Inside Hong Kong’s Modern and Contemporary Day Auctions: 20 Highlights to Know

Vincent van Gogh, Head of a Peasant Woman, Left Profile, 1884-1885
In a touching prelude to his 1885 masterpiece The Potato Eaters, Vincent van Gogh depicts Gordina de Groot, who posed for the artist more than 20 times. Van Gogh moved to Nuenen in 1883 to portray the unvarnished yet dignified realities of peasant life, and the de Groot family served as his principal models. This work on paper is a rarity in the private market: with 80-85% of van Gogh’s paper works held by museums and public collections, there are believed to be only 200 in private hands worldwide of which only 30 have appeared at auction over the last decade.

Amedeo Modigliani, Tête de profil, circa 1910-11
In the sitter’s slender nose, elongated neck, and almond-shaped eyes, we see Amedeo Modigliani’s deep fascination with ancient African and Asian cultures, along with his signature ability to translate facial features into pared-down, elegant lines. Modigliani spent hours studying the Egyptian displays at the Louvre, and here the woman’s eye make-up, chignon, and decorative earring are reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian customs. Eventually unable to continue his sculptural practice because of ill health, the bold graphic lines and masterful use of space demonstrate how Modigliani successfully conveyed three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional plane.

Chu Teh-Chun, No. 465, 1972
Chinese-French artist Chu Teh-Chun’s visit at the end of the 1960s to the Rembrandt Tercentenary Exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam prompted an epiphany in his adoption of light as a central motif. No. 465 (1972) stands as a testament to this creative breakthrough, where light graduates from an incandescent glow at its centre towards subtle reflections along the periphery. Chu’s elite positioning at the confluence of Western and Asian artistic dialogue is underlined by No. 465’s use of western oil painting techniques within the rigorous grammar and spiritual essence of the Chinese ink tradition.

Zao Wou-Ki, Petit jardin au bout de la mer, 1952
This oil painting was executed by the Chinese-French master Zao Wou-Ki in his early 30s, four years after his move to France. A year earlier, in 1951, Zao had been greatly inspired by the colour-driven symbolism of Paul Klee, whose paintings he had seen at Bern in Switzerland. Henceforth Zao felt freed from the anchor of the strictly figurative, and began journeying towards abstraction, incorporating his European experiences whilst staying true to the foundation of his skill in calligraphy. Petit Jardin au Bout de la Mer (1952) offers ideogram-like human figures and structural interventions without formal context, inviting the viewer to enter a half-seen world of earthly occupation and maritime mist and spray. What emerges is an atmospheric amalgam of freedom and endeavour, in which the literal and the concrete cede centre stage to dreamy imagination.

Lalan, Untitled, 1990-93
A symbolic totem from the closing years of Lalan’s life (born Xie Jinglan), Untitled (1990-93) represents both maturity and confidence of style and an unrestrained freedom and energy in line and structure. Having studied composition at the Conservatoire de Paris, electronic music under Edgard Varèse, and modern dance inspired by Martha Graham, Lalan’s multi-disciplinary practices seem to find irresistible, explosive harmonies in this cascading, light-fuelled work of crisp vertical vitality.

Bernard Buffet, Princesse Espagnole, 1959
In this 1959 oil painting, Bernard Buffet mines his admiration for Velázquez’s 17th-century court portraits of the Spanish royal family whilst showcasing his signature French Expressionist style of spiky graphic melancholy. Buffet’s interest in Spanish culture and history was deep and recurrent, finding outlets in tender yet subversive court paintings such as this one, as well as in large-scale portraits of matadors, picadors and the nobility such as Grand d’Espagne.

Trần Bình Lộc, Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia, 1938
Born in 1914 in Quang Yên in Quang Ninh (Tonkin), Trần Bình Lộc studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, in the 5th graduating class, which included notable Vietnamese artists Pham Hau and Nguyen Do Cung. He later travelled extensively across what was then French Indochina, painting landscapes and lively scenes of daily life. Though he was prolific during his short career, his extant works are now rare—his life having been sadly cut short in 1941 at the age of 27 by an accident in Laos. This imagining of Angkor Wat shows fidelity and respect for the ancient monument, with the addition of real and imagined elements most likely drawn from memories of his travels.

Chen Wen Hsi, Eight Gibbons Frolicking in the Woods
Guangdong-born Chen Wen Hsi studied at the Xinhua Academy of Fine Arts under renowned ink painter Pan Tianshou, and went on to be a pioneer of Singapore's Nanyang art movement. Zhang Daqian was an admirer, composing a poem in Chen’s honour: “Wen Hsi's brush moves like a thousand troops: Yuanji would recognise the spirit of this man if he were to be reincarnated today. All of a sudden I hear the cries of gibbons, but the mountains I knew were a myriad clouds away.” Gibbons are the defining motif of Chen’s work, an animal associated with love and faithfulness, and linked to spiritual growth and enlightenment. Auspiciously, there are eight gibbons depicted in this present work, one of the largest of Chen’s ink paintings ever to reach the market.

Le Pho, Vase avec tournesols
Eminent Vietnamese artist Le Pho studied at both the École des Beaux-Arts of Hanoi and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was taught by Henri Matisse’s friend, the artist Victor Tardieu. In this still life painting, he tackles a vivacious arrangement of sunflowers, in a vision which seems as much sculptural as painterly, bursting with volume and life. His gently contrasting undulations of light and shadow, verdant and subtle greens, bright yellows and vivid oranges never overwhelm, offering an arrestingly intimate insight into the serenity of the home.

