Mountains in China
See also : Top 10 Landscape China Chinese art Song and Yuan Modern China New Chinese painting Current art /
Chronology : 14th century 1760-1769 20th century 1920-1929 1925 1955 1963 1964 1965 1969 2000-2009 2006 2010 to now /
Chronology : 14th century 1760-1769 20th century 1920-1929 1925 1955 1963 1964 1965 1969 2000-2009 2006 2010 to now /
1350 The Story of Ge Hong
2011 SOLD for RMB 400M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2020
The Chinese culture comes from a very strong literary tradition mixed with mysticism. In the 11th century CE, Mi Fu opened the way to the themes of the literate landscape, and for several centuries the graphic arts were often devoted to these ancient stories.
On June 4, 2011, Poly sold for RMB 400M including premium a hanging scroll painted in ink and wash circa 1350 CE by Wang Meng on the theme of the migration of Ge Hong to the sacred mountains. The provenance of this artwork has been established over six centuries. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Born into a family of artists, Wang Meng is considered as one of the four literati masters of the Yuan dynasty. His graphic style is very dense, with the energy of a calligrapher.
Ge Hong, also named Ge Zhichuan, lived 1000 years before Wang in the Eastern Jin dynasty. Nicknamed the Little Immortal Old Man, he was an alchemist, a doctor and above all a Taoist master. He was going to study the secrets of immortality in the Luofu mountains. He stayed there for eight years. The image by Wang shows Ge and his suite passing through a valley under a very rocky landscape. Seven poems have been added.
The Palace Museum in Beijing has a 139 x 58 cm scroll by the same artist on the same theme, dated around 1360, with another landscape in an oblique perspective, showing in the best Chinese graphic tradition the smallness of a great sage in the immense nature.
On June 4, 2011, Poly sold for RMB 400M including premium a hanging scroll painted in ink and wash circa 1350 CE by Wang Meng on the theme of the migration of Ge Hong to the sacred mountains. The provenance of this artwork has been established over six centuries. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Born into a family of artists, Wang Meng is considered as one of the four literati masters of the Yuan dynasty. His graphic style is very dense, with the energy of a calligrapher.
Ge Hong, also named Ge Zhichuan, lived 1000 years before Wang in the Eastern Jin dynasty. Nicknamed the Little Immortal Old Man, he was an alchemist, a doctor and above all a Taoist master. He was going to study the secrets of immortality in the Luofu mountains. He stayed there for eight years. The image by Wang shows Ge and his suite passing through a valley under a very rocky landscape. Seven poems have been added.
The Palace Museum in Beijing has a 139 x 58 cm scroll by the same artist on the same theme, dated around 1360, with another landscape in an oblique perspective, showing in the best Chinese graphic tradition the smallness of a great sage in the immense nature.
1762-1772 A Mandarin in the Mountains
2018 SOLD for HK$ 147M including premium
The very important inspection trips of the Kangxi emperor had a major role in consolidating the Southern provinces. Isolated regions therein must also join the civilization.
The coastal province of Zhejiang is the subject of a freeing campaign in 1727 CE during the reign of Yongzheng. The Qianlong emperor remains vigilant. During his 27th year, 1762 CE, he appoints as Education Commissioner of Zhejiang for a three-year mission one of his most brilliant mandarins named Qian Weicheng.
Qian's career is a very good example of the extreme and multidisciplinary skills required to the mandarins. Received at the examinations at the age of 23 in the tenth year of Qianlong, he had become as a jurist an important member of the imperial bureaucracy. Poet, calligrapher and artist, he knows how to imitate the ancients. His poetry is pleasant and original.
In the tradition of the Qing imperial travels, Qian executes landscape drawings of the Zhejiang in handscrolls of great length. His view of the Yandang Mountains has been preserved.
On April 3 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells a 34 cm high scroll of ten landscapes of Mount Tiantai, for a total length of 4.60 m. It is estimated HK $ 50M, lot 3301.
The drawing without washes is of a topographical accuracy and includes the Buddhist monasteries and some human presence. Yet Qian, who had visited Yandang, did not walk Tiantai personally as his tour plans were each time abandoned due to bad weather. He was probably relying upon pre-existing images to avoid confessing this failure.
