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Lot Essay
Lin Fengmian spent a lifetime exploring the fusion of Eastern and Western artistic traditions, a f ield in which he made outstanding contributions. His achievements can be attributed to his understanding and love of both Western contemporary art, as well as Chinese classical and folk art. Moreover, because he never pursued fame and fortune, even while facing great adversity he devoted himself to study; although he is no longer with us, his spirit still lives on in others.
- Wu Guanzhong, Lin Fengmian: Master of his Generation
The convergence of Eastern and Western culture in the 20th century had a profound impact on the 5,000-year old traditions of Chinese painting and calligraphy. During this time, Chinese artists put great thought into the creation of new presentations that would both preserve and rejuvenate tradition with a contemporary spirit. Perhaps no artist’s work better encapsulates this turning point in art history than the paintings of Lin Fengmian, whose honest portrayals overcame all boundaries of language, culture, and nationality.
Lin was born in 1900 in Guangdong province. At age 20, he left for France to take place in a work-study program. The May Fourth Movement of the 1920's marked the start of a new era in China’s cultural history. Groups of intellectuals returned to the motherland from their studies abroad, bringing with them Western ideals of democracy and science, and in turn revolutionizing and advancing the development of Chinese art and literature. Enlightened by their studies overseas, many artists consequently began infusing Western ideology into Chinese contexts, unlocking the door to a new cultural dimension for China in the 20th century. This was the stage onto which Lin Fengmian entered when he returned to China in 1926 to become the director of the National Beijing Fine Art School. At age 29, he helped to establish the College of Art in Hangzhou, which later became the prestigious China Academy of Fine Art. Serving as the school's first president, his innovative approach of blending Chinese and Western styles enabled the school to nurture students who would become the titans of Chinese 20th century art such as Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh- Chun and Wu Guanzhong. For this reason, Lin Fengmian is often considered the father of Chinese modernism.
One of the subjects Lin Fengmian is best known for are his depictions of female figures; Nude is a pivotal example that fully illustrates his artistic proficiency and technique. The artist’s portrayal of the figure in this work, follows a long tradition of depictions of similarly positioned women in Western art history, the foundations of which run all the way back through to ancient Greece and Rome. A strong comparison can be drawn to academic paintings by Old Masters such as the Venetian school painter, Titian. Like Titian’s Venus of Urbino (Fig. 1), the female figure in Lin’s work poses in a relaxed yet classical posture with her arms crossed and legs languidly outstretched, as she turns her alluring gaze toward the viewer. Titian’s Venus is shown in full against plush draping, the lavish trappings of her boudoir, including two nattily dressed servants, in full display. Meanwhile, Lin keeps the composition closely cropped to his figure so that her arms brush the top boundary of the work and her legs are truncated just below the knees by the right edge. While his expert washes of ink indicate a certain sense of ‘atmosphere’ within the room, we have little perception of the furnishings within the space or even the form of the furniture that the figure is reclining upon. A few crosshatching strokes in the lower left corner perhaps loosely indicate patterned throw pillows, while the pane of a window behind reveals nothing about the world that exists beyond. This all serves to create a very intimate view of the subject— rather than standing by as an observer as we do with Titian’s Venus , here it is as if we are reclined beside her and little else matters.
While the subject herself may have been drawn from classical origins, Lin employs several techniques to imbue the work with a considerably modern sensibility. He carefully models the figure in delicate washes so we are able to perceive the soft and fleshy curves of her body, whilst flattening the composition with the loose and perceptible brushwork in the surrounding space so that we are aware of his presence as the painter. This flat, almost planar, quality of the space, as well as the way in which the figure’s gaze meets our own provides a close comparison to Édouard Manet’s 1863 painting Olympia (Fig. 2), whose subject shocked audiences at the time with her confrontational and uncompromising stare. Meanwhile, the few well-placed strokes used to elegantly to describe the figure’s face in Lin’s work, testify to the deep impact modern masters such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso had on the artist. Moreover, the square dimensions of canvas itself belie a sense of modernity, allowing Lin the ultimate flexibility to create a composition built from geometrical structures that was balanced and harmonious, while also remaining dynamic.
Although ink as a medium is limited in its ability to present colors and textural quality compared to oil paint, Lin Fengmian adeptly exercised the tonal variations of ink to its full potential under the banner of “reviving Chinese Art”. In Nude , Lin skillfully delineates the body of the figure, providing a boundary between her cream colored skin and the soft washes of ink used to define the environment around her. Whereas Western aesthetics rely more on color to complement lines and actualize space, for Lin Fengmian, line is paramount. In his deft and fluid strokes, one can make out an inheritance from the emotive and running lines of calligraphic script. Meanwhile his choice to use negative space as the predominant and focal ‘color’ within the composition, a technique employed by the great literati painters of the Song Dynasty, further reaffirms his deep roots within Eastern tradition. The result is a highly transformative atmosphere, oscillating in harmonious balance between emptiness and form, color and space.
Lin Fengmian was among a handful of the first generation of Chinese artists who firmly established and directed the undertaking of in Chinese art. His concern with the changes in form, composition, and spatial structure, allowed him to imbue his subjects with a Modern poeticism and Classical grace that is yet to be surpassed, in order to lead the tradition of Chinese painting into wider, richer and more modernized terrain. Lin Fengmian’s legacy of creative achievements and teachings have exerted far-reaching influences in the subsequent flourishing careers of some of the most important painters of the 20th century, forever changing the face of Chinese art.
