Author: XU BEIHONG 徐悲鸿

Size: 37×93.5cm

Signed and dated: Painted in 1940

Estimate:

Final Price: RMB 18,000,000

LITERATURE
1987 To See Mainland Art Overseas / P140-141 / Artist Press
signed in Chinese and dated 1940
EXHIBITED
2018 Xu Beihong Works Collection Exhibition，Poly Art Museum，Beijing
2018 Xu Beihong Works Collection Exhibition，Powerlong Museum，Shanghai

PROVENANCE
Christie’s HK 12.Jan.1987 Lot149

SEEKING FOR THE TRUTH
Xu’s art spirit and Himalayas
Xu once said that the purpose of his return to China is to seek truth in arts. Back in 2917，at the beginning of his return to China from studying overseas，Xu started to promote a Truth Seeking movement in the art industry. During that time，in the Chinese painting field，artists tend to imitate the rigid academic art and simply follow western art，and all of these were considered to be “false” art by Xu. Therefore，he aimed to lead Chinese painting to a new direction via the “ Truth Seeking” movement. Truth seeking is to seek the true meaning of art. Xu believes that，for artists，truth is in the shape，color and sound of the objects they paint，but not the narrow understanding of Realism. Firstly，the artwork must be realistic in terms of setting and styling. Regardless how exaggerating the painting style can be，it must be based on the reality and the truth，in order to reveal the true feeling of the painter’s. Also，an artwork need to have deep meaning and moral，so to carry the viewers along with their work.
It is the combination of the three that form the truth-seeking view of Xu’s，later contribute to his works，both classical and modern. Xu’s landscapes are the ones that demonstrate such understanding. Despite the fact that there were only 20 or so pieces remaining for us to study，it is those artworks that reveal his continuous exploring in the art world. Among those works，the “ Himalayas” is the most mind-blowing one without a doubt.

A Peaceful Trip to India
In November 1939，Xu was invited by a famous Indian poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore，to take a trip to India. Xu accepted his invitation and travelled to India after attending the fund raising charity event in Singapore. Xu was mesmerized by the peaceful and beautiful scenery in India，therefore created multiple landscapes，sketches and oil paintings. All those artworks carry a peaceful feeling and landscape oil paintings include “ Cows in India”，“ Construction sites in India”，“ Himalayas，forests “，“ Himlayas，Trees “，“ Himalayas” and “ the International Mansion in India”. Speaking of the Himalays series，Xu did not plan to create these paintings. During his visits to India，Xu created his drafts of “Moving Mountains”，a magnificent piece of portraits in Indian International University. Since the weather in India got extremely high，he moved to Darjeeling to escape from the scorching sun and he has long attracted to Himalayas further contributed to the creation of the Himalayas series.
Instead of being attracted to the magnificent view of the world highest peak，Everest，he was indulged in the view of the second highest peak，the Chogori. His love towards Chogori drove him to view it from different angels，under various weather conditions and lightings. He used his art techniques to capture all those changes. He posted a postcard of Chogori to Fei Bai Xu and at the back of that postcard，he wrote “ the perservance of Chogori makes it so elegant and magnificent. “ Therefore，rather than Everest，Chogori became the main character in his Himalayas series.

Selected Works of Xu Beihong’s Himalaya Series
One of the Greatest Landscape
Colors is one of the most important component in paintings. Xu makes use of colors to resolve the conflicts between strokes while creating space in his painting. He makes use of large areas of grey and green to portrait mountains at the front of the painting. There are clear brightness contrast between color blocks，while connected smoothly between one another. Xu simplified the scenery in the middle of the front and back mountains，using color transition to express very broad view.
In his work he created in 1940，Xu made use of his signature use of space in Chinese traditional painting，using focus perspective to create 2D painting. This painting was created on Chinese scroll style canvas. One thing stands out is that he structure the paintings in a horizontal scale，making use of “close，centre and far away” structure style originated from Northern Song Dynasty landscape paintings. This also results in the famous Golden Line，one being at the peak at the front of the painting，another being at the back where background snow peak locates.
Such use of color and space was originated from his study from Academism in Europe，setting a solid foundation in his scientific painting techniques. At the same time，Chinese traditional painting techniques can also be found in his artwork. All these prove that Xu’s work is never one sided，but a perfect mixture of both Chinese and Western culture，displaying the deep meaning of art. Looking at the paintings in general，Himalayas was based on solid mountain views，mixed with both Chinese traditional and western painting techniques to display the majestic Himalayas，a perfect mixture of virtual and realistic views.

Experimenting Art and Patriotism
Besides Himalayas’ artistic values，it also carries an even deeper meaning in terms of experimenting art. Looking back at Xu’s journey on experimenting art，the Himalayas seem to be the foundation and experimentation of his later works of “Moving Mountains”. In his letter to his good friend Xin Cheng Shu，he wrote“ I am starting on creating “ Moving Mountains”，and the scotching sun in India is making me rather uncomfortable.“ Therefore，Himalayas is indeed the bases of creating “Moving Mountains”.
There are more evidence to prove Himalayas being the foundation of “Moving Mountains”. Firstly，in terms of the use of colors，Himalayas make use of both green and grey colors，which is similar to Moving Mountains. Secondly，the golden line in Himalayas was also used in Moving Mountains，except for the fact that the latter was way bigger in size so only one line was kept.
Another connection of the two is the moral of both paintings. As a Chinese artist，Xu has always hoped for peace in China. China in 1940 was one of the toughest period with the ongoing Anti-Japan war. While creating Himalayas in India，Xu always think of his hometown and has a strong belief of winning the war. He aims to deliver his feelings and belief with the creation of Himalayas. He combines the western Realism painting techniques and the artistic concept of Chinese landscape，revealing his patriotism in his artwork. Himalayas fully describes Xu’s truth seeking concept and belief，while announced the commencement of his journey of experimenting art.