Each of the ten views is accompanied by a long descriptive commentary by Qian and by an autograph poem written by Qianlong and dated by him in 1774 CE, two years after the death of the artist. The artwork was removed from the Palace in the early 1920s by the last deposed Qing emperor in an effort to protect the imperial patrimony from looters.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's including the vision of moving grounds often practiced by this auction house.
The coastal province of Zhejiang is the subject of a freeing campaign in 1727 CE during the reign of Yongzheng. The Qianlong emperor remains vigilant. During his 27th year, 1762 CE, he appoints as Education Commissioner of Zhejiang for a three-year mission one of his most brilliant mandarins named Qian Weicheng.
Qian's career is a very good example of the extreme and multidisciplinary skills required to the mandarins. Received at the examinations at the age of 23 in the tenth year of Qianlong, he had become as a jurist an important member of the imperial bureaucracy. Poet, calligrapher and artist, he knows how to imitate the ancients. His poetry is pleasant and original.
In the tradition of the Qing imperial travels, Qian executes landscape drawings of the Zhejiang in handscrolls of great length. His view of the Yandang Mountains has been preserved.
On April 3 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells a 34 cm high scroll of ten landscapes of Mount Tiantai, for a total length of 4.60 m. It is estimated HK $ 50M, lot 3301.
The drawing without washes is of a topographical accuracy and includes the Buddhist monasteries and some human presence. Yet Qian, who had visited Yandang, did not walk Tiantai personally as his tour plans were each time abandoned due to bad weather. He was probably relying upon pre-existing images to avoid confessing this failure.
Each of the ten views is accompanied by a long descriptive commentary by Qian and by an autograph poem written by Qianlong and dated by him in 1774 CE, two years after the death of the artist. The artwork was removed from the Palace in the early 1920s by the last deposed Qing emperor in an effort to protect the imperial patrimony from looters.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's including the vision of moving grounds often practiced by this auction house.
1925 Twelve Landscapes by Qi Baishi
2017 SOLD for RMB 930M including premium by Poly
narrated in 2020
The traditional Chinese graphic art is an uninterrupted series of imitations of the old masters. Bada Shanren's eccentric approach at the very beginning of the Qing dynasty is a rare exception.
Born in Hunan province into a family of poor peasants, Qi Baishi was self-taught. Settled in Beijing at the age of 53 in 1917, he drew inspiration from Bada Shanren to develop a vigorous and spontaneous line, reaching poetry through a free realism. His greatest innovation is the use of inks in very bright colors.
His themes are varied while being ordinary and peaceful : landscapes, trees, countless small things. He paints according to his own observations, is not interested in symbols and allegories and does not follow Bada Shanren in the rebellion. Far away from politics, he will never be threatened.
On December 17, 2017, Poly sold in Beijing for RMB 930M including premium, worth US $ 144M at that time, a monumental suite of twelve screens 180 x 47 cm each. They were painted by Qi in 1925 in light blue, gray, brown and pink on the theme of mountains, villages and blossoming trees.
This result rewards a major work from the seminal period of modern Chinese art of which Qi was one of the greatest influencers. It is to date (2020) the highest price recorded at auction outside New York and the highest price for Chinese art.
The twelve panels are illustrated side by side in the CTV News article announcing their display at the Poly Culture Art Center in Vancouver in October 2017 with an estimate of US $ 100M.
There is only one other similar set by Qi. Painted in 1932, it is kept in a museum in Chongqing.
Born in Hunan province into a family of poor peasants, Qi Baishi was self-taught. Settled in Beijing at the age of 53 in 1917, he drew inspiration from Bada Shanren to develop a vigorous and spontaneous line, reaching poetry through a free realism. His greatest innovation is the use of inks in very bright colors.
His themes are varied while being ordinary and peaceful : landscapes, trees, countless small things. He paints according to his own observations, is not interested in symbols and allegories and does not follow Bada Shanren in the rebellion. Far away from politics, he will never be threatened.
On December 17, 2017, Poly sold in Beijing for RMB 930M including premium, worth US $ 144M at that time, a monumental suite of twelve screens 180 x 47 cm each. They were painted by Qi in 1925 in light blue, gray, brown and pink on the theme of mountains, villages and blossoming trees.
