FROM AN IMPORTANT ASIAN COLLECTION (LOTS 1302-1318)XU BEIHONG AND HIS FRIENDS IN ASIA: WORKS BY XU BEIHONG FROM AN IMPORTANT ASIAN COLLECTION By Professor Xu QingpingIn 1939 my father Xu Beihong left Guilin for Nanyang to raise funds for anti-Sino Japanese War activities. Over the next few years, he created over a thousand paintings and organized 36 selling exhibitions through which he donated all the proceeds to assist the orphans of deceased soldiers and displaced refugees. It is also during this period that Xu Beihong worked with both traditional Chinese ink and western oil media to create the masterpiece The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains that praised the unfailing spirit of the Chinese people. Xu believed that an artist should “use his ability to contribute to one’s country and fulfil one’s responsibility as a citizen.” We are extremely fortunate to see this display of Xu’s works, it is as if the patriotic artist relives in front of our eyes. Xu Beihong is renowned for his depiction of animals for they are true to their spirits. Under his brush, each animal demonstrates its unique temperament - the cow honest and down-to-earth, the horse shrewd and brave, the cat agile and watchful, and the rooster loyal and alert. Chinese literati painting prides itself in expressing sentiment through symbolism. Painters depict the “three friends” - pine tree, bamboo and plum blossoms to manifest their perseverance for they thrive in the harshness of winter. They paint a large rock or a strong branch to symbolise a long-lived spirit. However, if an artist blindly copies the symbols without truly understanding the underlying meaning, then his work merely emanates a constructed elegance but is in fact a mockery to one’s creativity. Xu Beihong fused together the Chinese philosophical concepts of morality (de) and benevolence (ren) as well as western teaching of the pursuit of universal truth and progress. His work sees a rich imagination that is characteristic of Romanticism. As such, Xu successfully transformed the sentiments and hidden meanings in Chinese poetry into metaphors personified in the protagonists of the paintings. Before the arrival of the Japanese army, Xu Beihong left Singapore to return to China on a ferry via Myanmar. Eighty years later, we are pleased to see that a large body of work that Xu created in his Southeast Asia journey has been kept intact under one single collection, allowing us to get a glimpse of Xu Beihong as an artist in that period, and the enduring greatness of his art. Note: The introductory notes in this collection were written by Professor Xu Qingping.

XU BEIHONG (1895-1953)

Lion and Snake

Details

XU BEIHONG (1895-1953)
Lion and Snake
Scroll, mounted and framed, ink and colour on paper
92 x 89 cm. (36 ¼ x 35 in.)
Inscribed and signed, with one seal of the artist
Dated winter, twenty-seventh year (of the Republic, 1938)
Dedicated to Shaolu (Lau Siului)
Note: The recipient of the painting is Liu Shaolu (Lau Siului, 1900-1996), born in Guangzhou, Guandong Province. Liu established the Jiuhuatang Stationary Shop in Guangzhou and migrated to Hong Kong in 1948 where he founded the mounting studio Jiuhuatang. He was interested in Chinese painting and calligraphy and contributed to promoting the art. He provided valuable support and assistance to the exhibitions of various well-known artists which gave him the opportunity to collect masterpieces that later formed his renowned Taiyilou Collection.

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Lot Essay

In the history of Western art, the lion and the horse are both important and recurrent themes as they signify the brave and the invincible. The earliest painting of a lion can be traced back to the Assyrian Empire, all the way to 19th century French painters Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix. Often these paintings depict scenes of violence, such as hunting or battles between lion and human or other beasts. Xu Beihong’s lion paintings are very different, for he said “I love to paint lions because I like their calm demeanor. I have seen them smile, I have touched them in proximity, I have heard them roar angrily, and I have watched them dance.” The lion under his brush is humanized with a noble character, and through the depiction of a lion Xu praised his national spirit in all its greatness. Works such as Wounded Lion, Galloping Lion, and the highly metaphoric work Lions at the Hilltop all demonstrate the strength of this noble animal. Xu also painted the theme of Lion and Snake many times, with a lion looking down on a poisonous snake to symbolize the pride of his nation. Xu exaggerated the muscle tone and the bone structure of the lion, so that from a close-up perspective it looks even more imposing. During the Renaissance Michelangelo mastered the art of figure painting by having a thorough understanding of the human body and using perspective to create a specific visual effect; Xu Beihong undoubtedly mastered such skills and manifested them in his animal paintings.

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