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拍品专文
Zeng Fanzhi was born in an era of revolution in China. The movement to discard traditional values and thinking ultimately sent its waves rippling through Zeng's own world view. His early works in the Hospital and Meat series, as well as those in this Mask series, testify to his evolution as an artist, as he moved from depictions of the naked human psyche to the distance and alienation of the city. Ever eager to explore new areas, Zeng underwent more periods of experimentation, arriving at the new path which led him to create a series of portrait works.
Thematic series aside, Zeng’s portraits with the individuals spanning across his career are defined by distinctive styles; examining the stylistic features of those portraits as a group reveals three distinct periods. An early work, A Man in Melancholy (Fig. 1), makes full use of elements characteristic of German Expressionism; its lively brushwork and almost feverish lines create an intensely individual emotion. In 1993, after moving from Wuhan to Beijing, Zeng began producing his Mask series (Fig. 2) under the influence of this change of environment. He depicts his subjects, each wearing a mask, in clearlyetched contours. The paintings of this Mask series, which convey a sense of the distance and alienation of urban life, have been acclaimed as a peak in his career. This did not, however, limit his personal artistic potential in any way, and ultimately, in 2001, as a symbolic gesture that he was entering new artistic territory, the masks came off to reveal the human faces behind them. Portrait (Lot 30) offered here exemplifies Zeng's personal interpretation of Eastern and Western art, and can be seen as an important turning point in which the artist injects Eastern color into a Western style of painting.
Classical painting in China was most often concerned with landscape or bird-and-flower themes, while portraiture remained mostly the province of the Imperial court or the works of the literati painters. In the West, portraiture came into vogue in the Renaissance and developed concurrently along a number of different paths. Traditional Western portraits emphasized a close physical likeness to the subject along with proper handling of color, light, and shadow to enhance the sense of dimensionality. Eastern artists were concerned with conveying character and a flexible use of line that expressed their subjects' spirit and feelings, thus transcending strictly realistic representation. Throughout most of his Portrait series, Zeng Fanzhi provides only partial depictions of his subjects, their legs and feet fading away in a watercolor-like effect. He takes a different approach in Portrait, however, where his subject appears in his entirety and in such a way as to draw our attention to details such as the handling of his feet. The subject of Zeng's painting is standing, resting his weight on one foot, reminiscent of the Velázquez court portrait Philip IV in Brown and Silver (Fig. 3); it is a more relaxed pose, and one with a degree of self-expression. Zeng's figure seems to be adopting an attitude of selfconfidence in front of a mirror; his slightly serious and reserved expression indicates alert thoughtfulness rather than full relaxation, as if he is adopting a strict pose to match the suit he wears. In line with the focus on character and distinctive style in Chinese portraits, Zeng Fanzhi presents his subject's expression fully through his pose and movements. One of the 'Four Great Painters' of the Six Dyansties, Gu Kaizhi, developed theories for lifelike painting in which 'form communicates spirit' and 'imagination must be employed for beautiful results' - it is exactly this kind of aesthetic experience, beyond mere form, that is embodied in Zeng's Portrait.
The handling of the background in Portrait also evokes the spirit of Chinese painting and calligraphy through its use of empty space. As Laozi said in the Daodejing, 'All things under heaven derive from being, and being derives from non-being,' and the forms of things also have their origins in the roots of 'non-being.' The subject of Zeng's Portrait stands in the midst of an empty, clean background of white; Zeng's use of empty space achieves the effects of 'conveying a conception even where the brush does not go' and 'extending the scene beyond the painting.' In an interview Zeng once expressed his hope that viewers would engage their own imaginations when looking at these empty spaces: 'I hope I can make people feel something, in such a way that they discover meaning beyond what is painted.' Zeng also pulls pigment upward in streaky lines above the head of his subject, similar to brushstrokes in Chinese ink painting with their free flow of inks, thus adding to his work another unique elements of Eastern painting.
An acute observer of the society around him, Zeng Fanzhi made astute choices about how to clothe his subjects: in each period he picks attire reflecting the social conditions then current in China. The neat lines and splendid look of his subject's suit hint that he is a member of the newly emerging middle class following China's opening and reform policy. Red is a brave and avant-garde expression, representing a staunch individualism that would have been unthinkable as a kind of social ideology during the Mao Zedong years. Zeng once said, 'I used red because I found it stimulating and provocative....Red can also be the colour of skin. I used the same red whether I was painting skin, flesh, or blood.' Zeng extends his use of red in Portrait even to the skin tones, revealing the nakedness of skin and flesh; in his earlier Hospital series (Fig.4), the patients mostly wear the white robes provided by the hospital, except where their own skin and flesh becomes their attire when their upper bodies are exposed. In his later Mask series, most of his subjects wear red kerchiefs (Fig. 5), a symbol of Zeng's childhood sense of identity that brings with it a sense of regretful memory. In this Portrait , the stiff, straight Western suit worn by Zeng's subject indicates the pursuit of a new life, reflecting at the same time China's changing society as its markets open and it gradually moves onto the international stage. Zeng here chooses to dress his subject in a modern, Western suit, but one to which he adds intense Eastern colour. For Zeng, East and West are equal; what is important is the continual blending of the two that will ultimately result in their peaceful coexistence.
Zeng Fanzhi's expressive methods and their significance lie in his melding of Eastern and Western elements of painting, and his ability to let traditional and modern concepts balance each other as he joins together what might seem to be their mutually opposing spirits. His subject in Portrait has no clearly defined personal identity, and whether he represents an individual, or the collective consciousness of the Chinese people, is a matter ultimately to be decided by the viewer. The subject of this Portrait epitomizes the physical, mental, and spiritual condition of everyone in modern society, doing their best to defend themselves against the onrush of history.