This result rewards a major work from the seminal period of modern Chinese art of which Qi was one of the greatest influencers. It is to date (2020) the highest price recorded at auction outside New York and the highest price for Chinese art.
The twelve panels are illustrated side by side in the CTV News article announcing their display at the Poly Culture Art Center in Vancouver in October 2017 with an estimate of US $ 100M.
There is only one other similar set by Qi. Painted in 1932, it is kept in a museum in Chongqing.
1955 The Ultimate Ink of Huang Binhong
2017 SOLD for RMB 345M including premium
Chinese graphic art was not a monopoly for the professional artists. The literati had other occupations and did not need to sell their art. Still better : they have contributed by their appreciation of ancient cultures to the remarkable homogeneity of Chinese art throughout the historical period and almost to present day. In this sense the old man who brought to an unprecedented perfection in the early 1950s the very traditional landscape in ink on hanging scroll was not an artist.
Native from Zhejiang province, Huang Binhong had many passions centered on letters and ancient arts including calligraphy. He collected and carved seals, practiced fencing and played guqin. He made drawings since his youth and his favorite theme was the sublime Huangshan mountains which he visited nine times from 1883 to 1935.
Huang worked as an editor and illustrator and also as an art professor. In 1948, aged 85, he settled in Hangzhou where his teaching activity certainly left him more free time. It was from that point that he perfected the art of landscape.
He no longer travels in the mountains and works with memory and imagination, favoring the expression instead of the realism. Like the greatest masters, he does not need a preparatory drawing and does not erase. His full mastery of the width of the line generates superb contrasts enhanced by a skillful use of the voids to show mist and brook. The density of the lines reminds the Dürer hare and the overall composition is well balanced.
Huang had the nice practice of dating some of his works by his age. A view in Huangshan is dated to his 92 years, corresponding to 1955 just before his death. This 171 x 96 cm scroll is estimated RMB 80M for sale by China Guardian in Beijing on June 19, lot 706.
Another scenery realized in the same year, 178 x 74 cm, was sold for RMB 63M including premium by China Guardian on May 18, 2014. It remembers the emotion of the artist comparing in an earlier trip the real view of the mountain with its interpretation by an artist of the Yuan period. The lower estimate that had been announced at RMB 12M attests a posteriori that the extreme quality of the ultimate art of Huang was rediscovered at that sale.
Native from Zhejiang province, Huang Binhong had many passions centered on letters and ancient arts including calligraphy. He collected and carved seals, practiced fencing and played guqin. He made drawings since his youth and his favorite theme was the sublime Huangshan mountains which he visited nine times from 1883 to 1935.
Huang worked as an editor and illustrator and also as an art professor. In 1948, aged 85, he settled in Hangzhou where his teaching activity certainly left him more free time. It was from that point that he perfected the art of landscape.
He no longer travels in the mountains and works with memory and imagination, favoring the expression instead of the realism. Like the greatest masters, he does not need a preparatory drawing and does not erase. His full mastery of the width of the line generates superb contrasts enhanced by a skillful use of the voids to show mist and brook. The density of the lines reminds the Dürer hare and the overall composition is well balanced.
Huang had the nice practice of dating some of his works by his age. A view in Huangshan is dated to his 92 years, corresponding to 1955 just before his death. This 171 x 96 cm scroll is estimated RMB 80M for sale by China Guardian in Beijing on June 19, lot 706.
Another scenery realized in the same year, 178 x 74 cm, was sold for RMB 63M including premium by China Guardian on May 18, 2014. It remembers the emotion of the artist comparing in an earlier trip the real view of the mountain with its interpretation by an artist of the Yuan period. The lower estimate that had been announced at RMB 12M attests a posteriori that the extreme quality of the ultimate art of Huang was rediscovered at that sale.
1963 Infinite Scenery by Pan Tianshou
2018 SOLD for RMB 290M including premium by China Guardian
narrated in 2020
Pan Tianshou spent his entire career teaching art. Specialist in ancient Chinese painting, he was director of the National Academy from 1945 to 1947 and then from 1957 until his public humiliation by the Red Guards in 1966.
