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Lot Essay
Considered one of the most significant and influential overseas Chinese artists in Southeast Asia, Lee Man Fong is one of the few to skilfully and successfully blend Eastern and Western techniques into his compositions. The artist's primary objective has always been to merge the two worlds - Chinese and Western painting. His technique is always Western, the understanding of light and shading, the maneuvering of his brush and oil and the application of perspective are apparent with his works whilst his sensibilities remain distinctly rooted in the Oriental.
The two landscape works presented this season at Christie's are demonstrative of the highly original and artistically sophisticated approach Lee Man Fong takes to the painting of landscape, innovating the practice of landscape painting in Chinese and Western painting respectively.
In his early years, Lee Man Fong's landscape compositions were a representation of his extensive knowledge of Western theories and technique. He was influenced by Dutch paintings and particularly captivated by the French Barbizon School style, especially those he saw while he was on scholarship in Holland after the war. This is evident in the artist's brush strokes with copious amount of paint, which were mostly darker and earthy tones.
Along the River (Lot 518) is a rare early landscape that shows how far advanced Lee Man Fong was already in the formative part of his career. The work bears an essentially xieyi character in its confident swiftly applied brushstrokes which are suggestive of strokes in Chinese brush painting rather than oil painting. There is a coldness, even harshness around the scene depicted. The feel is sober, wintry and harsh, capturing an essential character of scholarly Chinese ink painting.
Saddle Mountain (Lot 517) already shows how quickly he evolved from the expressionist xieyi style of painting in oil, producing a richly detailed realist view of the Borobudur monument in central Java. The work is realist, suggestive of a neo-impressionistic style of painting, with its attention to detail and a great emphasis on the depth and mood in its spirit, trying to capture the atmosphere of early morning or early evening.
The two landscape works presented this season at Christie's are demonstrative of the highly original and artistically sophisticated approach Lee Man Fong takes to the painting of landscape, innovating the practice of landscape painting in Chinese and Western painting respectively.
In his early years, Lee Man Fong's landscape compositions were a representation of his extensive knowledge of Western theories and technique. He was influenced by Dutch paintings and particularly captivated by the French Barbizon School style, especially those he saw while he was on scholarship in Holland after the war. This is evident in the artist's brush strokes with copious amount of paint, which were mostly darker and earthy tones.
Along the River (Lot 518) is a rare early landscape that shows how far advanced Lee Man Fong was already in the formative part of his career. The work bears an essentially xieyi character in its confident swiftly applied brushstrokes which are suggestive of strokes in Chinese brush painting rather than oil painting. There is a coldness, even harshness around the scene depicted. The feel is sober, wintry and harsh, capturing an essential character of scholarly Chinese ink painting.
Saddle Mountain (Lot 517) already shows how quickly he evolved from the expressionist xieyi style of painting in oil, producing a richly detailed realist view of the Borobudur monument in central Java. The work is realist, suggestive of a neo-impressionistic style of painting, with its attention to detail and a great emphasis on the depth and mood in its spirit, trying to capture the atmosphere of early morning or early evening.