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Lot Essay
By masterfully applying the canons and techniques of traditional ink paintings into photography, Long Chin-san's lifelong artistic endeavors represent the early transformation of photography into a medium of fine art in modern China. Best known for his method of composite picture-making, created from a collage of various negatives, Long's images reflect the creative individuality of the artist and reveal his full understanding and manipulation in both media.
Christie's is proud to offer a series of representational and rare works by Long Chin-san (Lots 1174-1178) that captures his artistic creativity and development spanning over his professional career of seven decades. Among these are highlights from his coveted landscape photographs. As seen in After the Tang Masters (Lot 1178) and Snowing (Lot 1177), Long strived to capture the particular styles and moods of ancient masters in his compositions as well as to convey specificity in the grandeur of the particular scenic spots he visits and studies. Appearing as a composite of two different views in one of his earliest internationally-exhibited works, Magnificent Landscape (Lot 1174), Mt. Huang was among Long's favorite spots for traveling and subjects of inspiration up to his old age. It is through this type of prolonged, careful observation that enables Long to fully capture the spirit as well as the appearance of his objects as he reinterpretates and manipulates them through his lens and images.
'Have not Chinese artists been making composite pictures all the time?' he once asked. Long combines the compositional elements from Chinese paintings - foreground, middle ground, and background - as seen from various higher planes to carefully craft his dreamlike landscapes such as Pavilion in Fairytale (Lot 1177) and Boat in Cloud (Lot 1178). In these, he strives to reinvigorate the traditional art form through the modern medium of photography.
Unlike human hands, photography cannot always make desirable selection among the objects of nature or eliminate what is unessential. With composite pictures, neither time nor space need to be an obstacle as photographers can have their choice among natural objects to produce an ideal picture as composed in the mind of the photographer. Created in 1950, An Excursion (Lot 1175) is a photomontage of Mt. Huang, a Hong Kong raft, and Taiwanese reeds. Not only does it portray Long's skillful use of the traditional landscape arrangement, it also display the biographical journey and creative genius of Long when faced with limitations of having brought only 400 negatives with him during his move from Shanghai and Hong Kong, to settle in Taiwan. Through this self-invented technique, Long is able to create his vision of an idyllic Chinese landscape.
A highlight from the artist's early straight photography, Sailing Raft (Lot 1175) is a classic black and white masterpiece taken in Zhejiang in 1930. Composed in a tight diagonal layout of textured and varied mid-tones, it won Long international acclaim at 27 salon exhibitions. Long would continue to use straight photography up till his late career, particularly in producing fine examples in portraits of important Chinese artists within his personal artistic circle. Iconic portraits of his friends Zhang Daqian, Yu Youren and Qi Baishi also attest to his close relationship with modern artists of his generation and mutual influences across various styles and art forms. Zhang Daqian (Lot 1174) taken in Zhang's retreat Ba De Garden, Brazil in 1964-1965 leaves an imprint of their camaraderie in pure literati spirit, yearning for the simple, leisurely life, and deep love of nature of both Zhang and Long.
Long was a constant creative and modern artist striving for breakthroughs in new art forms throughout his career. As seen in the daring theme of rarely seen images of female nudes from the 1920s and 1930s, such as Photo Album (Nude) (Lot 1174) and Under The Tree (Lot 1178), Long explores the Western classical theme of female beauty through the new language of photography in compositions arranged from composite images and multiple exposure. His constant exploration in new darkroom techniques led to novel forms of compositions that had never been presented before. Created as photograms from the silhouettes of objects placed on light-sensitive paper, the simple elegance and aesthetic poetry of Ni Zan's ink paintings can be witnessed in works such as Grove & Pavilion and Pavilion (Lots 1176 & 1175). Long's persistent desire to reinvigorate and reinterpret conventional art forms earns him the reputation of a master of Chinese 20th century photography, for which he is a painter, photographer and philosopher all at once.
Christie's is proud to offer a series of representational and rare works by Long Chin-san (Lots 1174-1178) that captures his artistic creativity and development spanning over his professional career of seven decades. Among these are highlights from his coveted landscape photographs. As seen in After the Tang Masters (Lot 1178) and Snowing (Lot 1177), Long strived to capture the particular styles and moods of ancient masters in his compositions as well as to convey specificity in the grandeur of the particular scenic spots he visits and studies. Appearing as a composite of two different views in one of his earliest internationally-exhibited works, Magnificent Landscape (Lot 1174), Mt. Huang was among Long's favorite spots for traveling and subjects of inspiration up to his old age. It is through this type of prolonged, careful observation that enables Long to fully capture the spirit as well as the appearance of his objects as he reinterpretates and manipulates them through his lens and images.
'Have not Chinese artists been making composite pictures all the time?' he once asked. Long combines the compositional elements from Chinese paintings - foreground, middle ground, and background - as seen from various higher planes to carefully craft his dreamlike landscapes such as Pavilion in Fairytale (Lot 1177) and Boat in Cloud (Lot 1178). In these, he strives to reinvigorate the traditional art form through the modern medium of photography.
Unlike human hands, photography cannot always make desirable selection among the objects of nature or eliminate what is unessential. With composite pictures, neither time nor space need to be an obstacle as photographers can have their choice among natural objects to produce an ideal picture as composed in the mind of the photographer. Created in 1950, An Excursion (Lot 1175) is a photomontage of Mt. Huang, a Hong Kong raft, and Taiwanese reeds. Not only does it portray Long's skillful use of the traditional landscape arrangement, it also display the biographical journey and creative genius of Long when faced with limitations of having brought only 400 negatives with him during his move from Shanghai and Hong Kong, to settle in Taiwan. Through this self-invented technique, Long is able to create his vision of an idyllic Chinese landscape.
A highlight from the artist's early straight photography, Sailing Raft (Lot 1175) is a classic black and white masterpiece taken in Zhejiang in 1930. Composed in a tight diagonal layout of textured and varied mid-tones, it won Long international acclaim at 27 salon exhibitions. Long would continue to use straight photography up till his late career, particularly in producing fine examples in portraits of important Chinese artists within his personal artistic circle. Iconic portraits of his friends Zhang Daqian, Yu Youren and Qi Baishi also attest to his close relationship with modern artists of his generation and mutual influences across various styles and art forms. Zhang Daqian (Lot 1174) taken in Zhang's retreat Ba De Garden, Brazil in 1964-1965 leaves an imprint of their camaraderie in pure literati spirit, yearning for the simple, leisurely life, and deep love of nature of both Zhang and Long.
Long was a constant creative and modern artist striving for breakthroughs in new art forms throughout his career. As seen in the daring theme of rarely seen images of female nudes from the 1920s and 1930s, such as Photo Album (Nude) (Lot 1174) and Under The Tree (Lot 1178), Long explores the Western classical theme of female beauty through the new language of photography in compositions arranged from composite images and multiple exposure. His constant exploration in new darkroom techniques led to novel forms of compositions that had never been presented before. Created as photograms from the silhouettes of objects placed on light-sensitive paper, the simple elegance and aesthetic poetry of Ni Zan's ink paintings can be witnessed in works such as Grove & Pavilion and Pavilion (Lots 1176 & 1175). Long's persistent desire to reinvigorate and reinterpret conventional art forms earns him the reputation of a master of Chinese 20th century photography, for which he is a painter, photographer and philosopher all at once.