PRESS RELEASE | HONG KONG | 8 MAY 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE ERA OF ASIA, THE ART OF ASIA;

THE BEAUTY AND VARIETY OF ASIAN ART

CHRISTIE’S HONG KONG PRESENTS

ASIAN 20^TH CENTURY & CONTEMPORARY ART SPRING AUCTIONS 2014

Hong Kong－Christie’s will present three Asian 20^th Century & Contemporary Art auctions this season on 24^th May and 25^th May 2014. Featuring more than 600 works, the 2-day sales are estimated to realize in excess of HK$570 million/ US$70 million. We will expand further on the theme from last season “The Era of Asia, The Art of Asia”. By combining exceptional works of art from different periods and regions, the world will discover the beauty and the variety of Asian art.

These three auctions will feature seven artistic themes –The Natural And The Sublime, Transcendence And Abstraction, Patterns And Form, Myth And Enchantment, Portraits Of Ourselves, Portraits Of Others, and Reality Through The Kaleidoscope, representing the diversity and possibilities in Asian Art. Highlights from Asian 20^th Century Art include the historic painting Eagles (Illustrated top left)by Xu Beihong, Potted Chrysanthemums (Illustrated top right), painted by Sanyu 70 years ago, and which is being offered for the very first time at auction, as well as artworks by Zao Wou-ki and Chu Teh-chun. For Asian Contemporary Art, we will be offering exceptional works by Zeng Fanzhi, Liu Wei, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang and more. These artworks will demonstrate the true aspect of Asia and the situation of modern China.

Moreover, important paintings depicting Balinese subjects and themes will lead the collection of Southeast Asian art this season, including two works reflecting the rich ritual and ceremonial life in the island of Bali, including Affandi's Penari Pendet (The Young Pendet Dancer) from the collection of the esteemed Indonesian collector, Mr. Alex Papadimitriou, and Belgian artist Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès' Preparing Offerings, a work documented in the single existing monograph of the artist. The leading generation of Southeast Asian contemporary artists born in the early 1970s, including I Nyoman Masriadi, Ronald Ventura, Geraldine Javier, Natee Utarit and Christine Ay Tjoe, is well-represented by fresh-to-market works that capture the zeitgeist of their times and reflect how these artists have developed since they first appeared in the contemporary art scene in the mid-2000s.

The Natural And The Sublime 

Still life and landscape paintings are timeless subjects in the art histories of both the East and the West. Not only do they convey the sublime beauty of nature but they also reflect the perspective of the individual artist and their interpretation of their surroundings. While the artists in the West pursue a scientific categorization of their subjects, many artists in the East employ symbolic and metaphoric meanings in their approach toward still life and landscape painting. It is through even commonplace subjects that these Eastern artists succeed in leaving behind the ordinary and redirect the audience to a world of universal and sublime aesthetics. Still life and landscape paintings by Xu Beihong, Sanyu, He Duoling, Yee Bon, Liao Chi-Ch'un, Zhan Wang, Georgette Chen, and Lee Man Fong under this theme encompass five decades from the 1960s to the 2000s.

Highlights include Eagles by Xu Beihong (Illustrated left on page 1, Estimate: HK$16,000,000–20,000,000/ US$2,051,300–2,564,100). This artwork was painted between the late 1930s and the early 1940s. It belonged to Li Shizeng’s family collection. Li is one of the most influential figures in Chinese modern history and embarked on his studies in France in 1902.  He set up a factory in the countryside outside Paris, for which he hired Chinese workers, while at the same time he established a night school, initiating the “Work-Study” movement. Eagles can be interpreted as a depiction of the revival of revolutionary China during the 20th century, and is also a work of art filled with the spirit of humanity. From 1919 to 1920, around 1,900 students were subsidized by the government to visit France, including Lin Fengmian and Sanyu, who are the pioneers of 20th century Chinese art, Xu Beihong, who is the pioneer of Chinese realist art, as well as politicians such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping.

Transcendence And Abstraction

Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, and Cheong Soo Pieng are the masters who merged Western-style abstraction with themes from Eastern landscapes, called Shanshui. Contrary to the Western landscape painting tradition, the Chinese canon breaks boundaries of time and single point perspective, encouraging the viewer to enter into and stroll inside the scene of the painting. The three artists in this section incorporated Eastern sensibility of Shanshui and Chinese calligraphy into concepts of Western modernism. They combined traditional Chinese ink-wash painting techniques with the brilliance of oil pigments, evoking beautiful mountain landscapes, and transforming the canvas into washes of rich lines and colours infused with depth and energy. They imbue modern paintings with the spirit of the East.

Two lots from the evening sale represent this theme Chu Teh-Chun’s abstract ink painting Composition No. 145 (Illustrated left, Estimates: HK$9,000,000–11,000,000 / US$1,153,800–1,410,300) and 06.11.72 by Zao Wou-Ki (Estimates: HK$7,000,000–10,000,000 / US$897,400–1,282,100). 06.11.72 comes from the collection of Bernard and Geneviève Anthonioz. Born in Switzerland in 1921, Bernard Anthonioz joined the cabinet of André Malraux, the French cultural minister, in 1958. He became a great ambassador for the French art and helped the artist obtain French nationality in 1964. Zao Wou-Ki was particularly close to the couple, and gave 06.11.72 to them as a token of their friendship.

