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Auction archive: Lot number 526

Zeng Fanzhi

China Avant-Garde
13 Oct 2007
Estimate
£50,000 - £70,000
ca. US$102,187 - US$143,062
Price realised:
£156,000
ca. US$318,824
Auction archive: Lot number 526

Zeng Fanzhi

China Avant-Garde
13 Oct 2007
Estimate
£50,000 - £70,000
ca. US$102,187 - US$143,062
Price realised:
£156,000
ca. US$318,824
Beschreibung:

Zeng Fanzhi Dusk No. 1 1987 Oil on canvas. 30 3/4 x 39 1/4 in. (78.1 x 99.7 cm). Signed and dated “87 Fanzhi [in Chinese]” lower right.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Literature L. Pi and L. He, eds., I/We: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi 1991-2003, Hubei, 2003, p. 158 (illustrated); P. Lu, “Story of a State of Mind,” The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi p. 1 (illustrated); X. Li, “A Restless Soul,” I/We: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi 1991 – 2003, Hubei 2003, p. 158 (illustrated); Shanghart Gallery, Scapes: The Paintings of Zeng Fanzhi 1989-2004, Shanghai, 2004, p. 7 (illustrated) Catalogue Essay Zeng Fanzhi is regarded by many as China’s most innovative and technically proficient painter. The artist is fascinated with portraits that are ultimately internal rather than external; he is equally enamored of the potential of paint (he paints his latest series with multiple brushes in each hand). His unceasing focus on portraiture demonstrates his extraordinary ability to transpose his subjects’ states of mind into live impulses on canvas. Dusk No. 1, Artist and Model, and Untitled are early examples of Zeng’s figurative oils on canvas. While at the Hubei Academy of Art, Zeng found little affinity with either the orthodox tenets of Socialist Realism or the other alternative that was gaining popularity, the “Rationalism” of the Northern Art Group led by Wang Guangyi. Instead, he was drawn to Expressionism for its potential to portray the complex, chaotic facets of human personality. Raoul Dufy and Willem de Kooning were two of his favorite artists: “In the early years of college I loved painting expressionism, and I studied many masterpieces… I imitated Raoul Dufy as well, whose lines are perfectly drawn. When he paints a thing, he can make the line in and out; when he paints a person, the color of the person is inside while the lines may come back. Those lines are wonderful. Willem de Kooning the master of American abstract expressionism, is also one of my favorites. His strokes are very forceful but I think it would be rather difficult to paint figures with his methods. I tried several times; it’s OK but not mature enough. Later on I painted such pictures continuously.” - F. Zeng, in an interview with X. Li, I/We: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi 1991 – 2003, Hubei, 2003, p. 167 Dusk No. 1 (Lot 526), executed even before the artist entered the Hubei Academy of Fine Art, is a precursor of the iconic Hospital Series. The subjects—anxious, glum, and resigned—are suspended in an infinite state of anticipation that is heightened by the conscious use of perspective (in itself, an unusual technique for the artist). The intensely smoldering eyes and enlarged hands that would become Zeng’s trademark motifs are already apparent, albeit in more naturalistic form. Untitled (Lot 528) and Artist and Model (Lot 527), respectively executed in 1989 and 1990, are key examples of Zeng’s experimentation with de Kooning-esque forms. The bold, expressionistic strokes and the intensity of these small works demonstrate Zeng’s early obsession with the creative, experimental use of paint to express personality in portraiture. This idea would achieve complete maturation in the artist’s later We and Scapes series, both of which rely on unconventional painting techniques to convey highly complex internal psychological mappings of the subjects in question. Read More

Auction archive: Lot number 526
Auction:
Datum:
13 Oct 2007
Auction house:
Phillips
The Farber Collection 13 October 2007, 7pm
London
Beschreibung:

Zeng Fanzhi Dusk No. 1 1987 Oil on canvas. 30 3/4 x 39 1/4 in. (78.1 x 99.7 cm). Signed and dated “87 Fanzhi [in Chinese]” lower right.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Literature L. Pi and L. He, eds., I/We: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi 1991-2003, Hubei, 2003, p. 158 (illustrated); P. Lu, “Story of a State of Mind,” The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi p. 1 (illustrated); X. Li, “A Restless Soul,” I/We: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi 1991 – 2003, Hubei 2003, p. 158 (illustrated); Shanghart Gallery, Scapes: The Paintings of Zeng Fanzhi 1989-2004, Shanghai, 2004, p. 7 (illustrated) Catalogue Essay Zeng Fanzhi is regarded by many as China’s most innovative and technically proficient painter. The artist is fascinated with portraits that are ultimately internal rather than external; he is equally enamored of the potential of paint (he paints his latest series with multiple brushes in each hand). His unceasing focus on portraiture demonstrates his extraordinary ability to transpose his subjects’ states of mind into live impulses on canvas. Dusk No. 1, Artist and Model, and Untitled are early examples of Zeng’s figurative oils on canvas. While at the Hubei Academy of Art, Zeng found little affinity with either the orthodox tenets of Socialist Realism or the other alternative that was gaining popularity, the “Rationalism” of the Northern Art Group led by Wang Guangyi. Instead, he was drawn to Expressionism for its potential to portray the complex, chaotic facets of human personality. Raoul Dufy and Willem de Kooning were two of his favorite artists: “In the early years of college I loved painting expressionism, and I studied many masterpieces… I imitated Raoul Dufy as well, whose lines are perfectly drawn. When he paints a thing, he can make the line in and out; when he paints a person, the color of the person is inside while the lines may come back. Those lines are wonderful. Willem de Kooning the master of American abstract expressionism, is also one of my favorites. His strokes are very forceful but I think it would be rather difficult to paint figures with his methods. I tried several times; it’s OK but not mature enough. Later on I painted such pictures continuously.” - F. Zeng, in an interview with X. Li, I/We: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi 1991 – 2003, Hubei, 2003, p. 167 Dusk No. 1 (Lot 526), executed even before the artist entered the Hubei Academy of Fine Art, is a precursor of the iconic Hospital Series. The subjects—anxious, glum, and resigned—are suspended in an infinite state of anticipation that is heightened by the conscious use of perspective (in itself, an unusual technique for the artist). The intensely smoldering eyes and enlarged hands that would become Zeng’s trademark motifs are already apparent, albeit in more naturalistic form. Untitled (Lot 528) and Artist and Model (Lot 527), respectively executed in 1989 and 1990, are key examples of Zeng’s experimentation with de Kooning-esque forms. The bold, expressionistic strokes and the intensity of these small works demonstrate Zeng’s early obsession with the creative, experimental use of paint to express personality in portraiture. This idea would achieve complete maturation in the artist’s later We and Scapes series, both of which rely on unconventional painting techniques to convey highly complex internal psychological mappings of the subjects in question. Read More

Auction archive: Lot number 526
Auction:
Datum:
13 Oct 2007
Auction house:
Phillips
The Farber Collection 13 October 2007, 7pm
London
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