細節
朱沅芷
孔子像
銅雕 雕塑
版數:2/8
原模創作於1930年;藝術家家屬授權於1998年翻銅
簽名:Yun Gee

來源
亞洲 私人收藏

展覽
1998年11月14日-12月1日「朱沅芷」大未來畫廊 台北 台灣
2002年3月20日-4月20日「極簡心像」前波畫廊 紐約 美國

出版
1998年《朱沅芷》大未來畫廊 台北 台灣 (圖版,第75頁)
2002年《極簡心像》前波畫廊 紐約 美國 (圖版,第77頁)


美籍中國藝術家朱沅芷的創作歷程經過幾度轉折、多種風潮之啟迪,從立體主義出發,歷經共色主義、法國的具象風潮、超現實主義,他能迅速吸收當時最前衛的風格,又能融會貫通各種複雜而微妙的創作理念,提煉出一種仍能表現個人風格及華人文化的藝術樣式。可是,朱氏的藝術創作於30-40年代的美國未能完全被了解,直至90年代美國以至台灣的學者、美術館、畫廊開始對朱沅芷進行有系統的研究,許多珍貴的作品因此能重現於世。朱氏的創作對於融合東西文化有深遠的貢獻。

1927年,經由法國穆哈特王子、王妃的引介,朱沅芷啟程前往巴黎,進一步拓展他的藝術事業,立下「融合東西文化的目標」。1928-1929年間,更是少數中國藝術家獲選入極為權威的「獨立沙龍」。分別創作於1928年及1930年的《藝術家像》(Lot 1395)及《孔子像》(Lot 1393)皆是朱氏停留巴黎初期的作品,體現了藝術家全力結合中西方藝術、文化、精神及主題。《藝術家像》原模以玉石製造,像是中國文人雅士常把玩於手中的玉佩。人像雕刻縱然使用中國傳統的媒材,卻充滿了現代感,藝術家刻意化繁為簡,簡化了五官。《藝術家像》似是把藝術家的內心世界形象化地表現 — 朱氏是一名移居海外的華人,可是卻有尊重、吸收、融合西方文化的思想及包容力。

朱氏第二任妻子朱海倫追思朱沅芷時,形容他擁有「永無饜足的好奇心,驚人的智慧」,書架上排列不同領域的書籍,如中國《倫語》、佛洛依德的作品及聖經。作於1930年《孔子像》的品相與朱沅芷創作《最後的晚餐》中描繪基督的樣子有相似之處。聖經中文譯本記載耶穌基督的門徒稱呼他為「夫子」,朱氏巧妙地把西方的「夫子」與中國傳統儒家「孔夫子」結合。不論在油畫或是雕塑,外形面貌的結合事實上是象徵著東西文化精髓的融合。朱氏以雕刻孔子雙手交疊,放眼向前,長衣隨風飄逸。精緻小巧的孔子像卻蘊含海納百川,有容乃大的海涵,謙遜平和的性格。

移居巴黎的短短三年,朱沅芷的藝術語言從初期強烈對比的原色諧色彩性、律動性轉變為線條、結構性和心情意境之營造。所以畫家把巴黎時期的創作名之為抒情時期。作於1929年的《靜物》(Lot 1394)中,以大斜線構圖,桌腳、桌布、花瓶、花葉、酒瓶以流動的線條表現,可見,書法性的線條成了朱沅芷重要的語言。事實上,線條是中國畫的根本筆法,畫家經過用筆的姿勢、執筆、起筆、行筆、收筆等嚴格的筆墨訓練後,便可創造出千變萬化的線條藝術。畫作以褐色、亮紅、土黃、嫩綠色為主,賦色細膩用心,使畫作洋溢著恬靜優雅的氛圍,細膩典雅的東方情調。

朱沅芷特意創作此畫,贈予在巴黎的摯友皮耶.米勒 (Pierro Millo)。畫背以法文題跋中記錄:「沅芷,中國畫家,僅以此作獻給皮耶.米勒先生留念,於卓卡德洛」。皮耶.米勒是朱氏的異鄉知己,朱氏憶述在巴黎的日子寫道「我白天作畫,晚上則談論繪畫。我經常在最親密的朋友皮耶.米勒家中高談闊論 ‥‥‥」。朱沅芷把對友人的情誼及感激之情投放到畫中,使作品充滿一種溫暖,圓融抒情的意境。桌面上燦爛的花朵、酒瓶、水果、糖果,倒映在鏡子上,巧妙地豐富了畫面的內容,彷彿象徵朱沅芷與皮耶.米勒的友誼同樣深厚豐富。此外,《靜物》為油彩繪於絹布上,並在上下左右四方裱上中國書畫的捲軸裱背。在中國傳統書畫中,藝術家贈送別人或特別重視的作品,都會以絹布托裱。縱觀朱沅芷一生的創作,以絲絹為基底層的作品數量極為稀少,而絕大多數的作品皆以傳達東方哲學思想為主,或針對特別的人物而作。《靜物》靈活體現了人與物、心與境相呼應的東方式宇宙觀。

來源
Private Collection, Asia
出版
Lin & Keng Gallery Inc., Yun Gee, Taipei, Taiwan, 1998 (illustrated, p. 75).
Chambers Fine Art, A Minimal Vision: Future with Paintings by Yun Gee, New York, USA, 2002 (illustrated, p. 77).
展覽
Taipei, Taiwan, Lin & Keng Gallery, Yun Gee, 14 November-1 December 1998.
New York, USA, Chambers Fine Art, A Minimal Vision: Future with Paintings by Yun Gee, 20 March-20 April 2002.

