Lot Essay
Chrysanthemums
The flower and bird paintings in traditional Chinese painting usually manifest refined leisurely pleasure, while the mood of 'depth and serenity' is rarely seen, which however is achieved by Lin Fengmian in his still life paintings that combine the East and the West. According to 'Shuowen Jiezi' ('Explaining Simple and Analyzing Compound Characters') written by the Han scholar Xu Shen, "the character 'Xuan' (literally meaning abstruseness), means deep and distant. Human figures are to be put on top of the deep and distant scenes. " In the painting Vase of Chrysanthemums (Lot 1064), an inky and dark blue background is employed to make the chrysanthemums stand out. He breaks the literal tradition of poems and paintings that emphasizes on leaving blank spaces, by taking white as a colour instead of merely as blank areas in the background. Here Lin adopted the principle of 'taking black and white as no less representative': he delineated the white and yellow chrysanthemums and the glass vase against the blue-black background, viewers then cannot get hold of the exact spatial sense other than the bright main objects, due to the abstruse sense created within the painting. Regarding its composition, Lin tactfully arranges the twelve chrysanthemums to constitute a circle; the three subject flowers in the middle are arranged in a triangular way; the vase are placed slightly rightward so as to leave more rooms on the left for chrysanthemums to extend, thus giving rise to the coexistence of stability and vitality of the flowers. With the artist's skillful application of media, the white and yellow chrysanthemums in contrast with its dark green stems and leaves; light reflected by the vase with the darkness in the background, layers and layers, they set off each other and produce an irregular colour contrast. The artist deliberately paints the two chrysanthemums at the centre in pure white colour to enhance the contrast between the illuminated parts. Lin's stroke speed and accuracy in colouring are fully reflected in his neat delineation of the crab claw chrysanthemums' petals. Even in the succinct still life depiction, Lin demonstrates his profound feelings and unique understanding towards objects. By employing different sceneries and objects familiar to the Chinese, the blending of artistic spirits between East and West, and his implicit emotion as well as his own distinct form of language, Lin Fengmian has continued the intrinsic essence of the long inherited traditional Chinese Culture.
The flower and bird paintings in traditional Chinese painting usually manifest refined leisurely pleasure, while the mood of 'depth and serenity' is rarely seen, which however is achieved by Lin Fengmian in his still life paintings that combine the East and the West. According to 'Shuowen Jiezi' ('Explaining Simple and Analyzing Compound Characters') written by the Han scholar Xu Shen, "the character 'Xuan' (literally meaning abstruseness), means deep and distant. Human figures are to be put on top of the deep and distant scenes. " In the painting Vase of Chrysanthemums (Lot 1064), an inky and dark blue background is employed to make the chrysanthemums stand out. He breaks the literal tradition of poems and paintings that emphasizes on leaving blank spaces, by taking white as a colour instead of merely as blank areas in the background. Here Lin adopted the principle of 'taking black and white as no less representative': he delineated the white and yellow chrysanthemums and the glass vase against the blue-black background, viewers then cannot get hold of the exact spatial sense other than the bright main objects, due to the abstruse sense created within the painting. Regarding its composition, Lin tactfully arranges the twelve chrysanthemums to constitute a circle; the three subject flowers in the middle are arranged in a triangular way; the vase are placed slightly rightward so as to leave more rooms on the left for chrysanthemums to extend, thus giving rise to the coexistence of stability and vitality of the flowers. With the artist's skillful application of media, the white and yellow chrysanthemums in contrast with its dark green stems and leaves; light reflected by the vase with the darkness in the background, layers and layers, they set off each other and produce an irregular colour contrast. The artist deliberately paints the two chrysanthemums at the centre in pure white colour to enhance the contrast between the illuminated parts. Lin's stroke speed and accuracy in colouring are fully reflected in his neat delineation of the crab claw chrysanthemums' petals. Even in the succinct still life depiction, Lin demonstrates his profound feelings and unique understanding towards objects. By employing different sceneries and objects familiar to the Chinese, the blending of artistic spirits between East and West, and his implicit emotion as well as his own distinct form of language, Lin Fengmian has continued the intrinsic essence of the long inherited traditional Chinese Culture.