PAN YULIANG | Bouquet de chrysanthèmes roses

The Estate of Mrs. Aznif Hodaghian
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 5 April 2015, Lot 5042
Acquired directly from the above by the present important private Asian collector 

Interior Beauté Volume 332, Visual Publishing Limited, Hong Kong, February 2019, p. 144

The work is overall in good condition, except for a few hairline cracks in the centre right and lower centre of the canvas. Examination under UV light reveals no sign of restoration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

As one of just a handful of female pioneers of modern Chinese art, Pan Yuliang lived a legendary life.  Fallen on hard times at a young age, Pan never gave up on herself.  With help from her benefactor and husband, a customs official from Wuhu, China, named Pan Zanhua, Pan Yuliang took to the arts to become not only one of the first female students of Shanghai Art Academy, but between 1921-1927 travelled to study at Institut Franco-Chinois de Lyon, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris and Accademia di Belle Arti, Rome. Setting an important precedent for Chinese artists, her works were selected for show at Roman International Art Exhibition, receiving acclaim from the likes of contemporaries Xu Beihong and Chen Duxiu.Pan returned to China in 1928 and was hired to work at the Shanghai Art Academy, becoming their first ever Chinese female tutor, and travelled to Tokyo to hold a solo exhibition at Shiseido, Ginza. Her level of association with the Western art world at the time was unmatched by any Asian female artist; and even within the relatively less conservative domain of the West, female artists were still few and far between. Pan’s courage, talent and experiences can be considered no less inspirational than those her modern art female contemporaries from the West, such as Berth Morisot, Marie Cassatt, Suzanna Valadon and Marie Laurecin.

Academically, Pan received critical acclaim from both the East and West. As early as the 1950s, Pan held a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, London, and her works were shown frequently at Musée Cernuschi, Paris. They were considered as being of such significance that the French Customs Office prohibited the shipment of her works to overseas destinations. Pan and Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita became the only two Asian artists featured in Jean-Claude Bernard’s documentary Chez ceux du Montparnasse, and, thereafter, Pan received numerous accolades and recognition from Académie Française and University of Paris. Well into the 21^st Century, Pan’s popularity was far from dwindling; if anything, her influence was ever more prevalent with advancements in the female social status. In popular Chinese culture, Pan’s legendary story has been adapted into multiple television series and feature films with leading actresses such as Gong Li and Michelle Reiss playing the artist. New York author Jennifer Cody Epstein spent 10 years of research in preparation for her English-language novel The Painter from Shanghai, based on Pan’s life. Pan’s oeuvre was rather prolific, yet, after her death, most of her works were transported back to China and acquired into the collections of National Art Museum of China, Beijing, and Anhui Museum. As such, there exists only very few works in the market for public viewing. Only in June 2015, when Fan Di An published the catalogue rasionné Twentieth Century Chinese Art: The Complete Works of Pan Yuliang, did the public have access to the full documentation of the artist’s works. Last year, in 2018, Shenzhen Museum hosted a solo exhibition of Pan’s works, which was immediately followed by the major presentation Song of Spring – Pan Yuliang in Paris at Asia Society Hong Kong Center. Both exhibitions were successful in attracting collector interest and renewed curiosity in the artist’s life and works.

The resurgence of interest in Pan’s oeuvre has been reflected in recent prices achieved for her works. Sotheby’s Spring Modern Art Evening Sale saw Baigneuse, a painting only 50 by 65cm, sell for HK$27,684,080, at four times its high estimate. This season’s Evening Sale presents Bouquet de churysanthemes roses (Lot 1021) measuring 45 by 55cm; a painting which first belonged to the collection of Pan’s old friend, Mrs. Aznif Hodaghian. The pair met in France after the Second World War, where Mrs. Hodaghian acquired the piece from Pan and kept it well conserved for decades, even maintaining the work in its original hand-carved wooden frame. Pan was partial to chrysanthemums for its perceived elegance and uniqueness. An embodiment of her circumstances, Pan shared her fondness for chrysanthemums with her husband Pan Zanhua. When both were together in Shanghai, the couple’s garden was full of chrysanthemums. As such, in the days of her wanderings overseas, the subject of the chrysanthemum became imbued with emotions of longing for her family and homesickness; so much so that she inscribed into her notes Wen Yiduo’s poem In memory of Chrysanthemums, which may be said to be the inspiration for this painting. In the Anhui Museum collection can be found a series of ink and colour on paper works which may represent earlier renderings of the present Bouquet de churysanthemes roses in both dimensions and the subject matter of vase and flowers; and yet, the present oil on canvas seems to better depict the vividness of the subject matter, breathing life into the piece. In 1944, not only was China faced with military conflict of the Second Sino-Japanese War, but in France, Parisians were confronted with German Nazi occupation. At one point driven out of her own studio by the German troops, trying times and experiences like these only further inspired the artist’s resilience and fearlessness, emotions which permeate the present work.

Pan’s style of oil painting is reflective of her training received in Paris and Rome, and her skilled use of Western media is adept in her portrayal of form and colour. Furthermore, when in Paris from the 1930s, the artist settled in Montparnasse, thus developing a style influenced by the Impressionist and Parisian schools of painting. Her style of colour use and brushstrokes evidences inspiration from the works of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Marie Laurencin, creating works that are at once full of life and exuberant, thoughtful and reflective.  Pan’s chrysanthemums in vases are favoured by collectors for they flourish gracefully and are imbued with the meaning of beauty and goodness. Her ink and colour on paper titled “Chrysanthemums in a Green Vase” sold for HK$17,440,000 in Sotheby's Hong Kong 40th Anniversary Evening Sale in 2013, establishing a new artist record. Offered at Sotheby’s Modern Art Evening Sale this season, Bouquet de churysanthemes roses can be said to ricochet “Chrysanthemums in a Green Vase” in both form and disposition to more thoroughly epitomize Pan’s manifestations expressed through the language of flowers.