Page 144 - Christie's Fine Chinese Modern and Contemporary Ink Paintings hk may 226 27 2021

While Fu Baoshi did not date Landscape after Shitao, according to Pan Gongzhan’s
(1895–1975) 1942 inscription and judging from the stylistic features of his
painting and calligraphy, it is an exceptionally fine work by the master from the
1940s. During this critical period in Fu Baoshi’s career, he explored the different
possibilities of Chinese painting, transforming from his earlier days of adhering
to the traditional techniques and styles to actively seeking changes.
Before his relocation to Chongqing at the begining of the Sino-Japanese War,
where he changed his focus to artistic creation, Fu Baoshi used to concentrate
on art historical studies and teaching, and seal carving. In all of these pursuits,
he maintained a deep interest in and reverence for the renowned master Shitao
of the late-Ming and early-Qing, to whom he has referred as a “grieving and
upright artist” and whose life experience and poetic and artistic philosophy have
greatly influenced him.
The couplet Fu Baoshi inscribes on Landscape after Shitao is a direct quotation
from one of Shitao’s poetic inscriptions on a painting from an album: “After
the rain at sunset, the clouds are pulling the greenery; at the end of the day, one
cultivates one’s temperament by opening a book.” Unlike Shitao, Fu Baoshi’s
interpretation of this couplet is not limited to the small-size album leaf, as he
devotes the top two-thirds of the nearly 4-foot composition to a myriad of
mountain tops and tall trees, interspersed among them are misty atmosphere and
fog as if a shower has just passed. The bottom third presents the main focus: a
reclusive scholar holds a book inside the lakeside pavilion but looks out at the
lake. The distraction is an approaching skiff, probably carrying a visiting friend.
Except for the shape of the mountains and trees, where the outline is used to
delineate the objects, Fu Baoshi does not outline most of the motifs and chooses
to use textural strokes to model the forms, distances, and volumes instead—a
major characteristic of his landscapes of the early 1940s.

The colophon writer, Pan Gongzhan, was a native of Wuxing of the Zhejiang
province and was active in politics and literary circles. He has held positions on
the martial committee and the communications department of the Republic
of China government and has served as a chief commentator of the newspaper
Central News Daily.

此幅傅抱石《擬石濤詩意山水》並無紀年，但根據畫上潘公展1942年題
跋，並結合款識畫風及傅抱石創作生涯分期，當是四十年代初期不可多得
的山水佳構。此時期傅抱石竭力探索，於早年傳統風格中脫胎換骨，正是
風格求變、求新的關鍵時期。
傅抱石早年專注美術史研究與教學，兼及治印，抗戰後隨中央大學遷居重
慶，始將重心轉移到藝術創作上。不論是史學研究還是國畫創作，他對明
末清初的大畫家石濤上人始終保持了極大興趣，除苦心編纂《石濤上人
年譜》外，亦曾有一宏偉計劃，將石濤研究成果形象化，“把石濤的一
生……寫成一部史畫，來紀念這傷心磊落的藝人。”雖計劃未能完全實
現，但傅抱石深刻受到石濤的人生際遇、詩詞畫論及藝術創作的影響，可
謂是畫家跨越時空、心靈相通的知己。

本幅即是顯著受石濤影
響的傑作。畫家以工致
篆書題詩一聯，查證乃
出自石濤題畫詩一首，
全詩如下：

十里湖山擁翠鈿，
去來漁艇蕩輕煙。
夕陽雨過雲拖綠，
盡日攤書養性情。
題詩原作乃冊頁中一開
（圖），見於1930年中