細節
林風眠
悲愴
水墨 設色 紙本
約1930-1940年代作
簽名:林風眠
鈐印:林風暝印
來源
現藏者於1945-1955年旅居中國上海期間
直接購自藝術家本人

西方現代主義始於十九世紀末期,經二十世紀諸多藝術家的努力,形式語言出現了重大的
突破,林風眠面對東西文化交流帶來的衝擊,窮盡數十年的精力探求中西融合,透過水墨
與色彩的交織,將抒情縹緲的意境與富於理智秩序的構圖融於一爐,為中國書畫注入了更
加豐富而鮮活的生命力,此次日拍佳士得即以風景、靜物、仕女等多樣化的題材,呈現出
林風眠在構圖、光線、空間關係、色彩上的突破與成就,這些革新與創舉不僅代表了中國
現代藝術發展歷程的里程碑,更實現了他早在1928年就立下的志向──「融合東西方精神
的協調理想」。
《悲愴》(Lot 1108) 延續了林風眠1920年代在《摸索》、《人道》等早期作品中的表現主
義風格,但不同於過去對於社會現狀的沉痛省思,《悲愴》呈現了耶穌受難從十字架卸下
後,悲痛的聖母在旁掩面痛哭的場景。雖然是描繪宗教題材,但藝術家安排聖母居於中央
位置,焦點集中於母子間的情感,突顯出強烈的情緒張力。畫面以深沉濃烈的墨色為主,
瀰漫著哀傷、靜默的氛圍,林風眠以白色水粉顏料強調人物在背光下的輪廓,同時也打破
了凝重的空間感。在藝術家的巧妙鋪陳下,《悲愴》不僅以激烈的情感表現說明了耶穌降
生所擁有的人性,來自後方的光源更暗示了祂與生俱來的神性。
1940年代林風眠離開杭州藝專校長之位,因戰爭的關係避居重慶,當時嘉陵江上穿梭的
輪船、渡船與木筏熙來攘往,使他留下深刻的印象,這些回憶或許轉化為《海景》(Lot
1109) 前景水平的坡岸、船身、傾斜的舢舨,與中景直立的船帆與桅杆,在縱橫的線條交
錯間,組構了無數相互重疊的三角形與方形,形成一種疏密有致的節奏感。深淺兩色的船
帆在畫面中央相互映襯,林風眠不僅把握了景物間清晰的層次關係,半透明的水墨暈染
更創造出船帆迎風揚起時穿透的光線,因此畫面雖蘊含了繁複的幾何結構,卻絲毫不感
凝滯,在相疊掩映間展現了通透的空間感。《海景》(Lot 1111) 並未採取慣用的正方形構
圖,少見的橫幅構圖透露出藝術家呈現遼闊場景的企圖。畫面減少了水墨的使用,不透明
的水粉顏料突顯了浪花與天空,明亮的色調帶有對於自然景色直觀的陳述,林風眠以多重
視點的鋪陳,隨著近大遠小的景物,在藍色與青綠色的層次轉換間延伸了景深,畫面雖納
入了印象派戶外寫生對於光線的捕捉,卻仍繼承了意欲「咫尺展千里」的中國山水傳統。
方形構圖為林風眠藝術創作中的重大轉折,尤以靜物作品最能展現出畫面均衡的橫向與縱
向力道。在《靜物》(Lot 1110) 中,果盆、魚缸、花瓶、桌面分別採取不同的視點描繪,
林風眠將形體概括簡化為平面化的圖案效果,使各個物件各自獨立,與背景交織成無數的
方形與圓形,方中有圓與圓中有方不僅是西方現代主義的結構圖式,更是中國傳統「天圓
地方」古老哲學思想的延伸。畫面中的各個形體在暖色調中形成了緊密的結構張力,使
整個畫面渾然一體,產生了一種牢不可破的凝聚力量,在林風眠對於幾何秩序的安排佈局
中,隱含了對於中國傳統文化和西方現代主義的追求。
林風眠曾說:「我的仕女畫主要是接受來自中國陶瓷藝術,我喜歡唐宋的陶瓷,尤其是宋
瓷,受官窯、龍泉窯那種透明顏色的影響。」在《仕女》(Lot 1111) 垂直分割的背景中,
藝術家刻意以淺黃色烘托白衣女子,光線照射下白色薄紗衣袍透出的暖色調,有如宋代白
瓷的瑩潤柔和,林風眠憑其對於水粉顏料半透明層次的充分掌握,呈現出定窯白中閃黃的
釉色;畫中女子的削肩、修長四肢與右側瓷瓶的細長頸互相呼應,簡化的造型不僅來自莫
迪里亞尼,林風眠曾在1950年代初期臨摹敦煌壁畫,細膩婉轉的曲線受到壁畫中飛天衣
飾造型的影響。《仕女》不僅作為藝術家極具代表性的題材,更完整地展現了他在中國工
藝、敦煌壁畫的傳統元素與巴黎畫派現代造型語言間的融會貫通。
來源
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner, Shanghai, China, during the period 1945-1955

