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Lot Essay
THE NEW EASTERN BEAUTY – LIN FENGMIAN, SANYU, AND WALASSE TING
Painting and calligraphy sketches in ancient China were mostly line drawings in which subjects were outlined in ink. The placement of figures in the compositions, their backgrounds, layouts, overall atmosphere, and imagery were each important. By contrast, ancient sketches in the West were pencil or charcoal drafts that sought to outline their facial features and poses, studying the best method of reflecting nature and the light source; they were concerned with a concrete presentation of the image. The artistic presentation of women by Sanyu, Lin Fengmian, and Walasse Ting represents the continuing evolution of the classical concept of female beauty in the East. Each of them studied abroad, each personally experienced the changes of schools of thought in Western modernism, and they understood the origins of abstract art. But this did not prompt them to blindly pursue either realism or total abstraction; instead, they focused on how to alter their compositions, brushwork, and color so as to capture the character and appeal of their subjects. They incorporated Western techniques and media to set out the visions of Eastern aesthetics and beauty that they implicitly felt in their hearts.
Eastern paintings of beautiful women from different eras consistently favour presentations of their spirit, looks, and expression that emphasize a certain ‘vividness and charm.’ The painters of ancient China strove to give shape to their subjects’ mood and character, and to capture the joys and sorrows of the passing moments, with simple lines and minimal color. Details such as skin texture, the sculpting of physiques, and concern with light and shadow or with the precision of line were expressive elements belonging more to the Western tradition. With regard to subjects painted from life, these kinds of defining aesthetic paradigms have existed respectively in both the East and the West.
Figure paintings in Chinese culture originated from the time of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, gradually becoming even more popular around the time of the Han. From the morality paintings of ancient times that taught filial piety and loyalty toward rulers, and the religious paintings on Daoist or Buddhist themes, their development expanded to include pleasing and visually interesting figure paintings with a strong literati flavour around the time of the Song Dynasty. The conception of the beautiful woman among Eastern artists developed gradually through the changing dynasties, and was even influenced by female nude studies sketched by Western artists, yet it still retained the core aesthetic values of the East. Christie's is honoured to present here a series of fine works by artists of previous generations centred around themes of elegant ladies and female forms. The series explores how pioneering artists of the 20th century such as Sanyu, Lin Fengmian, and Walasse Ting innovated in their paintings of women, and how they enriched the meaning of ‘the Eastern beauty.’
Lin Fengmian broke with the traditional type of paper used in ink-wash painting, deliberately switching from scroll paintings to paper with more regular proportions, in paintings where the women’s figures occupied the entire composition, rather than only one small corner as in those traditional scrolls. In addition to the typical scenes of women paying musical instruments or at their dressing tables, his compositions also featured female nudes lying on their sides or in sitting positions as commonly seen in Western paintings. But if the reclining nudes of the West are odes to corporeal beauty and physical desire, what Lin Fengmian extols in painting such reclining figures is the essential character of lightness and gentle grace that is often uniquely associated with the Eastern woman. His lines not only depict the graceful postures of the female body; he also astutely shows how his subjects blend with their tranquil environs, in order to capture the more reserved sense of beauty of the Eastern woman.
In the 1950s to 1960s when Lin Fengmian lived in Shanghai, the painter was closely associated with key foreign figures in the city, and his works were highly prized within that community. Five works in the collection of Douglas Spankie (1929-1974), Consul-General of the United Kingdom in Shanghai, went on the market in Spring 2019. The two paintings in this sale hail from the collection of Michael Case Colyer (1933-2002), Spankie's friend in Shanghai and also the Assistant Manager of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation at the time, giving these works special historical significance.
In 1963-1965, Colyer was assigned to Shanghai and met Lin through his foreign contacts in the city, subsequently purchasing Lady Playing Flute (Lot 364) and Lady Playing Guqin (Lot 365). It can be gleaned from Colyer's family albums that the expatriate circle in Shanghai at the time was very tightknit, and Mr. and Mrs. Colyer were evidently close friends with the people mentioned in Lin's autobiography and biography by Zheng Zhong, such as Philip Mansley of the British Consulate-General in Shanghai, Frank Van Roosbroek from Belgium, and Wenche Gundersen who was the wife of the Norwegian Consul-General in Shanghai. Zheng wrote in Lin's biography that "these figures are based in Shanghai, and would visit Lin Fengmian to buy a picture or two from time to time, when a foreign deputation arrived, they would also introduce them to purchase paintings from Lin, some foreigners even learned to paint with Lin." As such, these works are direct testaments to this international exchange of culture and art.
