Sanyu before 1950
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Sanyu Bouquet
Chronology : 1929 1931 1933
See also : Sanyu Bouquet
Chronology : 1929 1931 1933
1929 Femme Nue sur un Tapis
2023 SOLD for HK$ 187M by Christie's
Born in a family of wealthy silk industrialists, Sanyu (Chang Yu) had early skills for black ink and calligraphy. From 1923 he lives mainly in Montmartre and Montparnasse. Passionate about the Parisian life and its cabarets, he discovers with delight at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière that young women exhibit their nudity for artists and students.
He realizes countless drawings combining the effectiveness of the line of traditional Chinese style with this sensual theme taboo at that time in his country. Possibly influenced by Modigliani's nudes, Sanyu fully materializes the idea of the dominance of a sharp minimalist undulating line which accentuates the erotic invitation.
Beyond his very good understanding of both Asian and Western arts, his approach is highly original : the emotion can come from the balance between the surfaces delimited by the lines. Figurative details, proportions and perspectives are subsidiary. Cézanne was right : art cannot copy nature.
Before 1929 the practice by Sanyu of the oil on canvas had been very limited. Femme nue sur un tapis, 81 x 130 cm, is an early example, illustrated in a Shanghai magazine in February 1929 and two months later in a German magazine beside a reclining female nude on a bed by Suzanne Valadon. It was lauded at that time as a Western subject in Oriental tones.
The black haired woman is reclining on her belly on a white carpet posed on a bright red floor. The view of the face is limited to one wide opened eye. In this arguably experimental work, the clumsy shape is made with no effort to display the natural proportions of a female body but the contours are underlined by a regular shadow in a reference to antique Chinese paintings. The model has the bobbed hairstyle of the artists' muse Kiki de Montparnasse. The carpet is illustrated with animal figures in motion to be read as homophonic Chinese puns.
This painting had Roché as its first owner but possibly predates Sanyu's first encounter in 1929 with his sponsor. It was sold for HK $ 187M from a lower estimate of HK $ 100M by Christie's on November 28, 2023, lot 11.
He realizes countless drawings combining the effectiveness of the line of traditional Chinese style with this sensual theme taboo at that time in his country. Possibly influenced by Modigliani's nudes, Sanyu fully materializes the idea of the dominance of a sharp minimalist undulating line which accentuates the erotic invitation.
Beyond his very good understanding of both Asian and Western arts, his approach is highly original : the emotion can come from the balance between the surfaces delimited by the lines. Figurative details, proportions and perspectives are subsidiary. Cézanne was right : art cannot copy nature.
Before 1929 the practice by Sanyu of the oil on canvas had been very limited. Femme nue sur un tapis, 81 x 130 cm, is an early example, illustrated in a Shanghai magazine in February 1929 and two months later in a German magazine beside a reclining female nude on a bed by Suzanne Valadon. It was lauded at that time as a Western subject in Oriental tones.
The black haired woman is reclining on her belly on a white carpet posed on a bright red floor. The view of the face is limited to one wide opened eye. In this arguably experimental work, the clumsy shape is made with no effort to display the natural proportions of a female body but the contours are underlined by a regular shadow in a reference to antique Chinese paintings. The model has the bobbed hairstyle of the artists' muse Kiki de Montparnasse. The carpet is illustrated with animal figures in motion to be read as homophonic Chinese puns.
This painting had Roché as its first owner but possibly predates Sanyu's first encounter in 1929 with his sponsor. It was sold for HK $ 187M from a lower estimate of HK $ 100M by Christie's on November 28, 2023, lot 11.
1929 Pink Roses in a White Pot
2015 SOLD for HK$ 59M by Poly
The meeting of Sanyu with the flamboyant collector Henri-Pierre Roché in 1929 is decisive for the artist. A friend of Leo and Gertrude Stein, Roché plays a role of discoverer of talents in the avant-garde communities of Montparnasse. He promises Sanyu to buy all his future works. Sanyu experienced also the drypoint engraving under Roché's influence.
Liberated from material constraints, the young Chinese gives free impulse to his creativity. He adds colors according to Roché's recommendation to practice the oil painting. With this technique then new for him, Sanyu explores other artistic possibilities in a three centuries old theme : the bouquet of flowers in a vase, which opens his eyes beyond his favorite theme of the drawings of women for fashion and in the nude.
Oil painting was indeed the best suited technique for his creativity. He will paint directly on the canvas without a sketch, like Chinese calligraphers are doing on paper.
