SANYU (1901-1966) 常玉

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12000 - 15000 EUR
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Result : 35 100EUR
SANYU (1901-1966) 常玉
Ink on paper, signed lower right 43.5 x 26.5 cm -17 1/8 x 10 3/8 in. Private collection, France (acquired from the previous owner around 1970) Then by descent Sanyu was born in 1901, to a family that owned the largest silk business in Sichuan province. Already displaying talent for the plastic arts at a young age and encouraged by those close to him, he learned calligraphy from Zhao Xi and painting from his father. After his studies at the University of Shanghai, Sanyu discovered Japan on a trip in 1919, as well as France, where he decided to settle. Living in the Montparnasse neighborhood as of 1923, he met figures from the avant-garde, artists of the School of Paris, and attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere, where he completed his training. Sanyu, among the first generation of Chinese painters to join the French art scene, became deeply inspired by western culture and spent his life in the City of Light - unlike some of his fellow countrymen, such as Lin Fengmian The subtle blend of allusions to his native culture and influences of modern western art make Sanyu’s work very compelling. The purified aesthetics which he devel - oped recalls some artists of the School of Paris, such as Brancusi and Modigliani. Like the latter, Sanyu also extensively styl - ized lines and anatomical distortions. As for his recurrently isolated motifs on canvas or paper, they are reminiscent of the 17th-cen - tury calligraphy artist Ba Da Shan Ren,for whom Sanyu held boundless admiration. The reign of Vietnamese emperors continued throughout the French protectorate which started in 1885. The reign of the second to last emperor of Annam, Khải Định (1885-1925) was architecturally marked by the construction in 1920 of his tomb, which was to be the last mausoleum of the Nguyen dynasty. A skillful blend of Annamite and Western know-how, this monument is an architectural feat built in a deliberately ostentatious style. Mixing symbols from the French iconographic repertoire with Indian references, this construction is very much alike Khải Định : luxurious. Using both Eastern and Western materials, the emperor wanted a life-size sculpture for his mausoleum. The commission fell to Paul Ducuing (1867-1949), a sculptor from Toulouse known for his photographic realism. The brilliant academic sculptor carried out numerous public commissions and taught at the Manufacture de Sèvres. His friendship with Albert Sarraut, Governor of Indochina and Minister of the Colonies, enabled him to be commissioned and to obtain several public orders between December 1921 and February 1922. For this purpose, Ducuing, conscientious, studied the various stylistic currents and the different symbols of Far Eastern art. For the realization of the sculpture of Khải Định, the artist adopts a narrative faithful to objective reality. In order to master the best his subject, the sculptor began with a representation of a simple bust, in a smaller scale, which he exhibited in May 1922 at the Exposition Coloniale in Marseille. This model received the approval of the Emperor Khải Định who commissioned in addition to the version intended for the mausoleum, which was to be full-length and larger, several copies of the original bust intended for members of his family Adopting the codes of Western sculpture, Ducuing chose for this commission a bust format adapted to the representation of emperors since Roman antiquity. The symbolic language, however, borrows more from Annamite culture. The outfit - a tunic and a sober but elegant traditional turban - underlines the humility that a person of the rank of Khải Định must show. His social status is underlined by the various attributes he wears, including the Grand Cross of the Dragon of Annam, formed by an eight-pointed star surmounted by a dragon, an Annamite and then colonial order. Paul Ducuing paints a realistic portrait of a majestic and humble sovereign at the height of his power. When Bảo Đại was to succeed his father, his young age did not allow him to rule and he used a period of Regency to pursue his education in France. His enthronement name Bảo Đại means “he who protects from greatness” and shows a desire for reform from the very beginning of his reign. The Second World War, as well as the government formed by Hồ Chí Minh carried by the rumbling nationalist movement, would sound the death knell for the Empire. The last Emperor, concerned about his country, said in his memoirs: “They want a revolution, I will make it but without shedding blood, by a political evolution. If one takes into account the history of the peoples, there is only one solution: my departure.” Bảo Đại retained an honorary title but the various political elements forced him to eventually find exile in France where he remained until the end of his life. The sculpture we present for sale is one of the last vestiges of Vietnam’s imperial past. Passed on to the heirs of Bảo Đại, it recalls a bygone era, that of the Nguyên dynasty
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