Collection of Pan Qiliu

Poly Auction, Hong Kong, 3 October 2016, Lot 140

Acquired directly from the above by the p♌resent🐽 important private Asian collector 

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潘其鎏舊藏

香港，保利拍賣，2016年10月3日，拍品編號140

現亞洲重要私人藏家直接購自上述拍賣

Sharon H. L. Pai, ed., Lin Feng Mian: Leader of Chinese Modernism Art, Asi𝔍a Pacific Art Promotions Ltd., Taipei, 1999, p. 123

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〈林風眠：中國現代主義繪畫的先驅者〉白雪蘭編ꦛ（台北，加拿大亞太國際藝術顧問有限公司，一九九九年），123頁

Taipei, Lin & Keng Gallery, Top Artist in Modern Chinese Art Market, 13 November - 5 December 2004

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台北，大未來畫廊〈近代華人藝術市場之最〉二〇〇四年十一月十三日至十二月五日

 “It is not ⛦easy to find within art. Release might not be complete. The burden of history. People, like camels, walk one step at a time in their academic pursuits. ⭕Just another journey.”

Lin Fengmian’s letter to Pan Qiliu, 1953

A Recluse in a Crowd – Defending the Dig🌜nity 🎀of Art

In early 1950s, Lin Fengmian retired from the National Fine Art School, and moved from Hangzhou to Shanghai. During this period of hard-earned peace, the artist was released from his teaching duties and was allowed to focus on his own artistic pursuit, thus beginning a golden era in his career in the 1950s. In this period, Lin’s works depicting Chinese opera were a significant departure from his paintings of the same theme from the 1940s. In approach, the artist had moved from focusing on the lines, colors, form and spirit of the people portrayed, as well as the expressive style. Instead these works demonstrate the artist’s pioneering attempt to integrate Cubism and traditional Chinese shadow puppetry. The Fisherman’s Revenge (Lot 1012) presented in the upcoming sale was among the most outstanding as well as groundbreaking examples from this group of works completed in the 1950s. The present lot was published in Lin Feng Mian: Leader of Chinese Modernism Art (1999), which includes representative works from different stages of Lin’s career. The majority of works published in this title came from the personal collection of Lin’s beloved student Pan Qiliu. As one of Lin’s most devoted students, Pan provided a vast amount of valuable historical information, including previously unpublished photographs of the artist between 1950s and 1970s, as well as personal letters between the teacher and student. The present work, also included in this publication, not only boasts an extraordinary provenance, but also offers irreplaceable historical value in understanding the artistic achievement and emotional journey of Lin Fen🅘gmian, who was known to be a private person and to whom self-promotion did not come naturally.

After new China was founded, the artistic community became prone to self-imposed restrictions, and art lost its original voice as a propaganda tool became the mainstream. Confronted with such a situation, Lin Fengmian returned to a literati existence and retired from the art circle. He rejected ideological influences and avoided choices based on political preferences. He never hid behind the limitation of the paintbrush, but instead communicated a fearless personal integrity and a sense of responsibility toward social good. Based on a Peking opera of the same title, The Fisherman’s Revenge depicted the tale of Ruan Xiaoqi, one of the 108 heroes in Tales of the Marshes. Ruan left his official position to lead the life of a recluse at Lake Tai, only to cross paths with a local bully alongside his daughꦆter. Ruan’s deciಌsive temperament, independent spirit untamed by authoritarian control, and courage to stand against the establishment were referenced as a metaphor for the artist’s own opposition against feudalistic art and culture, as well as his tireless pursuit for artistic freedom.

In this work, Lin Fengmian deconstructed the art of traditional Chinese opera using a classic Cubist approach, with the father and daughter placed side by side on a two-dimensional plane, while crisp, clean geometric forms make up the forms of these character𒉰s with a robust structure. A warm color palette was used for these divided color blocks to create a balanced beauty in the overall composition. Sharp white lines divide up translucent geometric color blocks, like facets of diamonds, to create a stage-like effect that breaks free from the tangible text♓ure of human bodies, while an abstract sense of space grows within the canvas. Meanwhile, the variations and overlapping of the color blocks also create a continuity of time and space, in a pictorial retrospective of sorts. The result was a visual sensation filled with brilliant, dramatic tension. Thanks to classic works such as the present lot, we have a more comprehensive view of the pioneering modern artist’s spirit and personal integrity, displayed through his tireless, lonely effort to uphold the dignity of fine art. Through his art, Lin expressed the power of integrity and an abiding belief in the heartfelt kindness in this world.