The precision of the line offsets the succinctness. The colors are limited to the extreme. Influenced by the Chinese principle of five inks, he also manages to reduce the contrasts : with a single pigment, the variation in colors is obtained by differences in thickness.
At first the pink color provides the best demonstration of these new theories. It is common to the most beautiful flowers and to the skin of women. This stylized vase disappearing before a white background opens a new artistic language based on the opposition of simple shapes.
The oil on canvas 73 x 50 cm sold for HK $ 59M by Poly on October 5, 2015, lot 133, is dated from that first experimental year.
This white pot is placed on a white surface in front of a black background. It contains some roses as flowers or buds, painted in pink. The stems and the skeletons leaves painted close to white add to the illusion that this work without perspective effect and without texture detail could almost be a radiograph.
Chrysanthèmes blanches, oil on canvas 46 x 27 cm also painted in 1929, was sold for HK $ 23M by Christie's on December 2, 2020, lot 122. The large flowers and their pot are painted in pure white on a pale pink background. The geometries are simple.
Liberated from material constraints, the young Chinese gives free impulse to his creativity. He adds colors according to Roché's recommendation to practice the oil painting. With this technique then new for him, Sanyu explores other artistic possibilities in a three centuries old theme : the bouquet of flowers in a vase, which opens his eyes beyond his favorite theme of the drawings of women for fashion and in the nude.
Oil painting was indeed the best suited technique for his creativity. He will paint directly on the canvas without a sketch, like Chinese calligraphers are doing on paper.
The precision of the line offsets the succinctness. The colors are limited to the extreme. Influenced by the Chinese principle of five inks, he also manages to reduce the contrasts : with a single pigment, the variation in colors is obtained by differences in thickness.
At first the pink color provides the best demonstration of these new theories. It is common to the most beautiful flowers and to the skin of women. This stylized vase disappearing before a white background opens a new artistic language based on the opposition of simple shapes.
The oil on canvas 73 x 50 cm sold for HK $ 59M by Poly on October 5, 2015, lot 133, is dated from that first experimental year.
This white pot is placed on a white surface in front of a black background. It contains some roses as flowers or buds, painted in pink. The stems and the skeletons leaves painted close to white add to the illusion that this work without perspective effect and without texture detail could almost be a radiograph.
Chrysanthèmes blanches, oil on canvas 46 x 27 cm also painted in 1929, was sold for HK $ 23M by Christie's on December 2, 2020, lot 122. The large flowers and their pot are painted in pure white on a pale pink background. The geometries are simple.
January 1931 Bouquet de Marguerites
2017 SOLD for HK$ 51M by Christie's
Bouquet de marguerites, oil on canvas 81 x 45 cm painted by Sanyu in January 1931, was sold for HK $ 51M by Christie's on November 25, 2017, lot 21.
It is a good demonstrator of the concept of "five tints of ink" as used in traditional Chinese painting, in which Sanyu skillfully depicts the twigs and leaves of the marguerites with varying gradient shades of black.
The white vase is exquisitely positioned on the pastel pink background. The flowers also are blended with that background with the exception of one red blossom. A dynamic balance is made of the top flowers off centered to the left and of the lower and right white margins.
Featuring two large hydrangeas, Deux Gros Hortensias Roses dans un Vase Blanc, oil on canvas 73 x 50 cm signed by Sanyu and dated February 1931, was sold for € 4.1M by Aguttes on June 2, 2015, lot 116. The white vase against a white background becomes almost invisible. It is still present but does not attract any more the attention of the viewer. The flower becomes logically the focus of the picture.
Bouquet de roses dans un vase blanc, 81 x 50 cm, oil on canvas signed by Sanyu and dated 10.4.1931, was sold for HK $ 47M by Christie's on November 22, 2014, lot 11. In the same pale pink as the background, the vase is only visible by the narrow line of its contour.
It is a good demonstrator of the concept of "five tints of ink" as used in traditional Chinese painting, in which Sanyu skillfully depicts the twigs and leaves of the marguerites with varying gradient shades of black.
The white vase is exquisitely positioned on the pastel pink background. The flowers also are blended with that background with the exception of one red blossom. A dynamic balance is made of the top flowers off centered to the left and of the lower and right white margins.
