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Lot Essay
'One life too short , one day too long'
-WALASSE TING
The expressionistic style of Walasse Ting's (1928 – 2010) art reflects the spirited individuality of an artist who received formal academic training in art at the elite Shanghai Art Academy, however, never confined himself to his formal education. Ting's childlike and expressionistic style, show that at the soul of his work he strove for freedom and independent expression despite societal norms. His sensual and provocative nudes document the sexual revolution, epitomized by the founding of Playboy in 1953, within pop culture that had taken hold of post-war America.
Ting's propensity for living life to its full and abundant glory is apparent in his bold, wild, and playful works. His philosophy of "one life too short; one day too long" suggests a notion of living every day meaningfully but enjoyably. This outlook is immediately apparent to viewers through his often sexually explicit works which express his intent to live life pleasurably, further emphasized by his nickname, the 'thief of flowers'.
Ting's global vision is witnessed in his landmark project of "One Cent Life", which brought together 27 European and American artists to contribute lithographic illustrations to a volume of poems by Walasse Ting by the same title. This book is an essential reference for the art being created in New York in the early sixties, effectively encapsulating the seismic shift that occurred at a time when the dominance of Abstract Expressionism was giving way to Pop Art. Ting's paintings captured this moment of transition, combining the styles and methods of both movements into one.
The five paintings offered in Christie's Hong Kong sale showcase a brief overview of Ting's 50 year artistic trajectory. The narrative begins with his works which show attention to the primitive and child-like style in avantgarde CoBrA Group, whom he became acquainted with during his stay in Paris in 1953, most notably a Belgian member Pierre Alechinsky who became a lifelong friend. Moving on, artworks from Ting's time in New York in 1959, where he absorbed the various influences of Abstract Expressionism and Pop, are also represented. It was during this time when Ting met his closest associate, Abstract Expressionist artist Sam Francis. And finally, the final group of works showcased are those from the 1970s and later, by which time Ting had developed his own visual vocabulary of sensuous women, blossoming flowers, and playful animals.
Today, Walasse Tings artworks are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, the Shanghai Art Museum, as well as in the collections of many devoted private collectors.
A SENSE OF CONTEMPORARY
Painted in 1963, Cleopatra and Cameraman (Lot 541) was originally a classical painting of a female nude that was later overpainted by Ting. He applied layers of colourful impasto paint over the composition, adding in his signature whimsical imagery. A fantastical creature photographs the nude, identified as Cleopatra, the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Suggestively phallic snakes writhe across the chaise on which she reclines. The overpainting treatment is similar to Ting's 1961 work Rue Saint Denis, named after the street in Paris notorious for prostitution. This work is also featured in Ting's lithograph portfolio. The act of defiling a classical painting demonstrates the artist's belief in new methods of expression, as well as a break away from classical ideals and rationality, which resonated with the contemporary philosophy behind the CoBrA Group. This type of work is extremely rare as it later forms the foundation of Ting's signature paintings of female nudes.
TRUE SPIRIT
Painted in 1961, Butterfly (Lot 542), was executed in free and experimental brushstrokes and vivid colours, showing Ting's curiosity in the CoBrA Group which looked to children's drawing and primitive art forms for inspiration. The playful red and yellow horse against shocking pink background (Lot 545) is Ting's signature inscrutable construction of an animal in flat planes by extraordinary and imaginative colours on Chinese xuan paper.
'When I see a beautiful woman [and] I see flowers, its beauty makes me feel intangible, melancholy, love, refreshed, different, and reborn. I want to use different colours to express my inner feelings and emotions in my paintings.'
-WALASSE TING
PLAYBOY CULTURE IN POST-WAR AMERICA
Ting's pursuit of conspicuous spontaneity further deepened after encountering Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art in New York in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Ting's work developed into a combination of calligraphic brushwork and explosive neon colour featuring nude women. This subject would eventually become the most recognizable icon in his oeuvre. Through Love me, Love me (Lot 543), painted in 1975, and Can You Catch a Butterfly for Me? (Lot 544), executed in 1976, we can see Ting's response to Tom Wesselmann's Great American Nudes series that evoke consumer culture's sexual drive as much as its celebration of the empowered libido. Ting's female portraiture emulate the mass-produced images of pin-ups that gained popular appeal during Post-War America's "bikini culture" and to Hugh Hefner's packaging of sex as a luxury commodity in the pages of Playboy magazine, documenting one of the defining hallmarks of American culture in the 60s and 70s, thus contributing to a sexual revolution that challenged the idea that sex was for reproduction alone.
'He loves splashes of colour for they are flowers in reality. He paints, fluidly, and then nothing exists but the flower which are, in reality, splashes…. Matisse = I only believe while painting. Ting = painting is now. Never before,never after.'
-PIERRE ALECHINSKY, Through Ting's Eyes, Longmen Art Project, Walasse Ting: Red Mouth Series 2, Shanghai, China, 2012, p. 61.
