Page 6 - Modern Chinese Paintings, Hk Nov. 27,2017

The following lots will be sold in the Sale of

ASIAN 20TH CENTURY
AND CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING SALE

AN EVENING SALE OF WU GUANZHONG WORKS

At 6pm, 25 November 2017

Wu Guanzhong’s paintings metamorphised through several stylistic stages – from the realistic sketches in the 1970s to the semi-abstract
representational works in the 1980s, to 1990s when some of his enormous abstraction masterpieces appeared. White Birch and Magnificent
Landscape perch on a unique period of transition in the late 1980s. Having studied in école nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris from
1947 to 1950, he was able to apply the western theory of points, lines, planes to his visualisation of nature. His paintings inherit the expressionist
techniques and perspectives which are essentially Chinese and synthesised them with the western form of beauty.

White Birch is a recurring theme in Wu Guanzhong’s painting, because he believed that it is a creature that best embodies the beauty of
structured lines and contrasting colours in nature . Since 1981, he had expedited to the most untrodden landscapes in China in search of
white birch forests. He wrote in his biography: “White birches grow alongside lakes and rivers as they are naturally inclined to a clean and
pure environment. The white trunks are slim and elegant, with the branches gentling hanging down, as if young lady contemplating with
nostalgia… Some of the old trees have long and black cracks in their snow-white bodies, like strokes of dark ink on paper, most incisively
and vividly…”

Based on his acute observation and masterful techniques,Wu recreated the idea of nature with remarkable grace and simplicity.The coloured
dots all over the paintings exemplified his deep understanding of optics – The larger green foliage are attached to the branch, while the lively
yellow dots follow the green.Tiny orange dots sporadically skip around the branches, corresponding to some delicate touch of nearly-invisible
red. Layers of ink in the background alludes to the shadow of the forest, creating a mysterious ambiance to the scene.

Magnificent Landscape is a playful manipulation of perspective as well as a poetic expression of the awe to nature.Wu rarely copied what he saw
in nature directly. Starting with observation, he roamed around the landscape to extrapolate an impression of the subject matter. In Magnificent
Landscape, he overlaps the pine tree in the foreground with the mountains from far away, confronting the audience with the overwhelming
body of the creature. By closer scrutiny, a staircase between the cliff can be found in the lower right corner of the painting, forming an
unexpected contrast to the vast of nature.

吳冠中的風格由七十年代的具象寫生演變到八十年代的半抽象，至九十年代，更出現了濃郁深沉的全抽象作品。《白樺林》和《登
峰造極》正創作於八九十年代間的轉折期。吳冠中從寫生中抽取對象最根本的視覺特征，在點、線、面的流暢組合下讓心中之自然
映像躍然紙上，將西方的形式美感與中國水墨的寫意高度融合。

白樺樹是吳冠中念念不忘的繪畫對象。為尋白樺林，他自1981年就特地長途跋涉長白山、新疆阿勒泰等地觀察寫生白樺情狀。因為
其“線條之結構”與“色彩之對比”最為突出。他在自述中詠道：“白樺生長在水邊，喜潔淨，潔白的身軀修長而苗條，枝條柔
軟地下垂，若懷眷戀之情，人們比之為少女…有的樹幹蒼老了，雪白的皮膚上裂開一條條長長的濃黑的斑紋，像揮毫在宣紙上的數
筆焦墨，淋漓盡致…”

畫家將對自然的細緻觀察和深刻感悟付諸丹青 - 鵝黄、碧綠、橘紅、墨黑掩映在枝椏間看似隨意的點染，都是對抽象視覺體驗的深
入研究和精心設計：似葉的綠往往附著于分枝，而輕盈的黃點則綴於綠影近處，細小明亮的橘點散佈主桿周圍，加上數片不著痕跡
的淡紅，明、暗、疏、密達到了完美的視覺平衡。吳更在背景中大筆暈染出豐富的深淺層次，諳指白樺茂林的深邃，達到見木思林
的效果。

《登峰造極》展現出吳冠中對視角的精準把握和對空間韻律的詩意表達。吳冠中極少照搬景物，他往往先行觀察，“跑遍山前山
后，村南村北，然後再腦子裡綜合、組織形象、挖掘意境”。畫中，他將近景和遠景大膽地重疊組合，遒勁奇松升騰而上，直沖天
際。細審畫面，可以看到右下角的山崖間的天梯，對比出峻嶺之危聳陡峭，可謂神來之筆。

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