- Wu Guanzhong, Lin Fengmian: Master of his Generation
The convergence of Eastern and Western culture in the 20th century had a profound impact on the 5,000-year old traditions of Chinese painting and calligraphy. During this time, Chinese artists put great thought into the creation of new presentations that would both preserve and rejuvenate tradition with a contemporary spirit. Perhaps no artist’s work better encapsulates this turning point in art history than the paintings of Lin Fengmian, whose honest portrayals overcame all boundaries of language, culture, and nationality.
Lin was born in 1900 in Guangdong province. At age 20, he left for France to take place in a work-study program. The May Fourth Movement of the 1920's marked the start of a new era in China’s cultural history. Groups of intellectuals returned to the motherland from their studies abroad, bringing with them Western ideals of democracy and science, and in turn revolutionizing and advancing the development of Chinese art and literature. Enlightened by their studies overseas, many artists consequently began infusing Western ideology into Chinese contexts, unlocking the door to a new cultural dimension for China in the 20th century. This was the stage onto which Lin Fengmian entered when he returned to China in 1926 to become the director of the National Beijing Fine Art School. At age 29, he helped to establish the College of Art in Hangzhou, which later became the prestigious China Academy of Fine Art. Serving as the school's first president, his innovative approach of blending Chinese and Western styles enabled the school to nurture students who would become the titans of Chinese 20th century art such as Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh- Chun and Wu Guanzhong. For this reason, Lin Fengmian is often considered the father of Chinese modernism.
One of the subjects Lin Fengmian is best known for are his depictions of female figures; Nude is a pivotal example that fully illustrates his artistic proficiency and technique. The artist’s portrayal of the figure in this work, follows a long tradition of depictions of similarly positioned women in Western art history, the foundations of which run all the way back through to ancient Greece and Rome. A strong comparison can be drawn to academic paintings by Old Masters such as the Venetian school painter, Titian. Like Titian’s Venus of Urbino (Fig. 1), the female figure in Lin’s work poses in a relaxed yet classical posture with her arms crossed and legs languidly outstretched, as she turns her alluring gaze toward the viewer. Titian’s Venus is shown in full against plush draping, the lavish trappings of her boudoir, including two nattily dressed servants, in full display. Meanwhile, Lin keeps the composition closely cropped to his figure so that her arms brush the top boundary of the work and her legs are truncated just below the knees by the right edge. While his expert washes of ink indicate a certain sense of ‘atmosphere’ within the room, we have little perception of the furnishings within the space or even the form of the furniture that the figure is reclining upon. A few crosshatching strokes in the lower left corner perhaps loosely indicate patterned throw pillows, while the pane of a window behind reveals nothing about the world that exists beyond. This all serves to create a very intimate view of the subject— rather than standing by as an observer as we do with Titian’s Venus , here it is as if we are reclined beside her and little else matters.
While the subject herself may have been drawn from classical origins, Lin employs several techniques to imbue the work with a considerably modern sensibility. He carefully models the figure in delicate washes so we are able to perceive the soft and fleshy curves of her body, whilst flattening the composition with the loose and perceptible brushwork in the surrounding space so that we are aware of his presence as the painter. This flat, almost planar, quality of the space, as well as the way in which the figure’s gaze meets our own provides a close comparison to Édouard Manet’s 1863 painting Olympia (Fig. 2), whose subject shocked audiences at the time with her confrontational and uncompromising stare. Meanwhile, the few well-placed strokes used to elegantly to describe the figure’s face in Lin’s work, testify to the deep impact modern masters such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso had on the artist. Moreover, the square dimensions of canvas itself belie a sense of modernity, allowing Lin the ultimate flexibility to create a composition built from geometrical structures that was balanced and harmonious, while also remaining dynamic.
Although ink as a medium is limited in its ability to present colors and textural quality compared to oil paint, Lin Fengmian adeptly exercised the tonal variations of ink to its full potential under the banner of “reviving Chinese Art”. In Nude , Lin skillfully delineates the body of the figure, providing a boundary between her cream colored skin and the soft washes of ink used to define the environment around her. Whereas Western aesthetics rely more on color to complement lines and actualize space, for Lin Fengmian, line is paramount. In his deft and fluid strokes, one can make out an inheritance from the emotive and running lines of calligraphic script. Meanwhile his choice to use negative space as the predominant and focal ‘color’ within the composition, a technique employed by the great literati painters of the Song Dynasty, further reaffirms his deep roots within Eastern tradition. The result is a highly transformative atmosphere, oscillating in harmonious balance between emptiness and form, color and space.
Lin Fengmian was among a handful of the first generation of Chinese artists who firmly established and directed the undertaking of in Chinese art. His concern with the changes in form, composition, and spatial structure, allowed him to imbue his subjects with a Modern poeticism and Classical grace that is yet to be surpassed, in order to lead the tradition of Chinese painting into wider, richer and more modernized terrain. Lin Fengmian’s legacy of creative achievements and teachings have exerted far-reaching influences in the subsequent flourishing careers of some of the most important painters of the 20th century, forever changing the face of Chinese art.