Page 160 - 2020 December 10 Christie's Paris Arts of Asia Chinese Art

PROPERTY FROM A FRENCH PRIVATE COLLECTION
161
FU BAOSHI (1904-1965)
TROIS LETTRÉS
Peinture encadrée, encre et couleur sur papier. Inscrite et signée avec deux
cachets de l'artiste.
Dimensions de la peinture: 40 x 30 cm. (15æ x 11æ in.)
€100,000-200,000 US$120,000-230,000
£91,000-180,000

PROVENANCE:
The present painting was given to current collector's parents as a wedding gift
by their friend, a former French diplomat who worked as the French Embassy
attaché in Nanjing and Shanghai from 1948 to 1952.

FU BAOSHI (1904-1965)
Three scholars
FRAMED SCROLL, INK AND COLOUR ON PAPER
傅抱石 三蘇圖 設色紙本 鏡框
題識：新喻傅抱石金陵寄寓寫
鈐印：抱石私印、往往醉后
來源:
法國使館專員舊藏，其于1948至1952年代閒任職南京及上海
隨後饋贈于現藏家父母，現法國家族後代傳承

The three male characters of the painting could be the Song literati Su Shi,
his father Su Xun and brother Su Zhe, known collectively as the Three Su.
“Reconstruction of a certain beautiful story from history” was a source of
inspiration for Fu’s painting activity during the 1940’s. Fu invoked history to
seek out the enduring virtues of figures from the past and cited poems to
encourage meditation on legends, as a vehicle to express loyalty to and sorrow
for China. The expressive power lay less in high-spirited heroism than in the
romantic sadness the images convey, which heightens the viewer’s attention
to the human psychological drama.

Fu depicts this scene with free, spontaneous brushwork, rendering the figures
with swift, jagged outlines, pale ink tones, and dark accents for details of the
robe, with the pale orange rocks contrasting the solemnity of the protagonists.

The painting in situ at the current owner’s residence, Toulon, France.

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