Featuring two large hydrangeas, Deux Gros Hortensias Roses dans un Vase Blanc, oil on canvas 73 x 50 cm signed by Sanyu and dated February 1931, was sold for € 4.1M by Aguttes on June 2, 2015, lot 116. The white vase against a white background becomes almost invisible. It is still present but does not attract any more the attention of the viewer. The flower becomes logically the focus of the picture.
Bouquet de roses dans un vase blanc, 81 x 50 cm, oil on canvas signed by Sanyu and dated 10.4.1931, was sold for HK $ 47M by Christie's on November 22, 2014, lot 11. In the same pale pink as the background, the vase is only visible by the narrow line of its contour.
1931 Chrysanthèmes Roses dans une Corbeille
2020 SOLD for HK$ 138M by Christie's
Chrysanthèmes roses dans une corbeille, an oil on canvas 92 x 60 cm painted in 1931 which had not been owned by Roché, was sold for HK $ 138M from a lower estimate of HK $ 68M by Christie's on December 2, 2020, lot 123. The tight bouquet in a basket is framed in the tall handle and displayed over a black background.
1931 Chrysanthèmes Roses dans un Vase Blanc
2017 SOLD for HK$ 55M by Poly
Chrysanthèmes roses dans un vase blanc, 100 x 70 cm, dated 1931, was sold for HK $ 55M by Poly on April 3, 2017.
1931 Léopard
2017 SOLD for HK$ 80M by Sotheby's
On September 30, 2017, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 80M as lot 1018 Léopard, an oil on canvas 93 x 116 cm painted in 1931 which had belonged to Roché. Please watch the short video shared by Sotheby's.
The near life size leopard is sketched by the white lines delineating the body and by the circles of the spots in a figure that hardly stands out from a black background interspersed with irregular white stripes.
The four legs and the tail upwards, the wild animal offers its belly in the attitude of a trusting cat requesting a caress. At that time of crisis when financial difficulties arise for Sanyu, this artwork transposes his desire for a cosy well-being. An erotic invitation is also plausible.
Accumulating the originality of the camouflaged line, the large size, the attitude of joy, the joint inspiration from classical China and modern Art Déco and the minimalism of black and white, this nice feline has few equivalents in the art of Sanyu.
The near life size leopard is sketched by the white lines delineating the body and by the circles of the spots in a figure that hardly stands out from a black background interspersed with irregular white stripes.
The four legs and the tail upwards, the wild animal offers its belly in the attitude of a trusting cat requesting a caress. At that time of crisis when financial difficulties arise for Sanyu, this artwork transposes his desire for a cosy well-being. An erotic invitation is also plausible.
Accumulating the originality of the camouflaged line, the large size, the attitude of joy, the joint inspiration from classical China and modern Art Déco and the minimalism of black and white, this nice feline has few equivalents in the art of Sanyu.
1933-1934 Fleurs dans un Vase
2017 SOLD for € 8.8M by Aguttes
The studies in pink and white are encouraging. Sanyu is then introducing new colors in his pictures of flowers, but always in limited numbers. Non-essential parts of the image are drawn in simplified broad lines. A dark navy blue or a black brings a three-dimensionality.
Sanyu had a temperamental personality. He was jealous of his art which he believed deserved to be better paid. After a phase of high creativity, he had to face great difficulties after the death of his brother in 1931 and broke up with Roché in 1932.
After his quarrel with Roché in 1932, Sanyu stops dating his art, perhaps for giving more attention to his creativity than to trade. The chronology is uneasy to analyze. A provenance from Roché may have been acquired before or after the termination of their contract.
On December 18, 2017, Aguttes sold for € 8.8M from a lower estimate of € 3M a recently rediscovered still life painted by Sanyu showing a peony plant in a flower pot, lot 12. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This pot of peonies is made in minimalist colors consistent with the Roché period : the black and grays of the calligraphic line and the pink of the nudes. The staging of this plant with sharp lines is both effective and strange, like a colored negative succeeding his previous positive compositions on a light background. Leaves lined and ribbed with white are transparent in front of the black background like the skeletal leaves of a memento mori.
Two other elements converge to date this still life from the early 1930s. The oil 92 x 74 cm is painted on canvas. After the war Sanyu will prefer to work on masonite panels. It is visible in the undated photo of an exhibition wall, possibly from events organized in Amsterdam in 1933 and 1934 by a group of friends of the artist around the musician Johan Franco.
Another undated Fleurs dans un Vase in the same style, oil on canvas 72 x 54 cm, shows the plant in white skeleton leaves and flowers in contrast against the black background. The colored vase bears a Chinese inscription. This painting which had belonged to Roché was sold for € 4.1M by Aguttes on June 2, 2015, lot 115.