Thematic series aside, Zeng’s portraits with the individuals spanning across his career are defined by distinctive styles; examining the stylistic features of those portraits as a group reveals three distinct periods. An early work, A Man in Melancholy (Fig. 1), makes full use of elements characteristic of German Expressionism; its lively brushwork and almost feverish lines create an intensely individual emotion. In 1993, after moving from Wuhan to Beijing, Zeng began producing his Mask series (Fig. 2) under the influence of this change of environment. He depicts his subjects, each wearing a mask, in clearlyetched contours. The paintings of this Mask series, which convey a sense of the distance and alienation of urban life, have been acclaimed as a peak in his career. This did not, however, limit his personal artistic potential in any way, and ultimately, in 2001, as a symbolic gesture that he was entering new artistic territory, the masks came off to reveal the human faces behind them. Portrait (Lot 30) offered here exemplifies Zeng's personal interpretation of Eastern and Western art, and can be seen as an important turning point in which the artist injects Eastern color into a Western style of painting.
Classical painting in China was most often concerned with landscape or bird-and-flower themes, while portraiture remained mostly the province of the Imperial court or the works of the literati painters. In the West, portraiture came into vogue in the Renaissance and developed concurrently along a number of different paths. Traditional Western portraits emphasized a close physical likeness to the subject along with proper handling of color, light, and shadow to enhance the sense of dimensionality. Eastern artists were concerned with conveying character and a flexible use of line that expressed their subjects' spirit and feelings, thus transcending strictly realistic representation. Throughout most of his Portrait series, Zeng Fanzhi provides only partial depictions of his subjects, their legs and feet fading away in a watercolor-like effect. He takes a different approach in Portrait, however, where his subject appears in his entirety and in such a way as to draw our attention to details such as the handling of his feet. The subject of Zeng's painting is standing, resting his weight on one foot, reminiscent of the Velázquez court portrait Philip IV in Brown and Silver (Fig. 3); it is a more relaxed pose, and one with a degree of self-expression. Zeng's figure seems to be adopting an attitude of selfconfidence in front of a mirror; his slightly serious and reserved expression indicates alert thoughtfulness rather than full relaxation, as if he is adopting a strict pose to match the suit he wears. In line with the focus on character and distinctive style in Chinese portraits, Zeng Fanzhi presents his subject's expression fully through his pose and movements. One of the 'Four Great Painters' of the Six Dyansties, Gu Kaizhi, developed theories for lifelike painting in which 'form communicates spirit' and 'imagination must be employed for beautiful results' - it is exactly this kind of aesthetic experience, beyond mere form, that is embodied in Zeng's Portrait.
The handling of the background in Portrait also evokes the spirit of Chinese painting and calligraphy through its use of empty space. As Laozi said in the Daodejing, 'All things under heaven derive from being, and being derives from non-being,' and the forms of things also have their origins in the roots of 'non-being.' The subject of Zeng's Portrait stands in the midst of an empty, clean background of white; Zeng's use of empty space achieves the effects of 'conveying a conception even where the brush does not go' and 'extending the scene beyond the painting.' In an interview Zeng once expressed his hope that viewers would engage their own imaginations when looking at these empty spaces: 'I hope I can make people feel something, in such a way that they discover meaning beyond what is painted.' Zeng also pulls pigment upward in streaky lines above the head of his subject, similar to brushstrokes in Chinese ink painting with their free flow of inks, thus adding to his work another unique elements of Eastern painting.
An acute observer of the society around him, Zeng Fanzhi made astute choices about how to clothe his subjects: in each period he picks attire reflecting the social conditions then current in China. The neat lines and splendid look of his subject's suit hint that he is a member of the newly emerging middle class following China's opening and reform policy. Red is a brave and avant-garde expression, representing a staunch individualism that would have been unthinkable as a kind of social ideology during the Mao Zedong years. Zeng once said, 'I used red because I found it stimulating and provocative....Red can also be the colour of skin. I used the same red whether I was painting skin, flesh, or blood.' Zeng extends his use of red in Portrait even to the skin tones, revealing the nakedness of skin and flesh; in his earlier Hospital series (Fig.4), the patients mostly wear the white robes provided by the hospital, except where their own skin and flesh becomes their attire when their upper bodies are exposed. In his later Mask series, most of his subjects wear red kerchiefs (Fig. 5), a symbol of Zeng's childhood sense of identity that brings with it a sense of regretful memory. In this Portrait , the stiff, straight Western suit worn by Zeng's subject indicates the pursuit of a new life, reflecting at the same time China's changing society as its markets open and it gradually moves onto the international stage. Zeng here chooses to dress his subject in a modern, Western suit, but one to which he adds intense Eastern colour. For Zeng, East and West are equal; what is important is the continual blending of the two that will ultimately result in their peaceful coexistence.
Zeng Fanzhi's expressive methods and their significance lie in his melding of Eastern and Western elements of painting, and his ability to let traditional and modern concepts balance each other as he joins together what might seem to be their mutually opposing spirits. His subject in Portrait has no clearly defined personal identity, and whether he represents an individual, or the collective consciousness of the Chinese people, is a matter ultimately to be decided by the viewer. The subject of this Portrait epitomizes the physical, mental, and spiritual condition of everyone in modern society, doing their best to defend themselves against the onrush of history.