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拍品专文
A lone wild duck flies against sunset clouds; the autumn river is one with the colour of the sky. -Wang Bo
Wu Guanzhong's first contact with art came in 1936, at age 17, as a result of meeting Chu Teh-Chun. He enrolled at the Hangzhou Academy of Art, where he studied Western art, and its focus on the formal aspects of painting, under teachers such as Lin Fengmian and Wu Dayu. He came to love the Impressionists and modern art, and he especially revered Cézanne and van Gogh. At the same time, he studied Chinese painting with Pan Tianshou and was inspired by the work of Shi Tao, Bada Shanren, and Xu Gu. Wu Guanzhong believed in mental communication with and appreciation of his subjects, and his subjects were myriad; his methods followed the idea that the paper accepts the pigments, pigments meld with the brush, the brush movements are transmitted through the wrist, and the wrist accepts the directions of the mind. His brushwork originated from the outlining, splashing, and calligraphic strokes of Eastern ink-wash painting, but he understood that brush, ink, colours, and points, lines, and planes were only the basic elements of technique. He knew that only painting from the heart, and leaving empty spaces for the imagination could make a painting spiritual enough to truly reflect what was in one's heart. The 1970s was an experimental period for Wu, in which he began to shift from oils to ink-wash painting, and the large volume of such works that he painted during that period helped him achieve great success in his later coloured-ink works. In his outdoor sketching he immediately followed his first intuitive perception to capture scenes with accurate proportions, testing his artist's skill and patience with the fundamental elements of points, lines, and planes that were so familiar from his daily painting. It was the experience he built up in this way, working assiduously over the years, that eventually produced the unmatched, easy assurance of his painting.
Mountain Village (Lot 1), dating from 1976, displays Wu Guanzhong's superlative technique in the use of points and lines, and is important as an early attempt at using those elements to explore figuration even within the context of abstract forms. Wu enjoyed working on site outdoors, and in his urgent and strong brushstrokes we see the strong foundation in Chinese painting he acquired at the Hangzhou Academy. Like threads from a silkworm, his lines spread across the paper, yet they are vigorous and strong, and only an artist with a deep understanding of Chinese painting could produce a depiction of this vividness. Dots and drops of ink speckle the painting throughout, crowding together or spreading loosely, covering both land and sky; some are textured like plants or leaves, others seem to represent birds. Wu's fine lines meander to create the outlines of peaks that stretch into the distance in a highly rhythmic and musical work. With Wu's skilful brush, only a few simple strokes are needed to portray the village dwellings, the quick outlines of the mountains, and the broad expanse of sky, and Wu weaves them together in an Eastern mood and ambience like a true Chinese poet.
Wu Guanzhong, a fine prose writer himself, once wrote about what he felt to be the close and complementary relationship between poetry, prose, and painting. He believed the fctors that contributed to creating beauty included contrast, harmony, undulation, rhythm, and unity within diversity. Here, in Mounitain Village, his exposition of the scene and its pleasing rhythms seem to follow in a straight line from traditional Chinese poetry, and to share with it the same aesthetic philosophy. Wu consistently expressed his own unique aesthetic and stylistic outlook, which led him to explore these compositions of points and lines in the early 70s.Their rhythmic, undulating combinations of lightness and heaviness, urgency and relaxation combined with his flowing lines in such a way that even the same forms or subjects, portrayed in different paintings, took on different attitudes and appearances. Within the wonderful overall unity of a work, Wu still pursued rich change and variety, giving his thoughtful and meaningful works unending interest and enduring value.
Wu Guanzhong's first contact with art came in 1936, at age 17, as a result of meeting Chu Teh-Chun. He enrolled at the Hangzhou Academy of Art, where he studied Western art, and its focus on the formal aspects of painting, under teachers such as Lin Fengmian and Wu Dayu. He came to love the Impressionists and modern art, and he especially revered Cézanne and van Gogh. At the same time, he studied Chinese painting with Pan Tianshou and was inspired by the work of Shi Tao, Bada Shanren, and Xu Gu. Wu Guanzhong believed in mental communication with and appreciation of his subjects, and his subjects were myriad; his methods followed the idea that the paper accepts the pigments, pigments meld with the brush, the brush movements are transmitted through the wrist, and the wrist accepts the directions of the mind. His brushwork originated from the outlining, splashing, and calligraphic strokes of Eastern ink-wash painting, but he understood that brush, ink, colours, and points, lines, and planes were only the basic elements of technique. He knew that only painting from the heart, and leaving empty spaces for the imagination could make a painting spiritual enough to truly reflect what was in one's heart. The 1970s was an experimental period for Wu, in which he began to shift from oils to ink-wash painting, and the large volume of such works that he painted during that period helped him achieve great success in his later coloured-ink works. In his outdoor sketching he immediately followed his first intuitive perception to capture scenes with accurate proportions, testing his artist's skill and patience with the fundamental elements of points, lines, and planes that were so familiar from his daily painting. It was the experience he built up in this way, working assiduously over the years, that eventually produced the unmatched, easy assurance of his painting.
Mountain Village (Lot 1), dating from 1976, displays Wu Guanzhong's superlative technique in the use of points and lines, and is important as an early attempt at using those elements to explore figuration even within the context of abstract forms. Wu enjoyed working on site outdoors, and in his urgent and strong brushstrokes we see the strong foundation in Chinese painting he acquired at the Hangzhou Academy. Like threads from a silkworm, his lines spread across the paper, yet they are vigorous and strong, and only an artist with a deep understanding of Chinese painting could produce a depiction of this vividness. Dots and drops of ink speckle the painting throughout, crowding together or spreading loosely, covering both land and sky; some are textured like plants or leaves, others seem to represent birds. Wu's fine lines meander to create the outlines of peaks that stretch into the distance in a highly rhythmic and musical work. With Wu's skilful brush, only a few simple strokes are needed to portray the village dwellings, the quick outlines of the mountains, and the broad expanse of sky, and Wu weaves them together in an Eastern mood and ambience like a true Chinese poet.
Wu Guanzhong, a fine prose writer himself, once wrote about what he felt to be the close and complementary relationship between poetry, prose, and painting. He believed the fctors that contributed to creating beauty included contrast, harmony, undulation, rhythm, and unity within diversity. Here, in Mounitain Village, his exposition of the scene and its pleasing rhythms seem to follow in a straight line from traditional Chinese poetry, and to share with it the same aesthetic philosophy. Wu consistently expressed his own unique aesthetic and stylistic outlook, which led him to explore these compositions of points and lines in the early 70s.Their rhythmic, undulating combinations of lightness and heaviness, urgency and relaxation combined with his flowing lines in such a way that even the same forms or subjects, portrayed in different paintings, took on different attitudes and appearances. Within the wonderful overall unity of a work, Wu still pursued rich change and variety, giving his thoughtful and meaningful works unending interest and enduring value.