Sanyu had a temperamental personality. He was jealous of his art which he believed deserved to be better paid. After a phase of high creativity, he had to face great difficulties after the death of his brother in 1931 and broke up with Roché in 1932.
After his quarrel with Roché in 1932, Sanyu stops dating his art, perhaps for giving more attention to his creativity than to trade. The chronology is uneasy to analyze. A provenance from Roché may have been acquired before or after the termination of their contract.
On December 18, 2017, Aguttes sold for € 8.8M from a lower estimate of € 3M a recently rediscovered still life painted by Sanyu showing a peony plant in a flower pot, lot 12. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This pot of peonies is made in minimalist colors consistent with the Roché period : the black and grays of the calligraphic line and the pink of the nudes. The staging of this plant with sharp lines is both effective and strange, like a colored negative succeeding his previous positive compositions on a light background. Leaves lined and ribbed with white are transparent in front of the black background like the skeletal leaves of a memento mori.
Two other elements converge to date this still life from the early 1930s. The oil 92 x 74 cm is painted on canvas. After the war Sanyu will prefer to work on masonite panels. It is visible in the undated photo of an exhibition wall, possibly from events organized in Amsterdam in 1933 and 1934 by a group of friends of the artist around the musician Johan Franco.
Another undated Fleurs dans un Vase in the same style, oil on canvas 72 x 54 cm, shows the plant in white skeleton leaves and flowers in contrast against the black background. The colored vase bears a Chinese inscription. This painting which had belonged to Roché was sold for € 4.1M by Aguttes on June 2, 2015, lot 115.
1930s Nu Rose sur Tapis à Fleurs
2016 SOLD for HK$ 59M by Poly
Two events mark Sanyu's artistic maturity. He is married from 1928 to 1931. His cooperation with the collector and dealer Henri-Pierre Roché lasts from 1929. Sanyu was a fiercely independent temperament, like Soutine. There is no doubt that he preferred his art to the fame but he also needed money and his demands went to weary Roché who broke their relationship in 1932.
Possibly influenced by Modigliani's nudes, Sanyu fully materializes the idea of the dominance of a sharp line. To draw the body, he favors the undulating lines and removes the unnecessary details.
Sanyu's vision of the female body changes radically, from sensuality to mystical idealization. These women remain models as at the time of the Grande Chaumière. They have no psychological dimension, and are most often lying on the back or reclining. They offer the beauty of their bare skin while sleeping, like Marie-Thérèse for Picasso. Realism of proportions no longer matters. He lengthens torso and legs, and deliberately shrinks the head which is not interesting him.
These nudes are white and then pink. They are placed on a carpet like starfish on the beach. The rugs are often decorated with small Chinese-style drawings, probably to reveal the origin of the artist. The contours of the body become thinner and the contrasts of colors take on pastel shades.
Largely from Roché, Sanyu had understood the expressive qualities of oil painting. A reclining nude 81 x 130 cm painted in 1931 is perhaps one of the earliest in his new style if we consider the garish color of the carpet. It was sold for HK $ 16.3M by Sotheby's on October 3, 2011.
A pink nude painted by Sanyu in the 1930s, oil on board 47 x 82 cm, was sold for HK $ 14M by Sotheby's on October 4, 2010, lot 277, and for HK $ 59M by Poly on October 3, 2016, lot 133.
The woman is lying on her back on a white blanket with floral pattern. She is quietly sleeping with arms around her head and with tight legs. This nearly monochromatic composition is overwhelmed by the vivid pink flesh of this Parisian woman with a blonde hair.
In a very similar style, an oil on canvas 45 x 81 cm titled Nu Rose sur Tissus Chinois was sold for HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2019, lot 1030. It had belonged to Roché.
Possibly influenced by Modigliani's nudes, Sanyu fully materializes the idea of the dominance of a sharp line. To draw the body, he favors the undulating lines and removes the unnecessary details.
Sanyu's vision of the female body changes radically, from sensuality to mystical idealization. These women remain models as at the time of the Grande Chaumière. They have no psychological dimension, and are most often lying on the back or reclining. They offer the beauty of their bare skin while sleeping, like Marie-Thérèse for Picasso. Realism of proportions no longer matters. He lengthens torso and legs, and deliberately shrinks the head which is not interesting him.
