LOT DETAILS

Materials:

Oil On Canvas

Measurements:

50.00 in. (127.00 cm.) (height) by 22.64 in. (57.50 cm.) (width)

Markings:

Signed in Chinese（Lower right）and Sealed

Provenance:

PROVENANCE： Acquired from the artist’s family.The item is held under the bonded status， please check the NOTICE ON AUCTION OF BONDED LOTS in this catalogue for details.As the first female artist in China who advocated“integration of the Chinese and the Western，”Fan Tchunpi constantly sought to reform Chinese oil painting with Western painting. She held a“middle ground”in art conceptualization. As the culminant work of the late Fan， Playing Chinese Zither in Bamboo Grove was completed in 1969， in which she employs the cavalier perspective in Chinese Landscape Painting and the techniques of Western oil painting to paint the Chinese landscape of the peaceful and elegant life of a recluse. Her strokes are subtle， lifelike， free， and touching， which demonstrate Cai Yuanpei’s earlier comments on Fan that“Forging the Chinese conception of abstract painting by the hand of European realism， such an attempt has obviously come to fruition in Fan’s works， who， with her persistence， will have a bright future.”In 1912， Fan Tchunpi emigrated to France with her family. After three years of study with distinction in Ecole des Beaux-arts de Bordeaux， she was admitted to Ecole nationale des superieure des Beaux-arts de Paris， becoming the first Chinese female student studying art in France. Fan worked closely with the famous French painter Ferdinand Humbert in his studio， receiving strict academic painting training， which laid the foundation for her practice of using Western techniques to paint stylistically Chinese subjects. In 1925， while she was still in France， Fan was invited by Zhixin School of Guangzhou to teach oil painting in Guangzhou. Fan accepted the offer and came back to China with her husband Zeng Zhongming in the same year. In addition to her teaching of Western painting and to her creative work， Fan began to study traditional Chinese ink painting. Later she became acquainted with masters of the South China School such as Gao Jianfu and Gao Qifeng who also sought to reform Chinese painting with Western techniques. She followed their steps and began to practice Chinese ink painting in 1932. In her later career， Fan transformed her early light-hearted and straightforward style into a more delicate and self-restrained style， thus making her works seem more poetic and painterly both in form and in essence. Fan Junbi’s Playing Guqin in Bamboo Grove embodies the profound meanings of Chan， which of course owes greatly to her deep understanding of the core idea of“the robust qiyun”in traditional Chinese painting. In her earlier years， Fan had travelled extensively across the country， and as she travelled， she was always preoccupied with reforming the practice of Chinese painting， taking traditional ink painting as an experiment and as the object of her scholarly investigation. She later came the realization that the techniques of Western academic painting were very much shorthanded in grasping the abstract ideas of“yijing”and“qiyun，”both of which tend to express a constantly floating sense or formless force of spirituality or qi. Thus， she combined the methods of brush strokes and coloring techniques in traditional Chinese painting with the lighting and patterning techniques in Western oil painting. The vertical scroll composition， established and widely practiced during the Northern Song Dynasty， deeply influenced Fan； Qiu Ying’s Paradise Taoyuan is a great example of this practice， in which the mountains， spring water， and ridges are layered and deepened according to the sublimation principle of composition in order to create a clear and broad perspective where space and denseness are in great contrast. Fan inherited this method， using the cavalier perspective to organize at a relatively even rate the moonlit sky， bamboo grove， and the little path and create an atmosphere of elegance. While although there is actually no empty space left in the painting， it is very atmospheric， as Fan paints the background in different degrees of the blue color. The stacked coats of the blue color in signifying the clouds reminds one of the painting techniques of the Impressionists， but her use of color is much lighter， which renders the effect of ink and water. As the breeze blows gently and bamboos flicker to it， the moonlight scatters and disappears along with the sound of the zither in the depths of the little path.As one of the first generation of Chinese artists studying in France， Fan Junbi’s works always show her strong longings for her homeland， no matter where she was based. Her improvement of the language of painting technology is the further development of her foundation in Western academic painting and the subtle and delicate coloring technique that she later found in Chinese painting. As she forged the two into one in such balanced way， she reached a realm of Grand Beauty in her long career of searching for an integration of Chinese and Western modes of expression.