Sanyu, Woman with curly red hair and Woman (double sided), 1920-30s
Executed in the 1920s or 1930s, after Sanyu’s arrival in Paris, the avant-garde centre of the art world, this intriguing double-sided ink and watercolour consists of a woman both seated and in profile, exuding glamour, poise and vitality. The Sichuan-born artist who spent so much of his life in France here creates a fascinating and unexpectedly poignant double spectacle. The bright colouring of dress, hair, eyes and skin tone splash generous vitality throughout this effervescent depiction of the charm and charisma of youth.

Yoshitomo Nara, Untitled, 1988
Painted in 1988, the year of his move from Japan to Germany to study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Nara was an artist navigating entirely new surroundings, language and culture. Conceived before the wilful child paintings that would make him world-famous, the painting’s ambiguous interior intensity, rough surfaces and bold vision connect it to German Neo‑Expressionism. Furthermore, its ambiguous attitude of solitude, repose, suffering and sacrifice show the intensity and commitment of an artist highly attuned to the spiritual nuances of his new home.

I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih, Di Carlopesina, 2000
Having grown up on the island of Sulawesi, Murniasih’s art career began in her early 20s, studying traditional Balinese painting with elders in Ubud, including Dewa Putu Mokoh. Her work sought to reclaim the female body, challenge male-dominated societal structures and assert liberation, resilience and freedom in the face of aggression. Her life was cut short at the age of 40, and this present painting offers a rare opportunity to acquire her highly acclaimed work.

David Hockney, Caribbean Tea Time, 1987
This imposing and dynamic interplay of perspective and colour unfolds across a three-metre wide folding screen, showcasing David Hockney's interest in printmaking, collage, and furniture design. Hockney, who passed away earlier this year after decades at the vanguard of multi-disciplinary artmaking, was attracted to stage sets and Cubist spatial experiments. Engaging with theatrical design from the mid 1960s onwards accelerated his experimental ways of thinking about space, lighting and scale. Another edition of this work is in the Tate Collection.

Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 1989
The year 1989 was pivotal for Yayoi Kusama: she held her first New York retrospective at the Center for International Contemporary Arts and became the first Japanese artist to grace the cover of Art in America.This vigorous, life affirming pumpkin from the same year is both iconic and captivating. The inspiration of pumpkins, a source of spiritual comfort, began in Kusama’s childhood, and found echoes in her dotted works as early as the 1940s. The infinity net background and the highly desired red-and-yellow colour palette designates Pumpkin (1989) as the quintessential Kusama combination of interior meaning and irresistible visual allure. Kusama passed away this year aged 97, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy of more than six decades of art.

George Condo, Politician, 2020
The New York City-based artist’s precise pastel strokes speak of commitment to superior draftsmanship and structural rigour. A rare and particularly detailed work on paper, Politician (2020) shows Condo’s love of archetypes, with their possibilities for delicious subversion and gentle satire. The distortion of the presented image through goggle-eyes, bulging cheeks and duplicated rows of teeth seems to hint at double-dealing and hidden intentions, while the layered strokes suggest the painstaking and deliberate build-up of a public persona.

Anish Kapoor, Untitled, 2014
Anish Kapoor’s concave mirrors came into being in the late 1990s, prompting collective contemplation of the space around us with his highly reflective surfaces. This bronze and lacquer construction is a particularly popular iteration by the Mumbai-born artist. Monumental versions of this series have been shown around the world in cities from New York City to Sydney. In each case, weather and prevailing light patterns constantly transform the viewer’s interactive experience, deliberately turning the artwork into a “non-object,” and nudging the visitor into an alternate vortex of coloured space. This year is one of multiple global Kapoor retrospectives, including at Hayward Gallery in London and Lisson Gallery in Venice.

Chung Sanghwa, Untitled 76-9-15, 1976
Untitled 76-9-15 (1976) is one of Chung Sanghwa’s signature monochrome “rip and fill” masterpieces, which testify to the slow beauty of the Korean Dansaekhwa painter’s repetitive process of adding and removing of paint layers amidst interwoven alloys of wax, clay, water and glue. In a 2023 interview, Chung said “There is no such thing as completion,” and this painting, created a year before his move from Japan to France, affirms the fruits of his persistence, intention and labour. Chung died this year aged 93, and the sophistication and subtlety of his work throughout his multi-decade practice lives on.

Zhang Xiaogang, Comrade, 1996
Few artists have charted the Chinese postwar psyche and shifting social landscape as consistently and effectively as Yunnan-born Zhang Xiaogang. Whilst the gloomy and persistent greyness and intentionally neutral expression suggest a pervasive weight, a solitary splash of colour points to the underlying dreams and individuality of the human experience. Comrade (1996) hints at resilience, uniqueness and the indomitable spirit, and it does so under the cover of darkness.

Takesada Matsutani, Point de contact - 2021.8., 2021
A member of Japan’s avant-garde Gutai Art Association from 1963 until its dissolution in 1972, Takesada Matsutani is celebrated for his voluminous bulges, bubbles and drips, and his innovative handling of materials such as vinyl adhesive and graphite. These meditative chemical and tactile interactions create intellectual connections with the expanding and waning phenomena that we observe in life. Physical bubbles may call to mind more abstract ones: enthusiasms, disappointments or manias, and changes in the status quo at an individual and societal level.

Robert Zehnder, Broken Saddle, 2023
Born in 1992, US-based artist Robert Zehnder’s oil paintings offer intriguing fusions of the traditional and the forward-looking, where surrealist landscapes melt into the abstract and yet appear bitingly real. His carefully constructed terrains hint at video gaming environments and seem to revive memories of half-remembered places, suggesting an ineffable world in a confusing state of change. Broken Saddle, mesmerisingly organic, frustrates any sense of distance, while its fleshy tones and undulating forms swaddle us at once in the cosy and the unfamiliar.