He Huaishuo (Ho Huai-shuo)

signed HE HUAISHUO, dated 1985, and signed with three seals of the artist

Sotheby's, New York, 17 September 2008, lot 161

USA, New York, Sotheby's, China Without Borders: An Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, 20 - 28 June, 2001, p. 17 & 50 (detail)

Taiwan Art Criticism Collection - He Huaishuo, Artist Publishing, Taipei, Taiwan, 1999, p. 50
China Onward, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2007, pp. 116-117
Kuo, Jason C., Chinese Ink Painting Now, Distributed Art Publishers, New York, USA; Timezone 8, Hong Kong, China, 2010, pp. 52-53

Image overall in very good condition. The work is in the original frame from the previous owner and there is slight undulation in the image mounting beneath the outer matte, which can be improved with reframing. Framed size: 100.5 x 129.5 cm; 39 3/4 x 51 in.
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Reflecting on life's constant struggles, Ho Huai-Shuo infuses his paintings with aesthetic contradictions and an intellectual depth that engage a viewer to reflect on the reality of our time. Forestry and moonlight are important motifs in his works that mirror the artist's spiritual energy. Painted in 1985, the moon in Moon in Cold Woods (LOT 501), specifically represents the artist's brighter afterthoughts on hardships endured in earlier years, symbolized by the thorny forest.

A master of calligraphy, professor of Chinese painting, and respected art historian, Ho Huai-Shuo is recognised for his serious artistic compositions and confident brushwork. His belief in 'un-pretty' painting favours melancholic and complicated landscapes that are densely textured and darkly shaded—a distinct diversion from traditional ink painting. He writes that it is the painter's destiny "to use our Chinese spiritual essence to look squarely at the modern world, and through artistic expression in painting I experience and reflect upon contemporary life and the contemporary world."  As evident in his art and writing, Ho approaches his work with intellectual rigor in an effort to reveal a deeper humanity in the individual.

For over four decades, Ho Huai-Shuo's paintings are frequently exhibited in museums around the world and are included in the collections of the Taipei National Museum of History, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard University's Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art.