A Blooming Spring in the Twilight of Life:
Sanyu’s Autobiographical Masterpiece
The flowers, nudes, and animals in Sanyu’s work all have strong autobiographical undertones, and in his later pieces, these subjects became more intensely emotional for him. He enjoyed painting flowers throughout his career. In his early work, the flowers were soft and delicate, evoking romantic dreams of Paris. As he gained experience, Sanyu’s work became more impressive, and the branches and stems started to intersect in complex layers. Some of these paintings were quite bold, while others were more restrained. At the peak of his career, we can imagine him looking back on his life and feeling a deep satisfaction with the works he had created, as he pondered the changing of life’s seasons. He unified a deep-rooted Chinese traditional literati spirit with strong influences from Western modernism in spectacular works of art.
A Blooming Spring in the Twilight of Life: Sanyu’s Autobiographical Masterpiece
Painted in March 1963, Branches is one of the few works by Sanyu with a clear date and one of his largest flower paintings. He had been immersed in the Parisian art world for many years, but it was around this time that his direction in life seemed to be shifting. In 1961, Sanyu was invited to design the exhibition catalogue for Zhang Daqian, who visited Paris for holding an exhibition; later in 1963, Guo Youshou, the Republic of China cultural attaché to France, invited Sanyu to attend a symposium for those who were studying abroad in France. At the invitation of Republic of China Minister of Education Huang Chi-lu, Sanyu was planning to travel to National Taiwan Normal University the following year, showing how much he was respected by later artists, including Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun and Lalan, and in Chinese artistic circles in France. After being abroad for so many years, he began to feel compelled to return to his roots, and this period laid the groundwork for his final artistic achievements, including remarkable pieces like Branches.
Sanyu painted many types of flowers and plants throughout his life, including the classic plum, orchid, chrysanthemum, and bamboo from traditional Chinese painting. Considering the seasonal background and visual form of the flowers, Branches easily reminds of plum or peach blossoms that bloom between winter and spring. Among the flower paintings by Sanyu that adopt the form of plum or peach blossoms, the compositions of the antler-like branches in Branches de prunier, Fleurs de prunier and Branches are essentially the same. Branches de prunier and Fleurs de prunier are now part of the permanent collection of Taiwan’s National Museum of History, while the other Fleurs de prunier and Branches are the rare Sanyu plum or peach blossom works still in private hands. Branches is the largest of among these four paintings, and compositionally, it is different from the other three, but it also stands out in his entire body of flower works. According to Sanyu Catalogue Raisonné: Oil Paintings, he created more than 130 oil paintings of flowers and in the vast majority of those, he placed a vase full of flowers in the centre of the work, with a table serving as a break in the backdrop. Branches echoes the ‘one-corner’ compositions in Southern Song landscapes; the vase placed to the right side and the corner of the table notably on view create a sense of layered perspective. This is the only such composition in Sanyu’s diverse body of flower paintings.
Center: Sanyu, Fleurs de prunier, oil on board, 126 x 69 cm. Collection of National Museum of History, Taipei, inventory number 26890.
Right: Sanyu, Branches de prunier, 1950s, oil on masonite, 126 x 68 cm. Image courtesy of The Li Ching Cultural & Educational Foundation.
As old Chinese proverb goes, ‘Good honing gives a sharp edge to a sword, while bitter cold adds fragrance to plum blossoms.’ Because the flowers bud despite the frost and bloom in the snow, they have come to symbolise resolution and elegance in the Chinese tradition. The branches in Branches have buds waiting to open, and against this bright red background, the inky branches appear particularly noble and refined. In this painting, Sanyu articulated the resoluteness of his vision despite the turbulence and change in his life and the world around him, as well as his hope for an early spring after a long, dark winter. Sanyu’s flower paintings mostly feature chrysanthemums, and he sustained himself with the gentlemanly integrity symbolised by these autumn flowers. Fleurs dans un pot bleu et blanc, which sold for HK$180 million at Sotheby’s in 2020, is an important example of this theme. The spiritual tenor of Sanyu’s plum blossoms represents a further elevation; Sanyu painted this ambitious autobiographical piece, drawing on the lofty allusion of flowers braving frost and snow to bloom in the dead of winter.
