Xu Beihong | One Washing Eternal Fanma Kong - Xu Beihong's Artistic Monument

A wash of time and history

—— Xu Beihong's artistic monument

well-known in Southeast Asia Xu Beihong's masterpieces in private collections will make a grand debut in the Spring Auction of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy. Experts will share with you the great artistic achievements of the masters and the famous masterpieces. If the artist's personal art and social commitment are integrated, Xu Beihong is the most outstanding combination of the two in China in the 20th century. one of the artists. In terms of form, he chose Chinese style and western style, using Chinese painting as the main creative medium, and introducing Western realistic techniques to improve the formal language of Chinese painting and innovate the modeling method. The most important "brush and ink" in traditional painting is no longer independent of other elements of the work, and its own interest is no longer emphasized. Whether it is Western sketches and paints or Chinese lines and inks, for him, they are all available expressions, eclectic, and the style presented in the works and the spirit of expression and transmission are the ultimate goal of artistic pursuit. "In ancient times, those who are good should keep it, those who persevere will follow it, those who are not good will change it, those who are not satisfied will increase it, and those who are good in Western painting will integrate it." - Xu Beihong compared figure painting and landscape painting, Xu Beihong's The number of animal paintings is the largest, and Zhang Anzhi, a student who is well versed in his art, believes that Xu's animal paintings are the most prominent expression of his inheritance of tradition and absorption of foreign factors, while having "new development". He found an artistic language in animal paintings that suits his purpose of improvement; he also used the rhetorical method of traditional Chinese literature "Bixing" to bring humanistic temperament into it, which is refreshing. There are many kinds of animals in his works, and "horse" is undoubtedly the most representative and iconic subject among them. Xu Beihong loved to draw horses from the beginning of his self-study art. He initially copied the animal paintings on cigarette boxes. In 1916, the horses he painted were highly praised by the Gao Qifeng brothers: "Although Han Gan in ancient times has passed away." In his early years, Xu's horse painting style combined Western watercolors and Lang Shining's unique painting style, and the modeling has been accurate, but he still used the method of others, and he did not have his own painting ideas and styles. In 1919, Xu Beihong began to study and travel in Europe until he returned to China in 1927. During this period, he studied Western realistic techniques and practiced his sketches diligently: "Wandering around Europe, the zoos of Mingdu, and never lingering." The impression and inspiration of his masters François Flameng and Fernand Cormon's horses, although he was not directly taught by him, the galloping might in his works should have an influence on his future works. After returning to China, Xu Beihong's art gradually returned to tradition, Chinese painting became the main form of creation, the early watercolor style no longer appeared, and his personal style began to become clear and mature. Around the early 1930s, the horses he painted had gradually matured, finding His own style: the lines are varied, and the strong and sturdy ones are used to express the overall outline of the horse; the flying ones are used to express the horse's mane and the tail; The whole painting uses less thirsty pen, and the large pen is dipped in water and splashed, which is hearty. The background is empty or sparse, so that the energy of painting and the spirit of viewing the painting are all concentrated on the horse in the painting. As Du Fu's poems say: "The nine-fold real dragon will come out, and the horse will be washed away." If Xu Beihong's lion is majestic and majestic, it is a symbol of the country and nation; then his horse seems to be an anthropomorphic individual. , carrying richer meanings and emotions: passionate and brave, tense and urgent, calm and tenacious, confused and worried, to name a few. This spring, Christie’s is honored to present six paintings of Beihong’s works in the collection of Mr. Chen Jiandun, five of which are based on horses. They were created in Nanjing, Singapore, India, Malaysia and other places from about 1938 to 1941. It is Xu Beihong’s Chinese painting with mature personal style and the most creative power. Works of the prosperous period. This season's paintings such as "The Long River Drinking Horses", "Three Horses", "The Horseshoes Light with Withered Grass", "Winter Wind Greeting the Spring Sun" and "The Spring Breeze's Light Horseshoes" are all themes of galloping horses, with different orientations and angles. The power of Beihong's horse painting is vividly displayed. Mr. Chen Jian Dun was born in 1917 and travelled south to Singapore when he was a teenager. After a lot of hard work, he successfully established his own business territory, operating real estate industry, shipping and concrete production in Singapore and Hong Kong. Chen is charitable and charitable. After the success of his career in the 1950s, he made frequent donations to mainland China to support public welfare undertakings in his hometown. In addition to his career, Chen is also a photography enthusiast. In the art circle, he met Singaporean painters who are proficient in Chinese and Western painting methods. Since then, he has broadened his horizons and forged an indissoluble bond with Chinese painting and calligraphy. He collected many treasures and searched up and down, and established his own collection of Chinese ink art. Like other Southeast Asian Chinese collectors, he is particularly fond of Xu Beihong's art, and his collections are rich and refined. In the 1970s, Chen became acquainted with Beijing painters such as Huang Zhou, Li Kuchan, Wang Xuetao and Huang Yongyu during his visits to mainland China, and received a number of wonderful works, most of which are of Chen's previous models, which are all excellent works. More than 20 fine works of calligraphy and painting collected by the descendants of Mr. Chen Jiandun will be available in the auction of Chinese modern and contemporary painting and calligraphy on May 29, 2022. Another 7 works in this collection will be open for bidding from May 16 to 30. : Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Online Auction". The pictures and texts are from Jiade, netizens learn and reference

(Responsible editor：the scenery)