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Lot Essay
The Anna Maria Jagdfeld Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art
As China emerged from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, the intellectual and artistic conformity of the communist system, the country witnessed a profound and seismic transformation of its cultural scene. The subsequent decades heralded a new era of creativity that penetrated every aspect of art and culture. Relieved of the restrictions of a state-controlled cultural production system, young art academy students across the nation were suddenly exposed to an extraordinary range of tools, techniques, and philosophies that they would digest and incorporate into their own visions and inspirations. This transformation of the cultural field would manifest itself for years to come, opening up traditional fields of art-making to new subjects, visions, and an almost unprecedented privileging of the artist's subjectivity over all else.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Chinese artists broke with their academic training and began developing new artistic languages for a nation in transition, seeking to overturn inherited aesthetic paradigms for ones that better-suited a post-Mao, rapidly modernizing nation. These artists were inspired by a new influx of information and materials about contemporary Western art practices, but also by their own experience of China's 20th century. The confluence of these circumstances -- the rigor of the training received in art academies, the turmoil and upheavals of, first, the Cultural Revolution and, second, the breakneck pace of modernization, globalization, and economic growth -- laid the groundwork for one of the most extraordinary breaks with aesthetic tradition in recent memory.
While prescient curators and gallerists, like Li Xianting, Gao Minglu, Manfred Schoeni and Johnson Chang, were early champions of this art, it was not always immediately appreciated or understood within China. Foreign diplomats, journalists and intrepid collectors were often among the first to intuit that these unusual, experimental works - at turns understated, fearless, humorous, and thoroughly unprecedented - represented not only a complete re-definition of Chinese contemporary culture, but new terrain in contemporary art itself, suggesting innovative approaches to representation, subjectivity, and aesthetics. As such, the field of Chinese contemporary art in its nascent stage was defined early on as much by its devoted collectors as it was by the art itself. The Anna Maria Jagdfeld Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art is one such historic collection, extensive and wide-ranging, one that identified a movement before it completely recognized itself. The visionary force behind a Germany-based luxury conglomerate, Mrs. Jagdfeld has brought an open, intrepid, and aesthetically comprehensive approach to all aspects of her life and work, one enlivened by startling and often provocative juxtapositions, and a long-cultivated eye for originality, beauty, and quality.
Having received the rigorous realist training in of the Chinese art academy system, Chinese painter Li Guijun is particularly conscious of figurative modelling, spatial orientation and composition, and captures an instantaneous feeling for beauty with his exquisite brushstrokes. Li has stated, "I wish my painting can be as beautiful, tranquil and inspiring as the Buddhist bodhi tree." Due to his profound fondness for music, Li is very particular about creating atmosphere in his works, relying heavily on the effects of light and colour to create a mood. Chinese Cuisine (Lot 2126) was painted in 2000, and its uniqueness lies not only in the beauty of the human figure and the environment he presents, but underlying celebration of time-honoured Chinese culture and traditions. The dazzling red silk outfit of the heroine is offset by the brown background. Light cast across her skin create a fine contrast with her luxuriously white and soft skin, further contrasted with the shiny crispy skin of the Peking roast duck. According to Li Guijun catalogue published by Schoeni Art Gallery Hong Kong in 2002, in order to capture the roasted duck more vividly, the artist brought one especially for the occasion from the restaurant to his studio. Amazed by its delicacy, the heroine opens her arms with a pair of chopsticks in her hand and a welcoming look to the viewer, inviting the audience to join the banquette. By arranging the composition as such, the artist integrates the audience's interaction into realistic painting. Li added an inscription to the painting, which is not his usual practice, in order to highlight the setting of a Chinese restaurant. The inscription suggests traditional Chinese dietary wisdom: "Duck, a Chinese delicacy, also known as wigeon, is sweet, nontoxic and cool-natured in Chinese medicine terms it is good for health, replenishing, helps harmonise internal organs and remove excess fluid in the body/The meat of white duck is preferred." The beauty of Chinese culture is further manifestedin the presence of traditional chopsticks, porcelain tea cups and plates, the moment of duck tasting is then captured as eternity.
