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Xu Beihong (1895-1953) "Horse", 1948
Ink on paper
Signed, st…
See original version (French)
258
-
Xu Beihong (1895-1953) "Horse", 1948
Ink on paper
Signed, st…
See original version (French)
Estimate €40,000 - €60,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Xu Beihong (1895-1953)
"Horse", 1948
Ink on paper
Signed, stamped and dated upper left
This one reading "卅七年秋日。悲鴻寫" and translating to "On an autumn day in the thirty-seventh year [1948], painted by Beihong.
Framed under glass
76 x 42 cm (view)
(paper slightly warped, small scratches)
Provenance: French private collection. Acquired directly from the artist in Shanghai by the current owners' mother-in-law in the late 1940s, when her husband was a young attaché at the Belgian Embassy in China. The painting has remained in the family since then, and was given as a wedding present to the current owners in 1980.
Xu Beihong (1895-1953) is one of the leading figures of twentieth-century Chinese painting. Trained in painting and calligraphy by his father from an early age, he went on to study in Europe, particularly Paris, where he discovered Western academic teaching and developed a solid command of observational drawing. On his return to China, he played a central role in the reform of art education, advocating a synthesis of Western techniques and Chinese pictorial tradition.
The theme of the horse occupies an essential place in his work. The artist saw it as a subject that allowed him to reconcile anatomical study, expression of movement and mastery of the ink line. His horses, often depicted at full gallop or in a tense pose, reflect his knowledge of Western drawing, while retaining the economy of means typical of Chinese painting. From the 1930s onwards, these representations became emblematic of his work. The artist frequently isolated the animal against a background left in reserve, focusing attention on the muscular tension, the dynamism of the composition and the variations in ink. In the troubled context of China in the first half of the twentieth century, the horse was also seen as an image of strength and endurance, which explains the enduring popularity of this subject in his work. A work dating from 1947, a year before our present work, is now in the collections of the Musée Cernuschi in Paris under inventor's no. M.C. 8700.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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