LOT DETAILS

Materials:

Acrylic, ink and color on paper mounted on Masonite

Measurements:

48.03 in. (122.00 cm.) (height) by 24.02 in. (61.00 cm.) (width)

Markings:

Signed in Chinese on Lower left

Exhibited:

EXHIBITED1961, Gallery Group EXHIBITION, The Downtown Gallery, New York

Literature:

LITERATURE1987， The Art of Tseng Yuho， Honolulu Academy of Arts， Honolulu， p.55， pl.17

Provenance:

PROVENANCEPrivate collection, HawaiiThe Fei Shi Lou CollectionThis work has a tag from the EXHIBITION of Downtown Gallery, New York on reverseBorn in Beijing in 1925, artist Tseng Yu-Ho is also an art historian, an educator, and a consultant for art museums. She continually promotes Chinese art and culture - and with this multifaceted career, Tseng became one of the preeminent artist in modern Chinese art history and a key figure among modern women in Republic of China（1912-1949）； and she remains a historically important figure till today.Tseng comes from an well-educated family where every member was well cultivated. By the time she was twelve, she has begun studying ink painting with Pu Jin, one of the country’s top masters. This relationship lasted for eleven years, and in that time, Tseng became highly skilled in Chinese claborate-style painting. In 1940, she was admitted to Fu Jen Catholic University’s Art Department. She studied under Master Qi Gong and also began her personal research into the history of Chinese bronzeware. In 1942, she met her future husband, German art historian Gustav Ecke, who had left his native country to teaching in Beijing. This international marriage shocked the Chinese public, which was highly conservative socially at the time, and in 1949 the two moved to Hong Kong. Later, they taught for a awhile in Hawaii, travelling to Europe and North America on several occasions. When she had spare time, Tseng immersed herself in artistic practice. In her self-initiated explorations, she would contemplate how to break the ground of a traditional Chinese ink painting to new forms. Her early experience in mounting and paper making while in Beijing was her chief inspiration and, in 1951, she shifted from her previous pseudo-classic practices to a new kind of artistic experiment. It was a technique of her own device, and she called it Dsui Hua. She would tear and layer handmade paper onto drawing paper in a way very similar to a collage, to allow the image to make themselves shown unconsciously to the viewer through nuances in the texture and color of the paper. She then would dip her brush pen in acrylic or ink to add further detail, and this allowed her to depict landscapes that would blend with her original colors. This new kind of art was first revealed to the public at the Hawaii Painting and Sculpture Exhibition in 1956, where the her work created quite a stir. It was acquired for a private collection for its unique quality and poetic conception. In 1957, the artist was invited to her maiden solo show at the Euros Gallery in Paris, and from 1959 she was represented by the New York Downtown Gallery, where she has frequent solo exhibitions over the subsequent thirteen years. With all this, it’s clear that Tseng’s art spans far beyond national borders； The Birth of Bamboo is an excellent example of her dexterous expertise in Dsui Hua.The vertical composition of this work is consistent with the style of landscape painting during the Song dynasty. A closer look reveals oblong paper layered on the underlying drawing paper, forming a collage and adding thickness as well as textures to the work. The smudge-like yellow-brown, sepia, and cyan blurs create a smoggy, misty world of a constant change, and in the lower half, the bamboo roots evoked through free-hand brushstrokes, stretch under the green ground, while the stem remains largely abstract in form.The gently unfolding lines call to mind the rhythm of the breath, generating a peaceful and poetic atmosphere. While the bamboo may be barely discernible. The lines provide a hint for viewers, to help them interpret the work as a whole. Still, there is something otherworldly about the piece, suggesting a commonality with traditional Chinese paintings. “Tseng’s artwork is like a cup of light, get slightly warm tea, always distant from intense, and would never astonish the viewer,” artist Shiy De-jinn interpreted. “The stones and trees, reduced to abstract shapes,are completely different from the conventional style of her American peers. It’s not surprising at all that her artworks have gained significant recognition from art enthusiasts in New York and San Francisco. She is like a hermit, leading a solitary life in the mountains just outside the modern metropolis, as she attempts to convey her nostalgic memories and dreams of old times to the crazy people of old society.” This remark seems especially apt when you observe the features and spirit in The Birth of Bamboo, scenery that allow viewers to lay their troubles aside, and take an unhurried stroll through a parallel world.