This section is further highlighted by Zao Wou-Ki’s 14.06.73. Never shown to the public since its initial exhibition at the Heimeshoff Gallery in Essen in 1974, this painting is a powerful composition, encompassing all at once Zao’s experience with ink painting, his return to his Chinese roots and the ability to draw inspiration from his inner self relating to 19th Century European painters. It stayed in the same European collection until today (Estimate: HK$9,000,000-13,000,000/ US$1,153,800-1,666,700).

Patterns And Form

Repetition of patterns and forms in Eastern painting are one of the pillars of traditional practice which made their way into modern abstract forms in the 20th Century. For many Asian artists, abstraction which focuses only on form and colour without substance or meaning becomes a mere decorative surface without any significance. Wu Guanzhong, Kim Whan-Ki, Lee Ufan, Ding Yi, and Mao Xuhui are the artists who probe more philosophical themes in the context of abstraction. They extract a geometrical primordial basis from nature and through ceaseless experiments of style and various technical execution, they look to a dimension beyond geometry, by creating patterns and geometrical forms as a reinterpretation of nature and a reflection of their own minds.

Highlights include The Wuyi Mountains by Wu Guanzhong (Illustrated right  on page 2, Estimates: HK$8,000,000 – 12,000,000 / US$1,025,600 – 1,585,500), The Vocabulary of Power by Mao Xuhui (Estimates: HK$900,000 – 1,200,000 / US$115,400 – 153,800) and Untitled by Kim Whan-Ki (Estimates: HK$1,000,000 – 1,500,000 / US$128,200 – 192,300).

Myth And Enchantment

Foreign and Indonesian artists such as the Belgian painter Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès, the Spanish master Antonio Blanco, the pioneer generation of Indonesian modern artists that included Affandi and Hendra Gunawan, all painted scenes of Balinese life and culture. These paintings are infused with a rich, vibrant colour palette unique to the region. As much as it held sway over travelers, the magical draw of Bali was very much furthered by the works of artists who came, saw and expressed visually aspects of life in Bali.  It is very much the richness of Bali’s cultural life – the sophistication of its visual arts, music and drama, and the intricacies of its ritual and ceremonial life – that provided a creative environment and boundless inspiration for artists.

Highlights include Penari Pendet (The Young Pendet Dancer) by Affandi (Illustrated left, Estimates: HK$1,500,000 – 2,000,000 / US$192,300 –256,400) and Balinese Rojak Seller by Lee Man Fong (Estimates: HK$700,000 – 900,000 / US$89,700 – 115,400).

Portraits Of Ourselves

The art of Zhang Xiaogang, Liu Ye, Zeng Fanzhi, Yue Minjun, Liu Wei, and Li Shan explore the radical social changes taking place in China today. These artists skillfully capture the hidden emotions psychology that are part of the universally shared human experience. The paintings in this section are portraits of ourselves, reflecting our inner most thoughts and anxieties living in a rapidly changing world. As Chinese contemporary avant-garde artists, they created a contemporary aestheticism through the honest portrayal of the human body and contemporary society, laying bare the insecurities and overwhelming emotions that confront us today. Though these artists represent a specific time and social reference in China, they captivate collectors around the world with universal themes of human desires and realities each one of us experience each day. The paintings in this theme are emotionally powerful because they convey the fundamental truths of human existence. Highlights include Swimming by Liu Wei (Illustrated right, Estimates: HK$11,000,000 – 15,000,000 / US$1,410,300 – 1,923,100), whose paintings describe the naked desire of human beings.

Portraits Of Others

Portraiture and figurative representation held a special place in art with their ability to vividly portray the subjective consciousness of the artist and the zeitgeist. The artists in this section feature a broad range of styles and media, each demonstrating fresh ways of approaching the subject and embracing various levels of society.  T'ing Yin-Yung, Li Shih Chiao, Ju Ming reveal the beauty of the human body with simplified forms and colors. Chen Danqing and Yi River by Wang Yidong (Illustrated left, Estimates: HK$6,000,000 – 8,000,000 / US$769,200 – 1,025,600) share a similarity in its conception of the human beauty, but depict their subject in a hyper-realistic style. Peasants Playing Mahjong by Liu Xiaodong (Estimates: HK$8,000,000 – 12,000,000 / US$1,025,600 – 1,538,500) and Yang Shaobin’s figurations show their reflection on the rapid social change in China in the 1990s through expressive brush strokes. I Nyoman Masriadi and Yoshitomo Nara’s paintings from the 2000s display a sense of humor and sarcasm through their caricature-like figurative art.

Reality Through The Kaleidoscope

The Asian region is enriched with a diversity of culture, its kaleidoscopic nature of which is reflected through the creative imaginations of Aya Takano, Ronald Ventura and Geraldine Javier. Highlights include Currents by Aya Takano (Illustrated right, Estimates: HK$1,000,000-1,500,000 / US$128,200 – 192,300) and Wonderful Bait by Ronald Ventura (Estimates: HK$800,000 – 1,000,000 / US$102,600 – 128,200). Qiu Xiaofei and Jia Aili from China share the same approach to understand this complicated reality. An example is 1979.6.1 by Jia Aili (Estimates: HK$3,200,000 – 4,000,000 / US$410,300 – 512,800). The complexity and diversity has become a global phenomenon. The five artists featured here present art in the age of this simulacrum, where the representation precedes reality, rather than imitating it. They create a montage of our reality by combining fragments of reality, breaking the boundary of the real and unreal. Their paintings represent our psychological status, as we are emotionally and physically overwhelmed by radical changes in every aspect of society.

CHRISTIE’S HONG KONG ASIAN 20^TH CENTURY & CONTEMPORARY ART SPRING AUCTIONS 2014

Venue: Convention Hall, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong