this season, the Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Evening Sale will put forth a line-up of masterpieces, highlighted by Pausage dans la lune, an extremely rare work from Zao Wou-Ki’s early ‘Oracle Bone’ series. The Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Day Sale will demonstrate three artistic ideologies: ‘The Modern’, ‘The Literati’ and ‘The Aesthetic’, through works by 13 Modern Asian masters including Chu Teh-Chun, Ju Ming, Shiy De-Jinn, Yeh Shih-Chiang and Yu Peng. In addition, two special sales of works on paper – Ineffable Beauty focusing on Sanyu, and the other, The Sublime–Wou-Ki Zao – will be offered in this season. Together, the Modern Asian Art Autumn Sales encompass over 150 works, totalling approximately HK$198million – 300 million / US$25.4 million – 38.5 million.
Vinci Chang, Sotheby’s Head of Modern Asian Art, said: ‘This autumn, Sotheby’s Hong Kong continues to delight collectors with two special sales of works on paper by Modern Asian masters Sanyu and Zao Wou-Ki. Both artists’ oil paintings are internationally acclaimed, yet their works on paper remain little known. The two sales of unrivalled breadth and depth will bring collectors new insights, particularly in the meaningful context of the 50th anniversary of Sanyu’s passing. In addition to that, we are proud to present, in the Evening Sale, a rare collection of top-quality oil works by Wu Guanzhong and Zao Wou-Ki, as well as a rich array of modern works in our specially-curated Day Sale, across an exciting four-sale series.”
Wu Guanzhong And Zao Wou-Ki – The Modern Masters Modern and Contemporary Asian Art Evening Sale | 2 October
Wu Guanzhong (1919 – 2010), The Hometown of Lu Xun 1977, oil on board, 46 x 61 cm Est. HK$30 – 50 million / US$3,870,000 – 6,450,000
The scenery of the Jiangnan region provided Wu Guanzhong with his favourite landscape themes. His fondness for Jiangnan was due not only to his nostalgia for his hometown, Yixing in Jiangsu province, but also his admiration for Lu Xun, a respected figure in modern Chinese literature and a native of Shaoxing, a nearby city also in the Jiangnan region.
In 1957, returning to China from France, Wu Guanzhong spent time in Shaoxing sketching from life. He moved to Beijing afterwards but would not return to Shaoxing for two decades due to political tumult. The Hometown of Lu Xun was made on his second visit to Shaoxing after the Cultural Revolution, marking an important epoch of the artist’s life and career. The work is also of immense historical importance as the only extant oil study for the eponymous monumental painting at the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing.
The painting adopts a fixed, high viewpoint, with the area’s winding waterways and dense houses unfolding before a receding horizon line. The work combines Western on-point perspective, yet also evokes the ‘three distances,’ or sanyuan, of classical Chinese landscape painting. The artist applied his signature red and green dots, which symbolise the roadside willows and apricot blossoms, and pedestrians rubbing shoulders in the streets. These fine touches infuse the otherwise expansive scene with the everyday pleasure of the townspeople, enriching the painting as a whole.
Zao Wou-Ki (1921 – 2013), Paysage dans la lune 1954 – 1955, oil on canvas, 117 x 88.5 cm Est. HK$40 million – 60 million / US$5,160,000 –7,740,000
Paysage dans la lune dates from 1954, a period during which Zao Wou-Ki’s abstract paintings were primarily based on themes of nature. It was only in 1958 that he began to title his paintings after dates. Within the short four years his use of colour and composition demonstrate association with natural themes. The effective use of an unusual palette in Paysage dans la lune evokes the immersive, silver radiance of the moon – a subject about which countless poets wrote, but very few painters took on. With its moonlit scene, Paysage dans la lune represents an extremely rare work from the artist’s early ‘Oracle Bone’ series.
Zao Wou-Ki, Ailleurs 1955, oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm Est. HK$25 million – 35 million / US$3,230,000 – 4,520,000
With extraordinary provenance, Ailleurs was acquired directly from the artist by the current owner’s mother, Maria Martins, who visited Zao Wou-Ki’s studio in Paris in the late 1950s. Having lived in Paris from 1948 to 1950 Martins was herself a highly acclaimed artist known for sculptures and writings, and was acquainted with the intellectual, creative circles of Surrealists, Dadaists and Arte Informale at the time, among them Tapié, Masson, Tanguy, Ernst and Duchamp. Sixty years after its completion, Ailleurs now appears to the public for the first time in this auction. The work conveys mixed emotions shared by the many foreigners residing in Paris at that time.
Zao Wou-Ki, 20.12.85 1985, oil on canvas, 195 x 130 cm Est. HK$12 million – 20 million / US$1,550,000 – 2,580,000
Over the course of his career, Zao Wou-Ki’s paintings evolved through several stages: the reminiscent narratives of the 1950s, the explosively expressive calligraphy of the 1960s, the reengagement with ink in the 1970s, and the spiritual pursuit of pure emptiness in the 1980s, in line with the Chinese literati landscape painting tradition. Infusing this tradition with the modernism of Western abstract art, Zao Wou-Ki created minimalist, refined images that are both ideal landscapes by literati standards as well as pure embodiments of modernist tenets. In 20.12.85, Zao Wou-Ki combines gentle and elegant brushwork with an unusual large-scale vertical format to evoke the immense energy of primordial chaos before the universe came into being. A representative work of the artist’s expressionist style of the mid-1980s, 20.12.85 directs viewers’ gaze towards an infinite distance in both space and time, to witness the birth of stars and of light.