拍品專文

Modernism in the West began in the end of the nineteenth century, when great breakthroughs in artistic format and language were made with the efforts of numerous twentieth century artists. Under the impact of cultural exchanges between East and West, Lin Fengmian strived for decades in the synthesis of the traits in Chinese and Western arts. His unique style was shaped in an interwoven play of Chinese ink and Western watercolour, in a serious attempt to ground poetic expression for abstract concepts on the basis of rational orderliness through structural composition. He brought to Chinese painting and calligraphy a richer and fresher energy of life. In this sale, Christie's is proud to present Lin Fengmian's breakthrough and accomplishments in compositions, light, spatial relationships and colours in selected subjects of landscape, still life and ladies. These innovations and creations represent not only the milestone for modern Chinese art development, but also fulfil his earlier mission developed in 1928--"the ideal to fuse harmoniously the Eastern and Western spirits".
Christ, Remorse (Lot 1107) is an extension of Lin's Expressionist style as found in his early works of the 1920s like Exploration and Humanity. But instead of a lamentation of the existing society, Christ, Remorse depicts the scene in which the mournful Mary lying next to the body of Christ after Crucifixion hides her face behind her hands. Though depicting a religious subject, the artist places the Virgin Mary in the center of the picture plane, focusing on the attachment between the mother and son, enhancing the intense emotional tension. Primarily painted in deep dark black, the painting is full of sorrow and an aura of silence. Lin uses white gouache at the silhouettes of the figures seemingly placed before a lightsource, simultaneously breaking down the serious sense of space. Through the artist's thoughtful portrayal, Christ, Remorse depicts a passionate expression to illustrate the Christ's innate human nature, as well as his holiness implied by the halo in the background.
In the 1940's Lin resigned from the post of principal of Hangzhou Art College, and fled to Chongqing during war. During the sojourn, he had been greatly impressed by the shuttling ferries, barges and rafts that hustled and bustled on the Jianing River, which might have inspired the creation Seascape (Lot 1108). The horizontal rocky riverbank, hulls and tilted sampans in the foreground, and the up-right sails and masts in the middle ground, create a series of intersecting lines of overlapping triangles and rectangles, resulting in a visual rhythm interplaying with sparseness and intensity. Sails of deep and light colors compete with each other in the centre of the picture. Lin has not only presented overlapping images with tangible realism that render the sails, but also created the effect of motion of sails catching the winds using semi-transparent ink washes. Hence, despite complex geometric forms, we do not see weightiness but a vivid sense of space among the overlapped images. In Seascape (Lot 1112), instead of deploying the usual square picture frame, the artist composes it in a rare oblong format which reflects his intent to depict a panoramic scene. There is an economic use of ink and brush, and the opaque gouache pigments highlight the wave spray and skies. The bright color tone is a direct narration of the natural scene. Lin extends the painting's depth of view by with the employment of multiple perspectives, by reducing objects' size with distance, and by alternating the layers of blue and green colors. Visually speaking, the painting may be seen as an Impressionist depiction of light from life, and indeed shows the inherited ideal in traditional Chinese landscape painting of depicting "the vast land in a small picture".
Square composition was a major trait of Lin's artistic creation. His still-life is among the best of the many to display the balance between the horizontal and vertical forces. In Still Life (Lot 1109), the fruit trays, fishing bowl, vase and table are portrayed in different points of view. Lin condenses and simplifies forms into graphical patterns, making objects independent from each other so as to fabricate the background to form a myriad of rectangles and circles. Circles in squares and squares in circles are not only the Western modernist compositional format but also an inheritance of the traditional Chinese philosophy of "round as the skies, square as the land". In the painting all the objects form a compact structural tension, thereby making the entire painting into one, and producing an unbeatable coherent force. Lin's plot of a geometric order is implied with a pursuit for the traditional Chinese culture and Western modernism.
Lin Fengmian said, "My paintings of ladies are mainly inspired by Chinese ceramics. I like Tang and Song ceramics, especially the Song. [I was] influenced by the transparent glazes from the Guan and Longquan kilns." In Lady (Lot 1110), the perpendicularly dissected background acts to highlight the lady in white using light yellow. The warm tone revealing from underneath the white gauze robe under the light recalls the lustrous and gentle Song white porcelains. With his mastery in the tonal gradation of semi-transparent gouache pigments, Lin captures the glittering yellow glaze of the Ding kiln. The lady's narrow shoulders and slim limbs echo with the slender-neck vase in the right. This method of simplifying figures does not only reflect the influence of Modigliani, but also of another source. In the early 1950s, Lin had copied Dunhuang murals, in which the draperies of the feitian deities inspired his style of delicate and ornate curves. Not only is Lady one of the artist's representative works, it also substantially displays his thorough mastery of both the traditional elements of the Chinese craft and Dunhuang murals, and the modern formalistic syntax of the Paris School.
Among the different types of landscape paintings, Scenery of Hangzhou is undoubtedly the best example showing the fusion of colors and ink. Kandinsky believed that, "black is the least harmonic of all colors. It can be a kind of neutral background against which the minute shades of other colors stand out clearly." Lin uses black as the base colour yet the other colors remain bright in their thick layers and dabs of pigments, whereas those lightly painted are dimmer. The depiction of light and contrast of light and shadows, and the translucence and lightness of ink fuse into one. Though Scenery of Hangzhou (Lot 1111) looks like an autumn scene portrayal, the foreground greenery grassland, the middle ground of golden and fire red forest, and the windery cold seen in the indigo mountaintop in the back comprises the variations of the four seasons. The sequence of time and multiple perspectives are in fact the artist's perception and feeling of nature's comprehensive facets, and are entrusted with his profound sentiments towards Hangzhou.

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