Lalan’s renown as an artist who embraced so many fields with such creative power distinguishes her amongst the most prominent Chinese-born artists of the 20^th century. Her practice was a seamless fusion of music, dance, and painting, with each discipline informing one another to create an expressive, universal language admired till today. Les Ombres Bleu Les Motifs Bleus (Lot 1031) is a beautiful, expansive work that immerses the viewer into a sea of dynamic undulating brushwork. Painted in 1985, the present lot exudes the tranquil, rhythmic characteristic of Lalan’s mature phase as the artist presents a culmination of her various artistic explorations.

Unlike her 1970s paintings that were characterized by a stark minimalism
Les Ombres Bleu Les Motifs Bleus is a generously full composition. Having travelled on numerous occasions back to China in the 1970s, Lalan’s works arrived at a new juncture as she merged the introspective qualities of classical Southern Song dynasty painting with the abstract lyrical concepts burgeoning in the West. Awash with coalescing dark and pale blue tones, this scroll-like work is punctuated by wisps of dancing grey and ochre lines with mesmerizing effect.

In the late 1980s, Lalan and her husband Marcel Van Thienen bought a garden villa in Bormes-les-Mimosas on the Cote d’Azur in France where Lalan would produce most of her late work. The beauty of southern France provided abundant inspiration as Lalan arrived at the peak of her artistic creativity. Immersed in nature, she was inspired by the ocean, which was a mere few kilometres from her home. Applying varying shades of navy, cobalt blue, interspersed with translucent white paint, Lalan creates a sense of infinite movement within the present lot. The dancing lines flow up and down like choppy waves, crashing and flickering on the boundless sea. Lalan demonstrates the graceful ease of her calligraphic hand as delicate brush strokes trace the undulating forms like rippling water or dramatic mountain ranges. By merging land and sea, peaks and depths, Lalan stays true to the Chinese landscape painting tradition of shanshui, which translates to “mountain water”. Exemplifying Lalan’s transcendent abstract language, Les Ombres Bleu Les Motifs Bleus is a captivating work by one of the most important woman artists who bridged the East and West in all facets of her creative life.

謝景蘭以藝術家的身份涉足多個領域，澎湃的創意讓她在二十世紀的華人藝術名家之間大放異彩。她的創作融匯了音樂、舞蹈與繪畫，三者共蘊相生，衍生出一套富有表現力、且能引起普世共鳴的藝術語彙，至今依然追慕者眾。本次上拍的畫作《藍色陰影 藍色群山》（拍品編號 1031）寬廣優美，海浪般綿延起伏的動態筆觸讓觀者沉浸其中。謝景蘭成熟時期的作品無一不展示了她在探索不同領域時所抵達的崇高境界，本作作於1985年，當中流露的安謐與詩韻，正是她成熟時期作品的特質。

七〇年代，謝景蘭多次回國，作品亦因而出現了全新的並融風格，不但濡養出南宋水墨的內省心境，還糅合了在西方如日中天的抒情抽象概念。本作構圖有如一張山水橫幅，深邃與清淺的藍色如行雲流水般纏綿交織，絲絲縷縷的灰色與赭色線條躍動著勾勒出撩撥心弦的輪廓。不同於七〇年代淡靜素雅的構圖，本作裡的各種元素熱鬧地舒張開來，豐富多姿。

八〇年代後期，謝景蘭與丈夫范甸南（Marcel van Thienen）在法國藍色海岸金合歡鎮添購一處花園別墅，她在藝術生涯後期的大部分作品都在那裡完成。南法的美麗風光讓正值巔峰的謝景蘭畫興大發。她每天沐浴在大自然的恩澤裡，距離住所僅幾公里之遙的大海孕育著她的靈感。深淺不一的海藍與鈷藍色調之間，錯落有致地披掛著輕透的白色顏料，營造出無有窮盡的永動不息。舞動的線條猶如高低騰躍的浪濤，在浩淼無垠的海面上捲起點點粼光，然後轟鳴碎裂。謝景蘭筆走龍蛇，輕盈靈動的筆觸沿著起伏的形態上下遊走，像水波漣漪，又像山脈蜿蜒。疊嶺與瀚洋，絕頂與深壑，你中有我，我中有你，將中國山水畫的真諦表現得淋漓盡致。本作是謝景蘭超然物外的抽象風格典例，這位舉足輕重的女性藝術家在整個創作生涯致力連繫東西方藝術，其精髓在這幅妙趣叢生的畫作中展露無遺。