Since the 1920s, he developed an innovative technique of painting with his fingers to create a wash, which he completes with a brush for a great boldness in the distribution of details. The artist enters his paper placed on the ground to produce works of very large format.
His drawings have an extremely expressive jerky line. For landscapes, he is the painter of summits, with pines shaken by the wind and eagles and crows proud of their domination.
On November 24, 2018, China Guardian sold for RMB 290M including premium a very high hanging scroll, 360 x 150 cm, made in 1963 in ink and color on paper. Three titles have been proposed : Infinite scenery, Infinite scenery in dangerous peaks, View from the peak.
The composition includes a foreground with a shrub and a series of rocks that lead to the summit. The view is free towards another mountain of which only the upper part has been drawn, the impression of a majestic height being accentuated by the center of the image which is left blank.
Realized in 1958 with the same technique and an equally spectacular composition, a horizontal scroll 140 x 364 cm titled Pine after rain was sold for RMB 206M including premium by the same auction house on November 20, 2019. It is illustrated in the post sale press release of the auction house.
Since the 1920s, he developed an innovative technique of painting with his fingers to create a wash, which he completes with a brush for a great boldness in the distribution of details. The artist enters his paper placed on the ground to produce works of very large format.
His drawings have an extremely expressive jerky line. For landscapes, he is the painter of summits, with pines shaken by the wind and eagles and crows proud of their domination.
On November 24, 2018, China Guardian sold for RMB 290M including premium a very high hanging scroll, 360 x 150 cm, made in 1963 in ink and color on paper. Three titles have been proposed : Infinite scenery, Infinite scenery in dangerous peaks, View from the peak.
The composition includes a foreground with a shrub and a series of rocks that lead to the summit. The view is free towards another mountain of which only the upper part has been drawn, the impression of a majestic height being accentuated by the center of the image which is left blank.
Realized in 1958 with the same technique and an equally spectacular composition, a horizontal scroll 140 x 364 cm titled Pine after rain was sold for RMB 206M including premium by the same auction house on November 20, 2019. It is illustrated in the post sale press release of the auction house.
1964 Maoist Landscapes by Li Keran
2012 SOLD 293M RMB including premium
The art of Li Keran developed during the Cultural Revolution. Westerner artistic circles would like to forget this cultural dictatorship but the Chinese are less resentful and the work of Li is appreciated. It demonstrates in any case that art was not annihilated during this period providing that the themes were politically instigating.
On May 12, 2012, China Guardian sold RMB 124M including premium a painting made by Li in 1974, of very large size, 141 x 243 cm. This colored landscape shows a secular shrine : a former residence of Mao in his hometown of Shaoshan. The yard is animated with groups honoring their hero in different ways.
On June 3 in Beijing, Poly sells two other revolutionary artworks by Li.
Mountains in red, 131 x 84 cm, was painted in 1964, ie shortly before the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution. The strident red of the landscape could please the government. Groups of white houses maintain a popular simplicity.
Dated 1976, the year of Mao's death, Jinggang Mountain, 176 x 128 cm, is slightly colored in the grand tradition of classical landscapes, but still politically correct. The animation is not assured by a philosopher and his followers but by a schoolmaster and his pupils under the protection of the red flag.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Landscape in Red reached an exceptional price, RMB 293M including premium, equivalent to US$ 46M.
In the press release issued after the sale, it is indicated that this painting is related by the artist to a poem by Chairman Mao. Anyway, this result is indicative of a growing interest for Maoist art.
The image of this red landscape is shared post sale by Art Market Monitor.
The landscape in Jinggang has not been sold.
LATER INFORMATION
A Jinggan Mountain was sold for RMB 138M including premium by China Guardian on November 20, 2019. It is illustrated in the post sale press release of the auction house. It is certainly the same painting as discussed above.
On May 12, 2012, China Guardian sold RMB 124M including premium a painting made by Li in 1974, of very large size, 141 x 243 cm. This colored landscape shows a secular shrine : a former residence of Mao in his hometown of Shaoshan. The yard is animated with groups honoring their hero in different ways.
On June 3 in Beijing, Poly sells two other revolutionary artworks by Li.
