Page 91 - Christies March 16, 2017 The Varata Collection NYC

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XU GU (1824-1896)
Squirrel, Pine and Autumn Leaves

Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
41 x 17 ¡ in. (104.2 x 44.2 cm.)
Inscribed and signed, with one seal of the artist
Dated spring, third month, guisi year (1893)

$30,000-40,000

LITERATURE

Jung Ying Tsao, The Paintings of Xugu and Qi Baishi,
University of Washington Press, Seattle and London,
1993, p. 145.

Monk-artist Xu Gu was unusually fond of painting
squirrels, and he did so frequently throughout
most of his painting career. In all cases, they are
characterized by fur that appears electrifed in its
energy and by skinny, rodent-like paws. Painted in
his fnal years, Tsao Jung Ying describes the artist’s
subtle innovation, “In a bold step that disregards
the true downward growth pattern of pine needles,
Xu Gu has turned his needles upward for the sake
of schematic rhythm and balance. Countering the
downward thrust of the heavy boughs, the foliage
springs upward in imitation of the climbing squirrel.
By taking the liberty of altering nature for visual efect,
the artist has defed one of the most fundamental
principles of his artistic heritage.” (Berkeley, 1993,
p. 144) The same staccato energy and abbreviated
natural elements characterize the depiction of two
squirrels sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 May
2013, lot 771, although in the latter example the
pine needles grow downward and suggest the artist
had not yet thought of this dynamic innovation.

虛谷 松鼠 設色紙本 立軸 一八九三年作

題識：癸巳（1893年）春三月，虛谷仿解弢馆筆。
鈐印：虛谷長樂
出版：曹仲英，《虛谷與齊白石繪畫》，華盛頓大學出版
社，1993年，第145頁。

僧侶虛谷的繪畫創作以松鼠最具亮色。他筆下的松
鼠，毛髮蒼勁，爪子尖利。對於此幅虛谷晚年所畫
作品的精微之變，曹仲英曾評價道：“虛谷視畫面
需要，大膽將本是自然下垂的松枝轉為上揚表現，
以應和敏捷上爬的松鼠。此種違自然規律的繪畫方
式，使畫家一反其藝術創作的傳統。” 佳士得香港
曾於2013年5月27日上拍虛谷另一幅《松鼠圖》，
畫面同樣落筆俊冷，但畫中松枝以寫實的方式呈現
出下壓的樣子，說明畫家當時還未形成以上蹊徑別
開的創作理念。