Just before he painted Branches, Sanyu made a print with a similar composition that he gave to friends as a Christmas and New Year’s card. The recreation in oil painting he made in March the following year shows that Sanyu particularly liked this subject and the rigor of its composition. The celebratory red background makes the end of winter and the return of spring feel closer at hand. As previously mentioned, Sanyu rarely placed the table to the side in his compositions, and this choice makes the table’s presence more notable. Placing the vase on the tabletop alludes to a homophone for peace (ping’an) in traditional Chinese symbolism, conveying wishes for happiness and good luck. Although Branches incorporates the four representational elements of the vase, the red walls, the table, and the plum branches, the composition encourages the viewer to think beyond the image and echoes the abstraction and values of Chinese aesthetics, offering an artistic depth that transcends the surface level.
Center: Ming Dynasty, Bian Wenjin, Sui Chao Tu, hanging scroll. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Right: Ming Dynasty, Bada Shanren, Vase of Plum Blossoms. Collection of The Wuxi Museum, China.
Sanyu’s flower paintings naturally connect to the reserve and indirectness of traditional ink paintings of flower arrangements. Relative to the straightforwardness of European still-life paintings, Branches has more of the boundless imagination of surrealist paintings. Against an expanse of lacquer red, the viewer may find it difficult to pick out the buds waiting to open, or the buds that have already started to bloom and blended into the background. With this illusion and ambiguity, the treatment of the vase is particularly notable. The antler-like branches extending to the left and right tower above a disproportionate but exquisite mallet-shaped vase evocative of the Song dynasty. Wu Guanzhong, who once visited Sanyu while he was studying in France, recalled in his essay ‘About Sanyu’:
"Sanyu painted so many potted plants. The beautiful flowers blooming in these pots were full of life. The withered branches lingering in a pot had a mournful aspect but demonstrated his abilities as a painter. With the vigorous abundance of these pruned forms, the dense foliage and flowers were often placed in disproportionately small pots. Some might lament that these flowers have been separated from the earth and are nourished by only the smallest bit of soil. This keenly felt emotion and meaningful regret stem from mutual pity at a shared fate. I think that Sanyu was himself a potted plant, an Eastern potted plant in a garden in Paris."
A decade after Sanyu painted Branches, Wu Guanzhong took on the subject, and Plum Blossoms (1973) is one of his masterpieces during his peak oil painting period in the 1970s. It recently sold for over HK$100 million in this year’s spring auctions at Sotheby’s. The subject of the two works is the same, but their implications are decidedly different. Sanyu’s branches sit in a vase with buds waiting to open, while Wu Guanzhong’s plum blossoms are in full bloom on trees rooted in the soil. The former imbues his painting with the deep emotion of someone living far from home, while the latter extolls the magnificence of the Eastern homeland—to which he has returned—with a riot of pink blossoms. These two masters each took their own personal and professional paths, and these plum blossoms symbolise their contributions to the history of modern Chinese art.
The refinement of the vase and the spread of the branches create a visual contradiction, which reflect Sanyu’s personal experience and feeling of helplessness. In the 1950s and 1960s, Sanyu had few resources at his disposal, a circumstance decidedly at odds with his well-funded lifestyle when he first arrived in Paris. He may have wasted his time when he was younger, but by the prime of his life, he had a clear plan that was coming to fruition, even though he felt that, when he tried to paint, it was already too late. On the back of Nu, Sanyu wrote this lamentation:
"Had I not been in poverty and diligently painting at the time, I would have completed the painting and reached my maturity earlier. Alas!"
Despite this, the flower branches rise with forceful brushstrokes, reflecting his uncompromising pride as he waited for the season when the fragrance of the blossoms could be enjoyed once more.
Sanyu’s flower paintings were often connected with nostalgia. In addition to choosing what was considered a gentleman’s flower in traditional Chinese culture, the composition and colour choice echo Chinese furniture and lacquerware. The vase also takes its shape from a mallet style popular during the Song dynasty, further revealing his homesickness. In his essay ‘Potted Flowers: A Discussion of Sanyu’s Paintings,’ Xiong Bingming wrote:
"Sanyu was a nostalgic artist. I saw his dreams in his potted flowers. I think that you can trace them back to his childhood and hometown. The flowers capture a prolonged homesickness."
However, Sanyu’s work was not entirely backward-looking, and he kept up with the avant-garde art of his time. The cream-coloured block at the bottom of this work clearly and neatly delineates the corner of the table, invoking the charm of Western geometric abstraction. The visual balance achieved in the entire composition is reminiscent of Mark Rothko and American Abstract Expressionist painting. In the 1940s, Sanyu spent a brief period in New York, where he encountered some of the key currents in American art and culture and invisibly incorporated the essence of this aesthetic into his work. Branches is one of Sanyu’s few flower paintings that measure more than one meter across. In this expansive space, Sanyu took an unexpectedly bold approach: he applied a large block of colour horizontally to the entire background, echoing the excitement and vigour of Abstract Expressionism. Looking closely, the colour is quite pure, but the brushwork is still swift and irregular, surging with forceful vitality and highlighting Sanyu’s lofty ambitions. The flower branches look like antlers, the slender branches rising randomly from the trunk and developing into a semi-abstract composition of many threads. This portrayal lends a personal touch to the global trend in abstraction from that time. Here, Sanyu harmoniously blends traditional Eastern charm and modern Western art to create an eternally serene flower arrangement.