These nudes are white and then pink. They are placed on a carpet like starfish on the beach. The rugs are often decorated with small Chinese-style drawings, probably to reveal the origin of the artist. The contours of the body become thinner and the contrasts of colors take on pastel shades.
Largely from Roché, Sanyu had understood the expressive qualities of oil painting. A reclining nude 81 x 130 cm painted in 1931 is perhaps one of the earliest in his new style if we consider the garish color of the carpet. It was sold for HK $ 16.3M by Sotheby's on October 3, 2011.
A pink nude painted by Sanyu in the 1930s, oil on board 47 x 82 cm, was sold for HK $ 14M by Sotheby's on October 4, 2010, lot 277, and for HK $ 59M by Poly on October 3, 2016, lot 133.
The woman is lying on her back on a white blanket with floral pattern. She is quietly sleeping with arms around her head and with tight legs. This nearly monochromatic composition is overwhelmed by the vivid pink flesh of this Parisian woman with a blonde hair.
In a very similar style, an oil on canvas 45 x 81 cm titled Nu Rose sur Tissus Chinois was sold for HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2019, lot 1030. It had belonged to Roché.
undated Goldfish
2020 SOLD for HK$ 170M by Christie's
After the termination of his co-operation with Roché in 1931, Sanyu stops dating his artworks, perhaps because he shall give more attention to his creativity than to trade. The chronology of his art is uneasy to analyze.
Goldfish, oil on canvas 74 x 50 cm, is an undated synthesis of Sanyu's artistic quest. Eight fish swim in a transparent glass cylindrical aquarium placed on a tablecloth, in front of a saturated coral-colored wall.
The extreme simplicity of the composition could be compared to the art of Matisse. The other evocations are Chinese. The number 8 and the fish are omen of prosperity. The signs scattered on the tablecloth remind that just before meeting Roché, Sanyu wanted to apply the techniques of calligraphy to his drawings. The varied positions of the fish is similar to the Jiajing jars with an interesting difference in the variety of individual colors.
Goldfish is not dated, as are most of those Sanyu's works after the Roché period. The first known owner of this painting is his friend Robert Frank, whom Sanyu did not meet until 1948, a time when he was concerned with promoting his ping-tennis. It had arguably been painted in an enthusiastic period and kept hidden for many years in his studio. No other eight fish composition is known.
Goldfish was sold for HK $ 67M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2013, lot 7, and for HK $ 170M by Christie's on December 2, 2020, lot 800.
Goldfish, oil on canvas 74 x 50 cm, is an undated synthesis of Sanyu's artistic quest. Eight fish swim in a transparent glass cylindrical aquarium placed on a tablecloth, in front of a saturated coral-colored wall.
The extreme simplicity of the composition could be compared to the art of Matisse. The other evocations are Chinese. The number 8 and the fish are omen of prosperity. The signs scattered on the tablecloth remind that just before meeting Roché, Sanyu wanted to apply the techniques of calligraphy to his drawings. The varied positions of the fish is similar to the Jiajing jars with an interesting difference in the variety of individual colors.
Goldfish is not dated, as are most of those Sanyu's works after the Roché period. The first known owner of this painting is his friend Robert Frank, whom Sanyu did not meet until 1948, a time when he was concerned with promoting his ping-tennis. It had arguably been painted in an enthusiastic period and kept hidden for many years in his studio. No other eight fish composition is known.
Goldfish was sold for HK $ 67M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2013, lot 7, and for HK $ 170M by Christie's on December 2, 2020, lot 800.
1940s Vase de Lys sur Fond Rouge
2021 SOLD for HK$ 100M by Christie's
Sanyu made most of his paintings for the needs of his pictural researches. In the 1940s the theme of flowers in vases displayed a new variety of species and colors. He now occasionally included lilies, roses, tulips and violets.
Vase de lys sur fond rouge also experiences a sharp contrast by the wide white outline of the transparent vase. The lilies extend from bud to full bloom in an exquisite flat arrangement over the saturated reddish brown background.
This undated oil on masonite 91 x 60 cm was sold for HK $ 100M by Christie's on December 1, 2021, lot 10.
Vase de lys sur fond rouge also experiences a sharp contrast by the wide white outline of the transparent vase. The lilies extend from bud to full bloom in an exquisite flat arrangement over the saturated reddish brown background.
This undated oil on masonite 91 x 60 cm was sold for HK $ 100M by Christie's on December 1, 2021, lot 10.