Mountains in red, 131 x 84 cm, was painted in 1964, ie shortly before the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution. The strident red of the landscape could please the government. Groups of white houses maintain a popular simplicity.
Dated 1976, the year of Mao's death, Jinggang Mountain, 176 x 128 cm, is slightly colored in the grand tradition of classical landscapes, but still politically correct. The animation is not assured by a philosopher and his followers but by a schoolmaster and his pupils under the protection of the red flag.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Landscape in Red reached an exceptional price, RMB 293M including premium, equivalent to US$ 46M.
In the press release issued after the sale, it is indicated that this painting is related by the artist to a poem by Chairman Mao. Anyway, this result is indicative of a growing interest for Maoist art.
The image of this red landscape is shared post sale by Art Market Monitor.
The landscape in Jinggang has not been sold.
LATER INFORMATION
A Jinggan Mountain was sold for RMB 138M including premium by China Guardian on November 20, 2019. It is illustrated in the post sale press release of the auction house. It is certainly the same painting as discussed above.
1964 The Mountains of the Great Helmsman
2015 SOLD for RMB 184M including premium
The beautiful mountains of China had inspired artists for centuries. With the approach of the Cultural Revolution, Li Keran provides this classic theme with a political significance.
In 1962, his rocky landscapes become deep red. The mountains are powerful towers that occupy almost the whole picture, limiting the place left to the sky. Hanging scrolls displaying down to the valley are also a tradition in Chinese landscape art. Li is not missing it and his red mountains become a protection for the fertile valley and the small houses with white fronts.
An ink and color on paper 131 x 84 cm simply titled Red Mountains executed in 1964 was sold for RMB 293M including premium by Poly on 3 June 2012. This work includes a political refinement: the high mountain does not fully hide the view : the distant hills in the top left of the picture symbolize the unlimited future of Maoism.
On November 15 in Beijing, China Guardian sells Thousands of mountains in autumn, 76 x 46 cm, made in the same year in the same technique, lot 1237 estimated RMB 68M. Thousands of mountains, Qianshan in Chinese, is a localization of the landscape interpreted by the artist without a political meaning. The top left inscription is of course a reference to Mao.
In 1962, his rocky landscapes become deep red. The mountains are powerful towers that occupy almost the whole picture, limiting the place left to the sky. Hanging scrolls displaying down to the valley are also a tradition in Chinese landscape art. Li is not missing it and his red mountains become a protection for the fertile valley and the small houses with white fronts.
An ink and color on paper 131 x 84 cm simply titled Red Mountains executed in 1964 was sold for RMB 293M including premium by Poly on 3 June 2012. This work includes a political refinement: the high mountain does not fully hide the view : the distant hills in the top left of the picture symbolize the unlimited future of Maoism.
On November 15 in Beijing, China Guardian sells Thousands of mountains in autumn, 76 x 46 cm, made in the same year in the same technique, lot 1237 estimated RMB 68M. Thousands of mountains, Qianshan in Chinese, is a localization of the landscape interpreted by the artist without a political meaning. The top left inscription is of course a reference to Mao.
1965 Maoshan Mountain by Fu Baoshi
2017 SOLD for RMB 187M including premium by Poly
Post sale report by China Daily.
1969 The Mountain of the Marshals
2019 SOLD for HK$ 163M including premium
Zhang Daqian had fled the Communist China. In his Garden of the Eight Virtues near Sao Paulo, he develops an art inspired both by Expressionism and by traditional Chinese graphic art. He travels and exhibits a lot during this period. In 1968 he is named honorary doctor by a college in Taiwan.
Also in 1968, Zhang leaves Brazil to relocate in California where he meets other exiles, including Zhang Xueliang's daughter with her husband.
Succeeding in 1928 to his father Zhang Zuolin murdered by the Japanese, Zhang Xueliang had been one of the most powerful warlords, operating from Manchuria and nicknamed the Young Marshal. Assigned to residency since 1936 for temporarily bringing Chiang Kai-shek to negotiate with the Communists against the Japanese, he was forced to follow in 1949 the exode of the Kuomintang to Taiwan.