Painting and calligraphy sketches in ancient China were mostly line drawings in which subjects were outlined in ink. The placement of figures in the compositions, their backgrounds, layouts, overall atmosphere, and imagery were each important. By contrast, ancient sketches in the West were pencil or charcoal drafts that sought to outline their facial features and poses, studying the best method of reflecting nature and the light source; they were concerned with a concrete presentation of the image. The artistic presentation of women by Sanyu, Lin Fengmian, and Walasse Ting represents the continuing evolution of the classical concept of female beauty in the East. Each of them studied abroad, each personally experienced the changes of schools of thought in Western modernism, and they understood the origins of abstract art. But this did not prompt them to blindly pursue either realism or total abstraction; instead, they focused on how to alter their compositions, brushwork, and color so as to capture the character and appeal of their subjects. They incorporated Western techniques and media to set out the visions of Eastern aesthetics and beauty that they implicitly felt in their hearts.
Eastern paintings of beautiful women from different eras consistently favour presentations of their spirit, looks, and expression that emphasize a certain ‘vividness and charm.’ The painters of ancient China strove to give shape to their subjects’ mood and character, and to capture the joys and sorrows of the passing moments, with simple lines and minimal color. Details such as skin texture, the sculpting of physiques, and concern with light and shadow or with the precision of line were expressive elements belonging more to the Western tradition. With regard to subjects painted from life, these kinds of defining aesthetic paradigms have existed respectively in both the East and the West.
Figure paintings in Chinese culture originated from the time of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, gradually becoming even more popular around the time of the Han. From the morality paintings of ancient times that taught filial piety and loyalty toward rulers, and the religious paintings on Daoist or Buddhist themes, their development expanded to include pleasing and visually interesting figure paintings with a strong literati flavour around the time of the Song Dynasty. The conception of the beautiful woman among Eastern artists developed gradually through the changing dynasties, and was even influenced by female nude studies sketched by Western artists, yet it still retained the core aesthetic values of the East. Christie's is honoured to present here a series of fine works by artists of previous generations centred around themes of elegant ladies and female forms. The series explores how pioneering artists of the 20th century such as Sanyu, Lin Fengmian, and Walasse Ting innovated in their paintings of women, and how they enriched the meaning of ‘the Eastern beauty.’
Lin Fengmian broke with the traditional type of paper used in ink-wash painting, deliberately switching from scroll paintings to paper with more regular proportions, in paintings where the women’s figures occupied the entire composition, rather than only one small corner as in those traditional scrolls. In addition to the typical scenes of women paying musical instruments or at their dressing tables, his compositions also featured female nudes lying on their sides or in sitting positions as commonly seen in Western paintings. But if the reclining nudes of the West are odes to corporeal beauty and physical desire, what Lin Fengmian extols in painting such reclining figures is the essential character of lightness and gentle grace that is often uniquely associated with the Eastern woman. His lines not only depict the graceful postures of the female body; he also astutely shows how his subjects blend with their tranquil environs, in order to capture the more reserved sense of beauty of the Eastern woman.
In the 1950s to 1960s when Lin Fengmian lived in Shanghai, the painter was closely associated with key foreign figures in the city, and his works were highly prized within that community. Five works in the collection of Douglas Spankie (1929-1974), Consul-General of the United Kingdom in Shanghai, went on the market in Spring 2019. The two paintings in this sale hail from the collection of Michael Case Colyer (1933-2002), Spankie's friend in Shanghai and also the Assistant Manager of the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation at the time, giving these works special historical significance.
In 1963-1965, Colyer was assigned to Shanghai and met Lin through his foreign contacts in the city, subsequently purchasing Lady Playing Flute (Lot 364) and Lady Playing Guqin (Lot 365). It can be gleaned from Colyer's family albums that the expatriate circle in Shanghai at the time was very tightknit, and Mr. and Mrs. Colyer were evidently close friends with the people mentioned in Lin's autobiography and biography by Zheng Zhong, such as Philip Mansley of the British Consulate-General in Shanghai, Frank Van Roosbroek from Belgium, and Wenche Gundersen who was the wife of the Norwegian Consul-General in Shanghai. Zheng wrote in Lin's biography that "these figures are based in Shanghai, and would visit Lin Fengmian to buy a picture or two from time to time, when a foreign deputation arrived, they would also introduce them to purchase paintings from Lin, some foreigners even learned to paint with Lin." As such, these works are direct testaments to this international exchange of culture and art.