Works on Paper by Sanyu - From an Important European Private Collection Ineffable Beauty | 3 October
Embodying the artist’s creativity and imagination, Sanyu’s figure drawings opened the doors of modern art to new vistas and propelled the artist to join the ranks of great masters. On the 50th anniversary of Sanyu’s passing, Sotheby’s is honoured to present Ineffable Beauty, the largest auction of Sanyu’s works on paper ever held. The historic sale’s 22 works, safeguarded in the same European private collection since 1966, span a diverse range of media including ink, charcoal and watercolour. The family that built the collection dedicated great interest to the School of Paris and considered Sanyu a representative member of the school. In August 1966, the artist passed away unexpectedly at home. The fact that he did not have family members in France means that, according to French law, all works in his studio were sent to Paris Hôtel Drouot for auction, at which time this group of works was acquired. The collection will be revealed to the public for the first time after half a century, marking a rare opportunity to view and acquire works of exceptional quality and provenance.
The subject matter portrayed under Sanyu’s brush are taken from the settings of the everyday, but are endowed with a new aesthetic by the artist’s unique facilities of observation and imagination. Using soft and dynamic lines, Sanyu captures transient flashes of inspiration. Five highlights from this collection, among them Nu allongé, Femme à la robe violette, Femme à la jupe violette, Nu debout and Nu assis, lead viewers to associate them with the legendary Parisian model Kiki de Montparnasse during two World Wars – a symbol of bohemianism and inspiration of Parisian artists who later on acquired fame.
From An Important Private Collection The Sublime Wou-Ki Zao 2 October
Unprecedented in its comprehensiveness and quality, The Sublime －
Wou-Ki Zao presents 16 works on paper by the artist that, taken together, represent an overview of his career and the essence of his art. The collection encompasses many periods: his early years in Paris, the ‘Klee’ and ‘Oracle Bone’ periods, the cursive calligraphy, the return to the ink medium in the 1970s after a 30-year absence, as well as his evocations of resonant emptiness after 2000.
Zao Wou-Ki, Untitled Early 1950s, ink and watercolour on paper, 36 x 33.8 cm Est. HK$700,000 – 1,000,000 / US$90,500 – 129,000
In Untitled, the figure’s facial expression and body reveal the influence of Primitivism. Drawn against a background of delicate watercolour washes, fine interwoven lines express profound affection.
Zao Wou-Ki, Untitled 1962, watercolour on paper, 56.4 x 76.2 cm Est. HK$1.5 million – 2.5 million / US$194,000 – 323,000
From 1958 onward, Zao Wou-Ki vacated all reference to natural phenomena and proceeded toward pure abstraction. In Untitled, reds and blacks dance and fuse, creating dramatic contrasts that evoke a primordial generative chaos. His watercolours of the 1960s manifest the wild energy of cursive calligraphy, also evident in his idiosyncratic inner landscapes.
Zao Wou-Ki, Composition 1984, ink on paper, 103.8 x 103.4 cm Est. HK$800,000 – 12,000,000 / US$104,000 – 155,000
From the early 1980s, Zao Wou-Ki was frequently invited to exhibit his works in Asia. These exhibitions earned him widespread renown in Asia, where his travels brought him much artistic inspiration in return. Eastern philosophy and ideas surrounding landscape became increasingly prominent in his work. Composition demonstrates Zao’s re-engagement with the ink tradition in 1970s, heralding the relaxation of his technique and mood in 1980s.
‘The Modern’ ∙ ‘The Literati’ ∙ ‘The Aesthetic’ Modern Asian Art Day Sale | 3 October
In the long history of Modern Art, there are artists who cannot be defined by any categories. They created works wholeheartedly with dedication and independence, and eventually developed their own unique language, which has enriched the diversity of Chinese Modern Art History. They continued the legacy of Chinese traditional aesthetics and, at the same time, paved the way for a new, daring style. A thematic special sale series curated for Sotheby’s Modern Asian Art Day Sale entitled The Modern ∙ The Literati ∙ The Aesthetic explores a series of paintings by 13 outstanding artists from three inimitable approaches.
‘The Modern’ The early 20th century marked a period of revolution and change in China. The country learned from the West in terms of politics, the economy and art, borrowing ideas to carry out modernisation and reforms. Many artists sought to absorb concepts and techniques from the West, while also looking to Chinese traditional art, eventually defining their own ‘modernism’.
• Liu Kuo-Sung (b. 1932) Dance, 1958, oil on canvas, 75 x 52 cm Est. HK$500,000 – 800,000 / US$64,500 – 104,000
• Ju Ming (b. 1938) Taichi Series: Single Whip, 1982, wood, 35 x 47 x 46 cm Est. HK$2 million – 3 million / US$258,000 – 387,000
‘The Literati’
The ancient literati and painters were regarded highly for their cultural cultivation, not only in terms of their everyday lives, but also in their artistic involvements. They may have been reclusive, but their talents were actively maintained. This special sales serves as a retrospective of works by important literati artists of the 20th-century.
Yeh Shih-Chiang (1926 – 2012) Sailing in Venice 2006 Oil on canvas, 91 x 72.5 cm Est. HK$200,000 – 300,000 / US$25,800 – 38,700
‘The Aesthetic’ Abstract Expressionism prevailed in Europe and America in the 1950s. Many Asian artists based in the West during that time responded to this artistic trend. Although they worked with Western paint and canvas, traditional Chinese aesthetic served as the backbone of the pieces. Each artist developed their own unique aesthetic style during this transformational process.
• George Chann (1913 – 1995) Whisper of the Light, Circa 1950s Oil and mix media on canvas, 76 x 61 cm Est. HK$180,000 – 280,000 / US$23,300 – 36,200
• Chu Teh-Chun (1920 – 2014) Composition No. 285, 1968 Oil on canvas, 65 x 62 cm Est. HK$2.8 million – 4.8 million / US$ 362, 000 – 620,000