Zhang Zuolin, the Old Marshal, was a poor peasant. The two "Marshals", father and son, loved to locate their origins in the Yiwulu Mountains, one of the most beautiful landscapes of Manchuria. Still stuck in Taiwan, Zhang Xueliang became a refined poet, connoisseur and collector. To inspire his friend Zhang Daqian, he composed a poetic essay on the ever green beauty of his beloved mountain.
On April 2 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells an imaginary view of the Yiwulu Mountains, splashed ink and colors on paper 101 x 196 cm painted in 1969 by Zhang Daqian and dedicated by him to the daughter and son-in-law of Zhang Xueliang, lot 1415 estimated HK $ 50M.
In a style where a realistic illusion takes precedence over the abstraction that had dominated his landscapes in the previous years, this artwork can be compared with a view of non-located hills under the snows of spring, 68 x 138 cm, painted in the same year, sold for HK $ 42M including premium by Christie's on November 28, 2017.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Also in 1968, Zhang leaves Brazil to relocate in California where he meets other exiles, including Zhang Xueliang's daughter with her husband.
Succeeding in 1928 to his father Zhang Zuolin murdered by the Japanese, Zhang Xueliang had been one of the most powerful warlords, operating from Manchuria and nicknamed the Young Marshal. Assigned to residency since 1936 for temporarily bringing Chiang Kai-shek to negotiate with the Communists against the Japanese, he was forced to follow in 1949 the exode of the Kuomintang to Taiwan.
Zhang Zuolin, the Old Marshal, was a poor peasant. The two "Marshals", father and son, loved to locate their origins in the Yiwulu Mountains, one of the most beautiful landscapes of Manchuria. Still stuck in Taiwan, Zhang Xueliang became a refined poet, connoisseur and collector. To inspire his friend Zhang Daqian, he composed a poetic essay on the ever green beauty of his beloved mountain.
On April 2 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells an imaginary view of the Yiwulu Mountains, splashed ink and colors on paper 101 x 196 cm painted in 1969 by Zhang Daqian and dedicated by him to the daughter and son-in-law of Zhang Xueliang, lot 1415 estimated HK $ 50M.
In a style where a realistic illusion takes precedence over the abstraction that had dominated his landscapes in the previous years, this artwork can be compared with a view of non-located hills under the snows of spring, 68 x 138 cm, painted in the same year, sold for HK $ 42M including premium by Christie's on November 28, 2017.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1973 Snow with Mao
2020 SOLD for HK$ 150M including premium
In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was created, Wu Guanzhong was in Paris where he was studying modern art and familiarizing himself with oil painting. His return is enthusiastic : he will be able to bring his new skills to China.
In 1966 the Cultural Revolution prohibited Wu from painting. A little later a rehabilitation was imposed on him. He did not resist, because his ambition was not political. When they needed his art again, in 1972, he took up his brushes again without expressing a grudge.
Chairman Mao is aging and his regime is becoming less restrictive. Wu can now become a resolutely modern artist, through the diversity of his themes, and through his subtle balance between realism and geometry and between traditional Chinese taste and Western pictorial techniques.
An oil on board 72 x 160 cm painted in 1973, a large size for this period, is perhaps a demonstrator of his know-how. As a precaution, its theme is decidedly Maoist. Li Keran, who had also been persecuted by the Cultural Revolution, will soon follow a similar path.
Wu's painting, titled Scenery of North China, is based on Snow, Mao's most famous poem, which begins by glorifying the power of nature before stating that his regime will do better than the greatest emperors. Wu's image is loaded with symbols : the pristine snow covering the mountains, the protective vivacity of the pine, the endless line of the Great Wall. A steam locomotive, which was not foreseen in the poem, illustrates the technical progress.
This painting was sold for HK $ 32M including premium by Christie's on May 27, 2007. It will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 5, lot 1013.
In 1979 Wu was one of the artists commissioned to paint the wall decorations of the Beijing airport. He made a 6 m wide version of this landscape which was still politically correct, three years after the death of the Great Helmsman.
In 1966 the Cultural Revolution prohibited Wu from painting. A little later a rehabilitation was imposed on him. He did not resist, because his ambition was not political. When they needed his art again, in 1972, he took up his brushes again without expressing a grudge.
