Author: SAN YU 常玉
Size: 35.5×55cm
Signed and dated: Painted in 1930s
Estimate:
Final Price: RMB 22,500,000
LITERATURE
1995 The Johan Franco Collection of Works by Sanyu / Sotheby’s Taipei
2001 In Search of a Homeland: The Art of San Yu / P168 / National Museum of History
2001 Sanyu: Catalogue Raisonné， Oil Paintings / P317 / Lin & Keng Art Publications
2010 World Famous Artist San Yu / P114 / Hebei Education Press
2011 SANYU Catalogue Raisonné: Oil Paintings （Volume II） / P139 / The Li Ching Cultural and Educational Foundation
2013 Sanyu: A Pioneering Avant-Garde in Chinese Modernist Art / P145 / Tina Keng Gallery
signed in Chinese and English
PROVENANCE
Johan Franco’s Collection， Amsterdam， Netherlands
I don’t have anything in my life，
I am simply a painter.
As for my work，
When one looks at it，
One knows well enough what it is all about，
I don’t think it is necessary to provide any explanation of my paintings……
All that my works declare is simplicity.
——San Yu
Animals featured include horses， leopards， tigers， eagles and elephants as well as representations of the eagle and the snake， both mortal enemies， within the same painting. Not rooted to the land， the eagle soars above， with no boundaries or limits， even something as enormous as an elephant appears miniscule. This is a glimpse into Sanyu’s solitary existence， a loneliness that can be described by the melancholic lines of Tang Dynasty poet Chen Zi’ang “Where are the sages of the past ?/ Sky and earth forever last ./ Lonely， I shed sad tears.” By this point， Sanyu had already experienced his share of life’s sorrows and hopes that by conveying these landscapes and animals-“conjuring the large from the small” within the limited dimensions of a painting， he could achieve limitless possibilities. This series of paintings not only chronicles an emotional state apart from painting techniques acquired through Sanyu’s involvement in the various popular art movements in contemporary Paris， but are also the ultimate expression of the wisdom of life of Eastern aesthetics.