-WALASSE TING
The expressionistic style of Walasse Ting's (1928 – 2010) art reflects the spirited individuality of an artist who received formal academic training in art at the elite Shanghai Art Academy, however, never confined himself to his formal education. Ting's childlike and expressionistic style, show that at the soul of his work he strove for freedom and independent expression despite societal norms. His sensual and provocative nudes document the sexual revolution, epitomized by the founding of Playboy in 1953, within pop culture that had taken hold of post-war America.
Ting's propensity for living life to its full and abundant glory is apparent in his bold, wild, and playful works. His philosophy of "one life too short; one day too long" suggests a notion of living every day meaningfully but enjoyably. This outlook is immediately apparent to viewers through his often sexually explicit works which express his intent to live life pleasurably, further emphasized by his nickname, the 'thief of flowers'.
Ting's global vision is witnessed in his landmark project of "One Cent Life", which brought together 27 European and American artists to contribute lithographic illustrations to a volume of poems by Walasse Ting by the same title. This book is an essential reference for the art being created in New York in the early sixties, effectively encapsulating the seismic shift that occurred at a time when the dominance of Abstract Expressionism was giving way to Pop Art. Ting's paintings captured this moment of transition, combining the styles and methods of both movements into one.
The five paintings offered in Christie's Hong Kong sale showcase a brief overview of Ting's 50 year artistic trajectory. The narrative begins with his works which show attention to the primitive and child-like style in avantgarde CoBrA Group, whom he became acquainted with during his stay in Paris in 1953, most notably a Belgian member Pierre Alechinsky who became a lifelong friend. Moving on, artworks from Ting's time in New York in 1959, where he absorbed the various influences of Abstract Expressionism and Pop, are also represented. It was during this time when Ting met his closest associate, Abstract Expressionist artist Sam Francis. And finally, the final group of works showcased are those from the 1970s and later, by which time Ting had developed his own visual vocabulary of sensuous women, blossoming flowers, and playful animals.
Today, Walasse Tings artworks are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, the Shanghai Art Museum, as well as in the collections of many devoted private collectors.
A SENSE OF CONTEMPORARY
Painted in 1963, Cleopatra and Cameraman (Lot 541) was originally a classical painting of a female nude that was later overpainted by Ting. He applied layers of colourful impasto paint over the composition, adding in his signature whimsical imagery. A fantastical creature photographs the nude, identified as Cleopatra, the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Suggestively phallic snakes writhe across the chaise on which she reclines. The overpainting treatment is similar to Ting's 1961 work Rue Saint Denis, named after the street in Paris notorious for prostitution. This work is also featured in Ting's lithograph portfolio. The act of defiling a classical painting demonstrates the artist's belief in new methods of expression, as well as a break away from classical ideals and rationality, which resonated with the contemporary philosophy behind the CoBrA Group. This type of work is extremely rare as it later forms the foundation of Ting's signature paintings of female nudes.
TRUE SPIRIT
Painted in 1961, Butterfly (Lot 542), was executed in free and experimental brushstrokes and vivid colours, showing Ting's curiosity in the CoBrA Group which looked to children's drawing and primitive art forms for inspiration. The playful red and yellow horse against shocking pink background (Lot 545) is Ting's signature inscrutable construction of an animal in flat planes by extraordinary and imaginative colours on Chinese xuan paper.
'When I see a beautiful woman [and] I see flowers, its beauty makes me feel intangible, melancholy, love, refreshed, different, and reborn. I want to use different colours to express my inner feelings and emotions in my paintings.'
-WALASSE TING
PLAYBOY CULTURE IN POST-WAR AMERICA
Ting's pursuit of conspicuous spontaneity further deepened after encountering Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art in New York in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Ting's work developed into a combination of calligraphic brushwork and explosive neon colour featuring nude women. This subject would eventually become the most recognizable icon in his oeuvre. Through Love me, Love me (Lot 543), painted in 1975, and Can You Catch a Butterfly for Me? (Lot 544), executed in 1976, we can see Ting's response to Tom Wesselmann's Great American Nudes series that evoke consumer culture's sexual drive as much as its celebration of the empowered libido. Ting's female portraiture emulate the mass-produced images of pin-ups that gained popular appeal during Post-War America's "bikini culture" and to Hugh Hefner's packaging of sex as a luxury commodity in the pages of Playboy magazine, documenting one of the defining hallmarks of American culture in the 60s and 70s, thus contributing to a sexual revolution that challenged the idea that sex was for reproduction alone.
'He loves splashes of colour for they are flowers in reality. He paints, fluidly, and then nothing exists but the flower which are, in reality, splashes…. Matisse = I only believe while painting. Ting = painting is now. Never before,never after.'
-PIERRE ALECHINSKY, Through Ting's Eyes, Longmen Art Project, Walasse Ting: Red Mouth Series 2, Shanghai, China, 2012, p. 61.