LOT DETAILS

Materials:

Watercolor on paper

Measurements:

11.02 in. (28.00 cm.) (height) by 16.14 in. (41.00 cm.) (width)

Markings:

Signed in Chinese and sealed（lower left）

Provenance:

PROVENANCE： Acquired directly from the artist by the original owner；HuaChen Auctions， 13 Nov 2011， Lot1728.Yan Wenliang， together with Xu Beihong and Lin Fengmian， is the founders of modern art education in China， devoting himself to the development and dissemination of Chinese canvas. In 1922， he founded Soochow Meizhuan， influencing a large number of students profoundly. Admitted to ESLAP（École Supérieure Libre d’art de Paris）， France in 1928， Yan， a pioneer in studying and disseminating Western painting in the exchange of Oriental and Western cultures， promoted the development of Modernist Painting in China with his efforts in grasping scientific rules of traditional European painting， sketching in the nature， emphasizing the light and shadow perspective and integrating the impressionistic light and color techniques in the classic style.When talking about the beauty of landscape paintings， Yan Wenliang said： “First， no emotions， no taste. The emotions in the landscape paintings will endow the viewers with the same emotions and echoes. Second， beauty is a must to intrigue the viewers to immerse in the fascinating landscapes in the paintings with the painters. Third， the paintings had better cheer the viewers up with optimistic， positive and upward emotions.”In this auction， LandscapeⅠand LandscapeⅡ， pregnant with elegant and leisurely taste of literati， take Yan’s amazing lyric mood and sweet poetry to the viewers in the limited tableau with wonderful artistic language hiding in the brushstrokes.In 1904， Yan Wenliang went to Chengzheng School and began to copy ancient paintings. In 1910， Yan learned watercolor from Japanese painters and taught himself canvas when working at Shanghai Commercial Press. In 1919， he founded Fine Art Competition Exhibition， a regular national art exhibition. In 1922， as the principal， Yan founded Soochow Meizhuan with Hu Cizhong and Zhu Shijie. In 1928， encouraged by Xu Beihong， Yan went to France for a further study in the studio of Professor Pierre Laurent， specializing in landscape sketches and canvas， where he was influenced by the atmosphere in the art school， especially by the impressionism masterpieces. However， unlike the impressionists who intentionally break the edges of the objects， Yan created harmonious tableau by maintaining the original shape and outline with smooth and calm brushstrokes， instead of adopting color segmentation and overemphasizing the color effect， which laid foundations for the localization and nationalization of his late canvas.Yan’s watercolor masterpieces， LandscapeⅠand LandscapeⅡ， are precious for being well-preserved until now. According to Yan’s oral record and Qian Bocheng’s chronology， there were 16 landscape watercolors on Suzhou and Hangzhou created for Shanghai Laiqingge Bookshop in 1917. Unfortunately， the original artworks are no longer saved now. Therefore， the two watercolor masterpieces in this auction are very precious. In the tableau， the trees in the front and the mountains behind echo each other， bringing the viewers to the infinite distance. Yan is adept in capturing and depicting the subtle details delicately. The brightest white pink gilding on the lake and the reflections on the gleaming water are the results of Yan’s hard study on the impressionistic light and shadow techniques over the years. The viewers will be intrigued by the charming traditional Chinese landscapes and the beautiful western light and shadows hiding in the wet-on-dry watercolor and the short and simple brushstrokes as well as the well-spaced strokes and the vacant space reserved on the quaint tableau.In the article named About Beauty， Yan Wenliang mentioned his personal aesthetics as “Beauty flows from truth. I admire the true， the good and the beautiful.”It is the vivid depiction of the beautiful nature and the traditional aesthetics in Chinese literati paintings glaring in the brushstrokes that endows Liao’s landscape paintings with the power to go directly to the viewers’ heart.