Chairman Mao is aging and his regime is becoming less restrictive. Wu can now become a resolutely modern artist, through the diversity of his themes, and through his subtle balance between realism and geometry and between traditional Chinese taste and Western pictorial techniques.
An oil on board 72 x 160 cm painted in 1973, a large size for this period, is perhaps a demonstrator of his know-how. As a precaution, its theme is decidedly Maoist. Li Keran, who had also been persecuted by the Cultural Revolution, will soon follow a similar path.
Wu's painting, titled Scenery of North China, is based on Snow, Mao's most famous poem, which begins by glorifying the power of nature before stating that his regime will do better than the greatest emperors. Wu's image is loaded with symbols : the pristine snow covering the mountains, the protective vivacity of the pine, the endless line of the Great Wall. A steam locomotive, which was not foreseen in the poem, illustrates the technical progress.
This painting was sold for HK $ 32M including premium by Christie's on May 27, 2007. It will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 5, lot 1013.
In 1979 Wu was one of the artists commissioned to paint the wall decorations of the Beijing airport. He made a 6 m wide version of this landscape which was still politically correct, three years after the death of the Great Helmsman.
2006 Landscape in Snow by Cui Ruzhuo
2014 SOLD 184 MHK$ including premium by Poly
2013 Eternal Snows of Today
2016 SOLD for HK$ 306M including premium
Cui Ruzhuo assembles polyptychs composed of vertical panels painted in ink and wash. A single gigantic work may occupy a full wall in an exhibition. His inspiration may be compared to the circular room of the Grandes Décorations of Monet's pond while a direct influence of Monet's art on Cui is unlikely.
The themes chosen by Cui appeal to the Chinese sensitivity and his art is virtually unknown outside China. On the theme of the lotus, an assembly of eight scrolls 247 x 123 cm each was sold for HK $ 123M including premium by Christie's on 29 November 2011, the very year of the creation of that work.
The favorite theme of Cui is the unlimited landscape of snowy mountains, eternally indifferent to men. A set of eight panels made in 2005 for a total size of 202 x 988 cm was sold for HK $ 77M including premium by Christie's on May 28, 2013.
Poly Auction regularly includes in its sales a session entirely devoted to Cui. An unfragmented hand scroll of snowy mountains 36 m long made in 2006 was sold for HK $ 184M including premium on April 7, 2014.
On April 4 at Hong Kong, Poly sells 'Grand snowing mountains' inspired by Jiangnan, mounted set of eight panels made in 2013 to an overall size of 300 x 873 cm, lot 1213 estimated HK $ 150M, illustrated in Section V of the press release of the sale.
This work had been sold for HK $ 236M including premium by Poly on 7 April 2015. Announced at that time as a record for the artist, this result is not quoted in the press release of the next sale. I guess that it is listed again because it had not been paid. The similarity between the two lots leaves no doubt that it is the same piece.
The themes chosen by Cui appeal to the Chinese sensitivity and his art is virtually unknown outside China. On the theme of the lotus, an assembly of eight scrolls 247 x 123 cm each was sold for HK $ 123M including premium by Christie's on 29 November 2011, the very year of the creation of that work.
The favorite theme of Cui is the unlimited landscape of snowy mountains, eternally indifferent to men. A set of eight panels made in 2005 for a total size of 202 x 988 cm was sold for HK $ 77M including premium by Christie's on May 28, 2013.
Poly Auction regularly includes in its sales a session entirely devoted to Cui. An unfragmented hand scroll of snowy mountains 36 m long made in 2006 was sold for HK $ 184M including premium on April 7, 2014.
On April 4 at Hong Kong, Poly sells 'Grand snowing mountains' inspired by Jiangnan, mounted set of eight panels made in 2013 to an overall size of 300 x 873 cm, lot 1213 estimated HK $ 150M, illustrated in Section V of the press release of the sale.
This work had been sold for HK $ 236M including premium by Poly on 7 April 2015. Announced at that time as a record for the artist, this result is not quoted in the press release of the next sale. I guess that it is listed again because it had not been paid. The similarity between the two lots leaves no doubt that it is the same piece.