In March 1963, Sanyu presented Branches to his friend Yves Rapilly as a housewarming present. Rapilly was also a friend of the Lévy family—Sanyu’s most significant late collectors. Members of the Lévy family were close with Sanyu in the 1950s and 1960s, and they are the only remaining collectors who personally knew the artist. Etienne and Natacha Lévy spent quite a lot of time with Sanyu, and in December 1965, they generously hosted what would be the artist’s final solo show at their villa, which served as a critical summary of Sanyu’s work to that point. They were Sanyu’s most important and closest friends and collectors late in his life, so the provenance of this piece is extraordinary. Though it was painted nearly 60 years ago, Branches has never appeared on the market, presenting a rare opportunity for collectors.
Branches is fully documented in significant archival materials of the artist. The Andrea Frank Foundation has kept a crucial documentary filmed by Robert Frank, showing Rita Wong, editor of Sanyu Catalogue Raisonné: Oil Paintings, in conversation with Yves Rapilly, the original owner of Sanyu’s Branches. Branches was exhibited at Taipei National Museum of History in 2001 and illustrated in two editions of Sanyu Catalogue Raisonné: Oil Paintings.
Right: Sanyu’s Branches was exhibited at In Search of a Homeland – The Art of San Yu, at Taipei National Museum of History, 13 October – 2 December 2001; the work is illustrated in color in the catalogue p. 148, plate 101.
傲骨凝瑞・吉彩滿堂：
常玉自傳式花卉鉅作
常玉的作品，無論盆花、裸女或動物，都滲透著一種強烈的自敍精神，及至晚年，更顯鏗鏘慷慨，飽富情感。藝術家一生鍾情花繪，早年粉嫩精雅，一如浪漫坦蕩的巴黎美夢；隨著閱歷臻於成熟，常玉下筆愈見絢爛，枝幹縱橫交錯，層次豐富紛繁，時而奔放、時而含蓄，不難想像其時屆盛年，回首一生波瀾，通過一幅幅作品種下孤芳自賞之深意，細味人生四季之變遷，結合深植中國傳統的人文精神，以及親炙歐美的現代主義，構成斑斕繁華的洋洋大觀。
