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Lot Essay
Painted in 1963, Peach Blossoms (Lot 17) is a rare early painting by Wu Guanzhong that demonstrates his early passion for absorbing both the essence of Western techniques and spirit of Chinese painting. After spending three years in Paris, Wu returned to China in the summer of 1950 to fulfill his dream of helping to develop Chinese art. Influenced by western Impressionist artists such as Maurice Utrillo, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, Wu Guanzhong focused on the format of life drawing in this early period, and combined the beauty of formalism with the spirit of Chinese traditional paintings, innovatively restoring the tradition to the modern social context.
Wu Guanzhong continuously sought for balance between oil painting and traditional ink painting during the turbulence time in mid-20th century China. Using the language of Chinese painting to create oil paint, and taking inspirations from Western oil paint to critically restore traditional Chinese art, Wu Guanzhong developed his unique visual language and demonstrated a significant contribution to modern Chinese art history.
The multiple layers in Peach Blossoms generate a clear sense of space, obtaining the spirit of nature that is unique in the ideology of Chinese art. Wu Guanzhong controls the scale comparison between subject matters and the rhythm between different layers, conveying his unique and sensitive spatial awareness. In Peach Blossoms, the peach tree occupies the foreground, generating an expansive sense of space. In addition, the muddy earth on the lower right corner creates a dialogue with the buildings and farmland in the upper left, guiding viewers to look beyond the screen of trees and see the village in the distance. The masterly use of scattering perspective is frequently used in Chinese painting. In Li Tang’s work and Li Cheng’s Forest and Pavilion , for example, the trivial human figures at the bottom form a contrast with the enormous pine or screens of tress, directly generating an expressive spatial relationship that guide viewers to see through the branches and explore the beauty of nature. By focusing on the form of the natural scenery, Wu Guanzhong not only mimics the beauty of nature, but also conveys the passionate interaction between his spirit and nature, expresses his simplicity, purity and straightforwardness that could be frequently found in his works.
Peach Blossoms also demonstrates Wu’s profound understanding in western use of colour. Departing from the beautiful saying in traditional Chinese painting that “ink has five colours”, Wu Guanzhong applied wide variety of colour to emphasize the relationship between colour, light and emotions. He uses dark green and brown to set a neutral background, foregrounding the budding blossoms in white and baby pink. The intriguing use of bright yellow and green in the upper left corner lights up the whole painting, formulates a playful interaction between the peach flowers and the village in the far distance, creating a lively atmosphere. The bright use of yellow and green in the upper corner recalls the piece by post-impressionist master Cezanne. In his Mont Saint-Victorie Series , the contrast between the honey-gold field and green trees captures the complex relationship between light and space through two simple colours. Wu Guanzhong further combines Cezanne’s constructive colour blocks with his passion of formalism. Connecting abstract colours with realism colour choices, he adds a unique liveliness to the painting. The embellishment of brighter colour is like the silver lining of the cloud, expressively illustrates Wu’s attitude in finding joy in hardship during 1960s.
Wu Guanzhong once commented that brushstrokes and ink means nothing when they depart from the holistic effect of the composition. Painting techniques are not the only standard in evaluating a good piece of work. The implicit emotions and feelings that hidden under the brushstrokes are what truly formulate spectacular works. In Peach Blossoms, short, horizontal lines construct the whole painting, recalling the stylistic, expressive brushstrokes of Van Gogh’s Almond Tree. Van Gogh uses overlaying brushstrokes to record the trivial changes in light and shadow on the tree trunks, depicting his delightful emotions during the creation of the piece. While Wu further brings the spirit of xieyi into the painting through the seemingly care-free dots in the presentation of flowers. The hints of white dots represent the abstract essence of flowers, creating a poetic and otherworldliness atmosphere. Those unique quick brushstrokes depict Wu’s forthright character, and direct passion in fulfilling his instinct through painting. Completed in hardship, Wu Guanzhong adopts such trivial but powerful techniques to convey the lively countryside and expresses his true emotions and his enthusiastic in restoring and developing Chinese art to the modern world.