As China emerged from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, the intellectual and artistic conformity of the communist system, the country witnessed a profound and seismic transformation of its cultural scene. The subsequent decades heralded a new era of creativity that penetrated every aspect of art and culture. Relieved of the restrictions of a state-controlled cultural production system, young art academy students across the nation were suddenly exposed to an extraordinary range of tools, techniques, and philosophies that they would digest and incorporate into their own visions and inspirations. This transformation of the cultural field would manifest itself for years to come, opening up traditional fields of art-making to new subjects, visions, and an almost unprecedented privileging of the artist's subjectivity over all else.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Chinese artists broke with their academic training and began developing new artistic languages for a nation in transition, seeking to overturn inherited aesthetic paradigms for ones that better-suited a post-Mao, rapidly modernizing nation. These artists were inspired by a new influx of information and materials about contemporary Western art practices, but also by their own experience of China's 20th century. The confluence of these circumstances -- the rigor of the training received in art academies, the turmoil and upheavals of, first, the Cultural Revolution and, second, the breakneck pace of modernization, globalization, and economic growth -- laid the groundwork for one of the most extraordinary breaks with aesthetic tradition in recent memory.
While prescient curators and gallerists, like Li Xianting, Gao Minglu, Manfred Schoeni and Johnson Chang, were early champions of this art, it was not always immediately appreciated or understood within China. Foreign diplomats, journalists and intrepid collectors were often among the first to intuit that these unusual, experimental works - at turns understated, fearless, humorous, and thoroughly unprecedented - represented not only a complete re-definition of Chinese contemporary culture, but new terrain in contemporary art itself, suggesting innovative approaches to representation, subjectivity, and aesthetics. As such, the field of Chinese contemporary art in its nascent stage was defined early on as much by its devoted collectors as it was by the art itself. The Anna Maria Jagdfeld Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art is one such historic collection, extensive and wide-ranging, one that identified a movement before it completely recognized itself. The visionary force behind a Germany-based luxury conglomerate, Mrs. Jagdfeld has brought an open, intrepid, and aesthetically comprehensive approach to all aspects of her life and work, one enlivened by startling and often provocative juxtapositions, and a long-cultivated eye for originality, beauty, and quality.
Having received the rigorous realist training in of the Chinese art academy system, Chinese painter Li Guijun is particularly conscious of figurative modelling, spatial orientation and composition, and captures an instantaneous feeling for beauty with his exquisite brushstrokes. Li has stated, "I wish my painting can be as beautiful, tranquil and inspiring as the Buddhist bodhi tree." Due to his profound fondness for music, Li is very particular about creating atmosphere in his works, relying heavily on the effects of light and colour to create a mood. Chinese Cuisine (Lot 2126) was painted in 2000, and its uniqueness lies not only in the beauty of the human figure and the environment he presents, but underlying celebration of time-honoured Chinese culture and traditions. The dazzling red silk outfit of the heroine is offset by the brown background. Light cast across her skin create a fine contrast with her luxuriously white and soft skin, further contrasted with the shiny crispy skin of the Peking roast duck. According to Li Guijun catalogue published by Schoeni Art Gallery Hong Kong in 2002, in order to capture the roasted duck more vividly, the artist brought one especially for the occasion from the restaurant to his studio. Amazed by its delicacy, the heroine opens her arms with a pair of chopsticks in her hand and a welcoming look to the viewer, inviting the audience to join the banquette. By arranging the composition as such, the artist integrates the audience's interaction into realistic painting. Li added an inscription to the painting, which is not his usual practice, in order to highlight the setting of a Chinese restaurant. The inscription suggests traditional Chinese dietary wisdom: "Duck, a Chinese delicacy, also known as wigeon, is sweet, nontoxic and cool-natured in Chinese medicine terms it is good for health, replenishing, helps harmonise internal organs and remove excess fluid in the body/The meat of white duck is preferred." The beauty of Chinese culture is further manifestedin the presence of traditional chopsticks, porcelain tea cups and plates, the moment of duck tasting is then captured as eternity.