©1997 by Robert Frank, courtesy of Li Ching Foundation, Taipei.
《紅底瓶枝》繪於1963年3月，是藝術家少數附有明確創作日期之作品，亦是其畢生最大尺幅花卉作品之一；藝術家浮沉巴黎藝壇多年，卻在此時初現轉機，首先在1961年為到訪巴黎的張大千設計展覽目錄，後於1963年受民國駐法文化參事郭有守邀請，出席為留法學生而設之座談會，後來又應民國教育部長黃季陸之邀請，計劃來年前往台灣師範大學授課及辦展，引證藝術家當時廣獲旅法華裔文藝圈及包括趙無極、朱德群、謝景蘭等後輩的尊崇，漂泊海外多年，終要落葉歸根的情思紛紛湧現，正是時候奠定自己在藝術上的最終成就，而《紅底瓶枝》即是建基於此宏願的創作成果。
《紅底瓶枝》的花枝在宋式紙槌瓶上悄然等待綻放，從藝術家創作本幅時的季節及花卉形態，容易讓人聯想起盛放於冬去春來之際的梅花或桃花。花卉是常玉畢生創作不輟之主題，種類千姿百態，當中不乏傳統國畫中經典的梅蘭菊竹，若論花卉之形態，本幅《紅底瓶枝》可與常玉《枯梅》及兩幅《臘梅》並觀，當中《枯梅》與兩幅《臘梅》的鹿角形梅枝構圖基本一致，而《枯梅》與《臘梅》又已進入台灣國立歷史博物館永久館藏，而另一幅《臘梅》則與本幅《紅底瓶枝》成為僅見於私人手上的常玉珍品。《紅底瓶枝》是四幅之作品中尺幅最恢宏之鉅作，其構圖更不僅迴然獨立於其他三幅，放諸常玉所有花繪，亦屬卓爾不群：據《常玉油畫全集》，常玉共創作逾一百三十幅花卉油畫，當中絶大部份均將花瓶置於畫面中央，桌面在背景作水平式分割呈現，《紅底瓶枝》採用呼應南宋山水「一邊半角」之美學概念，將瓶花置諸右側，並刻意露出餐桌邊角，營造層層遞進的透視感，在常玉芸芸花繪之中，允稱唯一。
中：常玉《臘梅》油畫木板，126 x 69 cm。台北國立歷史博物館藏，典藏編號26890。
右：常玉《臘梅》油畫纖維板，1950年代，123 x 68 cm。（圖片來源／立青文教基金會提供）
「寶劍鋒從磨礪出，梅花香自苦寒來」、「不經一番寒徹骨，怎得梅花撲鼻香」。在中國傳統中，花卉冰中孕蕾、雪中開花，蘊含堅毅與優雅的象徵意義。《紅底瓶枝》含苞待放，在大筆揮灑紅光滿堂的背景之上，墨黑枝節尤顯高潔瑰麗；此番意境正好契合藝術家已抵盛年的人生終極階段，經歷潮起潮落的時代淬煉，悲歡離合的人生際遇，藝術家心中氣魄依舊堅定，期待在漫長深冬之後，迎接初春來臨，並將此份希冀盡訴畫中。常玉的花畫之中以菊花主題居多，借助秋菊所隱喻的君子氣節自勵自勉，2020年於蘇富比以一億八千萬成交之《青花盆與菊》即爲重要一例。而本作的精神内蘊，則借花卉傲雪迎霜、凌寒獨放的崇高寓意，寫下勵志雄壯的一篇自傳式史詩。
創作《紅底瓶枝》稍早之前，常玉亦曾以相同構圖創作版畫裱成聖誕新年賀卡贈友，而至翌年三月再創本幅油畫，可見藝術家尤其喜愛此題材並構思嚴謹，在充滿節慶氣氛的背景襯托下，冬盡回春的絲絲暖意漸起。以上提及，常玉罕有在構圖之中將桌子側放，如此表現手法令其存在感更為顯著，而瓶花放諸案頭，在中國傳統象徵符號學中諧音「平安」，畫面散發歲歲吉祥的祝福意味。如此一賞，《紅底瓶枝》雖然綜合花瓶、紅牆、桌案及花卉四種具象元素，構圖卻寸寸鼓勵著觀者的聯想引伸至框外之境，並呼應著中式美學的抽象與意識形態，是爲常玉畫作超越表象的藝術深度。
中：明朝 邊文進《歲朝圖》軸。台北故宮博物院藏。
右：明朝 八大山人《瓶梅圖》。中國無錫博物館藏。
觀常玉之花畫，自然而然地便連結到國畫清供圖的委婉含蓄，對比歐洲靜物畫的客觀直白，《紅底瓶枝》更富一層超越現實的無垠想像。在大片漆紅的背景下，觀者難以分辨花蕊正在待放，或是花卉早已開滿枝頭而融入景中。如此幻影與拉鋸，在花瓶的處理上尤見明顯，往左右散開而呈鹿角形的花枝，聳立於不合比例地精巧的宋式紙槌瓶中，留學法國時期曾經拜訪常玉的吳冠中，日後曾在《説常玉》一文中如此回憶和讚嘆：