Wu Guanzhong once said that technique is the servants of thoughts and emotions. His masterful technique demonstrated through the composition, choice of colour as well as the brushstrokes all illustrate Wu’s ideological passion in modernizing Chinese art. Dedicating his artistic life into such development, he cultivated a wonderful balance between the controversies and conflicts among the east and the west, globalization and localization, and created a powerful aesthetic to present the beauty of modern Chinese spirit.
Wu Guanzhong continuously sought for balance between oil painting and traditional ink painting during the turbulence time in mid-20th century China. Using the language of Chinese painting to create oil paint, and taking inspirations from Western oil paint to critically restore traditional Chinese art, Wu Guanzhong developed his unique visual language and demonstrated a significant contribution to modern Chinese art history.
The multiple layers in Peach Blossoms generate a clear sense of space, obtaining the spirit of nature that is unique in the ideology of Chinese art. Wu Guanzhong controls the scale comparison between subject matters and the rhythm between different layers, conveying his unique and sensitive spatial awareness. In Peach Blossoms, the peach tree occupies the foreground, generating an expansive sense of space. In addition, the muddy earth on the lower right corner creates a dialogue with the buildings and farmland in the upper left, guiding viewers to look beyond the screen of trees and see the village in the distance. The masterly use of scattering perspective is frequently used in Chinese painting. In Li Tang’s work and Li Cheng’s Forest and Pavilion , for example, the trivial human figures at the bottom form a contrast with the enormous pine or screens of tress, directly generating an expressive spatial relationship that guide viewers to see through the branches and explore the beauty of nature. By focusing on the form of the natural scenery, Wu Guanzhong not only mimics the beauty of nature, but also conveys the passionate interaction between his spirit and nature, expresses his simplicity, purity and straightforwardness that could be frequently found in his works.
Peach Blossoms also demonstrates Wu’s profound understanding in western use of colour. Departing from the beautiful saying in traditional Chinese painting that “ink has five colours”, Wu Guanzhong applied wide variety of colour to emphasize the relationship between colour, light and emotions. He uses dark green and brown to set a neutral background, foregrounding the budding blossoms in white and baby pink. The intriguing use of bright yellow and green in the upper left corner lights up the whole painting, formulates a playful interaction between the peach flowers and the village in the far distance, creating a lively atmosphere. The bright use of yellow and green in the upper corner recalls the piece by post-impressionist master Cezanne. In his Mont Saint-Victorie Series , the contrast between the honey-gold field and green trees captures the complex relationship between light and space through two simple colours. Wu Guanzhong further combines Cezanne’s constructive colour blocks with his passion of formalism. Connecting abstract colours with realism colour choices, he adds a unique liveliness to the painting. The embellishment of brighter colour is like the silver lining of the cloud, expressively illustrates Wu’s attitude in finding joy in hardship during 1960s.
Wu Guanzhong once commented that brushstrokes and ink means nothing when they depart from the holistic effect of the composition. Painting techniques are not the only standard in evaluating a good piece of work. The implicit emotions and feelings that hidden under the brushstrokes are what truly formulate spectacular works. In Peach Blossoms, short, horizontal lines construct the whole painting, recalling the stylistic, expressive brushstrokes of Van Gogh’s Almond Tree. Van Gogh uses overlaying brushstrokes to record the trivial changes in light and shadow on the tree trunks, depicting his delightful emotions during the creation of the piece. While Wu further brings the spirit of xieyi into the painting through the seemingly care-free dots in the presentation of flowers. The hints of white dots represent the abstract essence of flowers, creating a poetic and otherworldliness atmosphere. Those unique quick brushstrokes depict Wu’s forthright character, and direct passion in fulfilling his instinct through painting. Completed in hardship, Wu Guanzhong adopts such trivial but powerful techniques to convey the lively countryside and expresses his true emotions and his enthusiastic in restoring and developing Chinese art to the modern world.
Wu Guanzhong once said that technique is the servants of thoughts and emotions. His masterful technique demonstrated through the composition, choice of colour as well as the brushstrokes all illustrate Wu’s ideological passion in modernizing Chinese art. Dedicating his artistic life into such development, he cultivated a wonderful balance between the controversies and conflicts among the east and the west, globalization and localization, and created a powerful aesthetic to present the beauty of modern Chinese spirit.