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「在藝術上尋求不易得到，解脫也不易徹底，歷史的負擔，人像駱駝，在學術上一步一步，再走一段罷了。」

一九五三年林風眠致潘其鎏書信

《打漁殺家》：大隱於市，捍衛藝術尊嚴

五〇年代初，林風眠從國立藝專隱退，由杭州搬至上海。褪去教職員身份的藝術家，在這一段難得的平靜時光中，得以專心進行藝術創作，由此展開其藝術生涯的黃金五〇年代，作品中又以戲曲人物為最精。此階段的林風眠對於戲曲主題的塑造與四〇年代相比有了較大的區別，風格由線描著色、人物神形及寫意形式的關注轉移至結合西方立體主義與他鍾愛的民間傳統皮影戲的開創性嘗試，是次晚拍呈獻的《打漁殺家》（拍品編號1012）便是繪於五〇年代初的這一批作品中極具代表、突破性的佳作。此作被收錄於一九九九年出版的《林風眠：中國現代主義繪畫的先驅者》一書，書中出版的作品多源自林風眠愛徒潘其鎏的珍藏，涵蓋了藝術家不同階段的經典之作。作為林風眠關係最為親近的學生之一，潘其鎏特為本書提供了大量珍貴的歷史資料，包括當年從未發表過的林風眠五〇至七〇年代之珍貴舊照、以及師徒二人互通之親筆書信等，這一批作品及資料的發🍨表，更完整地展現了林風眠創作生涯的方方面面，收錄其中的《打漁殺家》不僅來源珍貴，對於瞭解、研究隱忍、不善言辭的林風眠之藝術成就和心路歷程，亦具有無可取代的史學價值。

林風眠在一九五一年寫給潘其鎏的書信中曾提到：「💞一切藝術都是暗示，暗示的方法不同而已。畫畫不是容易的事，愈畫感到愈難。現代的精神，我們應當在畫中聞到現代的味道，已經不易；如果要暗示將來那真更難了。」新中國成立不久後的藝術界自我約束愈加嚴格，藝術作為政治宣傳的附庸成為主流，其他一切風格都受到批判。對此，林風眠選擇回歸文人、從藝界隱退，因其不善言辭之性格曾被人誤解為消極倒退，但事實上，藝術家摒棄意識形態的影響，避開政治好惡的選擇，反而更能體現他無比純粹的藝術追求。在隱退的生活中，林風眠沒有藏匿於筆墨之局限，而是以作品來真誠地傳達無畏險阻的人格和實現善化社會之責任。《打漁殺家》描繪的是京劇同名劇目，故事背景源自中國古典四大文學名著之《水滸傳》續作《水滸後傳》，講述梁山一百零八將之“活閻羅”阮小七棄官隱居，化名蕭恩，攜女桂英力抗太湖惡霸丁子燮的經典橋段。正如藝術家在上述書信中所言，他是借阮小七利落乾脆、不屈於管教及勇於與封建權勢作鬥爭的品格隱喻其反對封建人文色彩之主觀意念，和對藝術自由的固執追求。

畫中，林風眠以典型的立體主義手法解構和呈現中國傳統戲♛曲藝術，父女二人被平面並置，利落的幾何形態切割構成人物造型，形成穩健的結構，繼而以同色系的溫暖色調處理被切割的色塊，營造畫面整體的平衡之美。畫中白色銳利的線條，分割出半透明的幾何色塊，形成如同鑽石切面般的舞台光影效果，打破人物的實體質感，而萌生虛幻的空間感受。同時，塊面的變化重疊亦營造出一種影像回顧式♑的時空連續性，呈現戲劇性的視覺觀感。這距今已超過半個世紀的突破性創作手法，不僅在當年開創了藝術的新可能，更對當下的藝術界具有無窮盡的啟迪，也正是因為有《打漁殺家》這樣的經典之作留存下來，才能更為完整地向後世展現這位現代藝術先驅為捍衛藝術尊嚴而孤身奮鬥一生的精神與人格，引領藏家真切地感受世間正直與善良的力量。