「常玉畫了那麼多盆景，盆景裡開出綺麗的繁花，生意盎然；盆景裡苟延著凋零的殘枝，悽悽切切，卻鋒芒畢露。由於剪裁形式構成的完整飽滿，濃密豐厚的枝葉花朵往往種植於顯然不成比例的極小花盆裡，有人慨嘆那是由於失去大地，只依靠一點點土壤成活的悲哀。這敏銳的感觸，這意味深長的慨嘆緣於同命運的相憐吧！我覺得常玉自己就是盆景，巴黎花圃裡的東方盆景。」
常玉創作《紅底瓶枝》的十年之後，吳冠中亦曾挑戰創作相近題材，誕生於1973年之《紅梅》屬其七〇年代油畫巔峰時期的頂尖傑作，並在本年春季於蘇富比以逾億港幣成交；若將兩作並肩而觀，主題雖然一致，當中内蘊卻不盡相同：常玉的花卉濡養於瓶中含苞待放，而吳冠中的梅花則扎根土壤繽紛盛開，前者透過瓶花傾注流落異鄉而孤芳自賞之深情，後者則以滿目桃紅歌頌回歸東方故土的燦爛，反映兩代大師在人生與事業方面各持其道，以花卉作爲精神象徵創寫華人現代藝術史。
花瓶精巧、花枝蔓延，形成一種視覺上的矛盾，這樣的意境正映照出常玉其時的切身經歷與無奈。常玉於五、六〇年代時的資源較爲貧乏，與初抵巴黎時的富裕條件大相逕庭，然而年輕時揮霍度日，至盛年時才胸有成竹構思成熟，想執筆作畫時卻感到爲時已晚，正如常玉在《曲腿裸女》的畫背上提字感嘆：
「如果在當其時不遭窮困，勤於作畫，不致等到今日始成，則早到成熟期矣，万嘆。」
縱然如此，花卉枝伴隨著遒勁有力的筆法而挺拔上揚，呼應著藝術家不曾妥協、挫而不折的孤傲心境，依然期盼著梅花飄香的季節到臨。
常玉的花畫常與「鄉愁」的概念掛鉤，除了選材出自傳統中國文化中的君子之花，構圖選色亦呼應中式民俗工藝中的家俱與漆器，而花瓶更取形自象徵宋代美學的紙槌瓶，處處流露思鄉情懷，熊秉明即在《「盆花」談常玉的畫》一文中提到：
「常玉是一個『懷鄉』的藝術家。我在他的盆花中看見他的夢。我覺得能夠從那裡一直追溯到他的童年與故鄉。那裡捕捉著了一種悠長的鄉思。」
另一方面，常玉的作品並非全然的懷古之作，若然對比同年代的前衛藝術思潮，亦毫不遜色；底部一抹米白色，明確俐落地劃成餐桌一角分割佈局，透現了西方幾何抽象的韻味，更成就了整體構圖的視覺平衡感，讓人聯想到羅斯科與美國抽象表現主義的繪畫手法。四〇年代，常玉曾短暫遠赴紐約發展，而常玉亦有可能於當時接觸到美國的文化潮流，並在無形之間將美學精粹吸納入畫。《紅底瓶枝》屬常玉花畫之中較少數超越一米尺幅之鉅作，在廣闊的空間上，藝術家罕有地展現大刀濶斧的氣魄，以大片的色塊橫向地塗抹整幅背景，呼應著抽象表現主義中的激昂與凌厲。仔細而看，色調雖然純粹，卻帶出了迅疾變幻的筆勢，激蕩著蒼勁有力的生命語境，體現常玉下筆當時的雄心壯志。而常玉的花卉更呈鹿角式的造型，纖細枝幹從根部開始恣意上揚，進一步發展成千絲萬縷的半抽象構圖，接引當時鼎盛的全球抽象主義風潮，盡顯藝術家的敏銳觸覺，若以本作的枝幹線條，對比波洛克五〇年代的經典抽象構成，以及吳冠中在八、九〇年代創作蘇州留園的具有抽象意識的風景作品，尤其可見《紅底瓶枝》的抽象妙韻。於此，常玉和諧地糅合東方傳統魅力與西方現代藝術，造就了永恆幽美的一幕絕色盆景。
《紅底瓶枝》最早由常玉於1963年3月送贈友人哈皮利先生以祝賀其喬遷之喜，哈皮利先生為常玉晚年最大藏家勒維家族之友人。勒維家族一眾成員與常玉於五、六〇年代交往密切，亦是至今碩果僅存曾經親身接觸藝術家本人的收藏家族；其中艾田及娜塔莎・勒維夫婦與常玉的交往甚為頻繁，更在1965年12月慷慨借出別墅讓藝術家舉辦了生前最後一次個展，成就一次總結常玉畢生事業的契機，堪稱常玉晚年最重要、最親密的的朋友與收藏家，來源非比尋常。《紅底瓶枝》誕生至今近一甲子以來從未曝光於市，如今登臨拍場，實屬珍罕無匹。
《紅底瓶枝》的歷史文獻齊全，常玉油畫全集總編輯衣淑凡女士曾與常玉《紅底瓶枝》原藏家伊夫・哈皮利先生於本作前對談，過程由羅勃・法蘭克拍攝成紀錄片段，此珍貴文獻現由安迪利亞・法蘭克基金會保存；本作亦曾展出於2001年台北歷史博物館〈鄉關何處：常玉的繪畫藝術〉展覽，並著錄於兩冊〈常玉油畫全集〉中，極具學術價值。
右：常玉《紅底瓶枝》曾於二〇〇一年十月十三日至十二月二日展出於台北國立歷史博物館〈鄉關何處：常玉的繪畫藝術〉，並著錄於展覽圖錄彩圖，圖版101，148頁。