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拍品專文

Throughout his career, Yun Gee's artistic creations took several transformations and were enlightened by multiple artistic currents. He was first influenced by Cubism, but later moved towards co-colourism, as well as the French Figurative movement and Hyperrealism. He had the ability to quickly absorb the most avant-garde style of the time while also being able to extract its essence, thus producing an original artistic form that could still express his own personal style. However, in the 1930s to '40s, Yun Gee's art were not fully appreciated in the states during his lifetime. Only in the 1990s did many American and Taiwanese scholars, galleries, and museums launch collaborative research on his career and only after many of his precious works had reappeared in the public, revealing the ways in which Yun Gee's art had been a tremendous contribution to the mix of Western and Eastern culture.

In 1927, through an introduction of Prince and Princess Muhart of France, Yun Gee went on a journey to Paris to further expand his artistic career and pursue his "goal of fusing the Oriental and Western cultures." From 1928 to 1929, Yun Gee was selected to enter the renowned Salon de Independence that was seldom open to Chinese artists. Artist Self-Portrait (Lot 1395) and Confucius (Lot 1393) were sculpted in 1928 and 1930 during this time in Paris. The two works represent the artist's attempt to blend Chinese art, culture, spirit and themes with those of the West. The original Artist Self-Portrait is sculptured in jade, the most beloved medium of art by traditional scholars. Though an old fashioned medium is adopted, the completed work has a fully modern feel as the figure's face is deliberately simplified, revealing his fusion of two different aesthetic regimes. As a Chinese artist working overseas, he Yun was able to respect, absorb and meld with Western culture and thoughts.

Helen Gee, his second wife, one described of him having "insatiable curiosity and astonishing wisdom". There were always books from various disciplines on his book shelf, including those of the Confucian Analects, the works of Sigmund Freud, and the Christian Bible. The facial characteristics of Confucius, created in 1930, resemble that of Jesus in his famous The Last Supper painting. In the Chinese version of the Bible, Jesus is called Rabbi (translated in Chinese as Fuzi, meaning leader) by his followers; coincidently, Confucius is pronounced as Kong Fuzi (meaning master) in Chinese. Yun Gee ingeniously related the Western Rabbi (Fuzi) to the Chinese Fuzi by conjugating figures and faces in his oil paintings or sculptures, signifying a marriage of Eastern and Western cultural essence. Confucius is sculpted with his hands crossed in front of his chest and his eyes gazing towards the far horizon; his long gown is fluttering in the wind, embodying such universal values as generosity, a capacity for greatness, tolerance, wisdom and humbleness.

Within three years in Paris, Yun Gee eagerly explored various artistic schools and their modes of expression, which led to further changes in style and the basic elements of his work. His artistic vocabulary shifted away from the rhythmic motion of highly contrasting sets of basic colours and began emphasizing instead line, structuralism, and moodier conceptions. Painted in 1929, Still Life (Lot 1394) adopts a diagnostic composition, in which table legs, table cloth, vase, leaves and wine bottles are laid out along the floating lines. Obviously, calligraphic line is an important artistic language to the artist. Line, too, is the most fundamental aspect of brushwork in Chinese art, employed in two typical ways to express ideal forms: as the tool employed by its traditional realists to imitate physical shapes, and in the abstracted lines that make up painted Chinese calligraphy characters. Colours of brown, bright red, earth yellow and light green are intricately applied as dominant tones, giving the painting with a peaceful and elegant oriental mood.

Yun Gee dedicated this painting to his good friend in Paris, Pierro Millo. An inscription in French is found on the reverse, 'Yun Gee, peintre chinois a fait le portrait de Pierre Millo, qui est au Trocadero' (Yun Gee, Chinese painter. Dedicated to Mr. Pierro Millo for his memory, at Trocadero). Recorded in his journal, Yun Gee said Millo was one of his closest friends in France, "I worked on painting in the day and discussed painting at night. Pierro Millo's home is the place where we can talk about everythingK" In this painting the artist created a warm and cheerful theme, revealing his affection and appreciation towards a friend. The dense composition is full of luxuriant blossoms, wine bottles, fruits, and candies, pictorial motifs as rich as their friendship. This oil painting is particularly painted on silk and mounted on satin, a further sign of its precious value in the artist's view. It is extremely rare to find a painting on silk by Yun Gee, making Still Life, a work that embodies an Oriental world view of man and objects as well as mind and circumstance, in concert with each other.

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