WU GUANZHONG 吳冠中 | SCENERY OF GUILIN 桂林景色

Collection of the artist's uncle and aunt (gift of the artist in 1978) 

Private Asian Collection 

Christie's, Hong Kong, 27 May 2007, Lot 206

Important Private Asian Collection

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藝術家四叔嬸珍藏（藝術家於1978年饋贈）

亞洲私人收藏

香港，佳士得，2007年5月27日，拍品編號206

亞洲重要私人收藏

 “It was late 1972…we went to Guiyang to visit my ailing mother-in-law. On our way, we traveled through Guilin. We were only able to stay in Yangshuo for a day and an evening. Even for such a brief visit, how I longed to paint one painting in Yangshuo!”

Wu Guanzhong, excerpt from The Sentiment of Paintings in the Rain

In late 1972, en route to visiting his ailing mother-in-law in Guiyang, Wu Guanzhong and his wife stopped briefly at Yangshuo. Undeterred by the inclement weather and intermittent rain on that day, Wu Guanzhong insisted on painting and completed several sketches overnight – works which would go on to inspire his Guilin-themed paintings. Completed in 1973, Scenery of Guilin (Lot 1014) is a rare masterpiece that began Wu Guanzhong’s Guilin series which spanned two decades. From the thick layers of rich pigments in the oil painting emerges a gentle, pensive aesthetic that is characteristic of ink-and-wash tradition. The two traditions are seamlessly fused, testifying to the inextricable connection between the artist and Guilin, while also marking a breakthrough in the artist’s explorations in finding a Chinese voice in the genre of oil painting.

Through the 1970s, Wu Guanzhong visited Guilin three times. It was the focus of seven oil paintings created by the artist, according to The Complete Works of Wu Guanzhong, and within the works completed between 1972 to 1973, Scenery of Guilin was the only one that combined the views of the mountains, villages and the river. While the works of the Guilin series are unified by a single theme, each painting reflects the artist’s continuous search for renewal and change. The present work represents a perfect combination of personal feelings and environmental elements, expressing the artist’s personal aesthetics to the fullest. Wu Guanzhong presented this work as a gift to a family member shortly after he completed the painting, which further suggests the deeply personal nature of this work. This in addition to its artistic value makes the masterpiece a truly exceptional treasure.

Silk Ribbons and Jade Hairpins

The composition of the present work is highly original in the way it draws the viewer into its world. The trees have all but lost most of their autumn leaves, and yet they rise strong and decisive in the foreground. Their branches offer thin cover to the white houses in the villages, which remain clearly in view. The last of the season’s red leaves decorate the tips of the tree branches, imbuing the picture with a vivid and crisp autumnal atmosphere. On the lower right-hand corner, the bright green water of the Li River meanders, guiding the viewer into the core of the composition. The two hills in the middle, the key feature of the painting, occupy two-thirds of the picture. Using mountains as the key feature is unique in the artist’s Guilin series. The white houses in the villages are arranged with a certain unspoken rhythm, first making an appearance just barely perceptible between the two hills, then allowing the gaze to travel further down to the open space in front of the hills, which suddenly spreads out at will, like a waterfall, creating a powerful visual impact. Such a unique composition is subtly matched by The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, a large-format masterpiece currently held at the National Museum of China. The present work was completed four years earlier than The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. It is apparent how much the artist was deeply fond of this composition, which would later be applied to large-format masterpieces, a testament to its landmark position in the artist’s creative journey.

In the essay “Where Are the Fine Landscapes?,” Wu Guanzhong wrote: “The true beauty of the nature of River Li is found in the ‘silk ribbons’ and the ‘jade hairpins.’…I want to use the contrasting splendor of the two to construct a beauty between the concrete and the abstract, as the key focus suffusing the entire picture.”

The artist references the ink-and-wash sensibility from traditional Chinese painting, interpreting the landscape in front of his eyes with the texture of silk and jade. The River Li appears light and otherworldly, like silk ribbons, the mood soft and feminine. The mountains stand in the middle, heroic and grand, full of vitality. In the distance, the mountains appear almost translucent, warm, smooth and gentle like jade hairpins. In the Southern climate, brushstrokes of an oil painting were combined with an ink-and-wash atmosphere to create a symbiotic relationship, the Daoist wisdom, of yin and yang nurturing one another, on full display.

Sentiment and Landscape Fused into One

Wu Guanzhong’s personal journey is interwoven into every brushstroke of Scenery of Guilin. The hardship of his life during the 1960s and 70s never eroded the artist’s ambition and integrity. On the contrary, it reinforced his dedication to artistic pursuits. The present work should not be interpreted as a simple recreation of a view, but rather a heartfelt display of the artist’s outlook toward life, as well as his optimism for the future. Through the tender and gentle Guilin landscape, and the handsome, heroic peaks, the artist expressed his open, peaceful state of mind as well as his fearless, insurmountable spirit.

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「夜已籠罩了陽朔，只在稀疏的路燈下還能看清道路，別處都已落在烏黑之中 。……那是一九七二年年底，各藝術院校師生還正在各部隊農場勞動……我們盡了最大的努力，總算獲准短短的假期，到貴陽去探望老岳母的病情。路經桂林下車幾天，到陽朔只能停留一天一夜。多年來我似乎生活在禁閉中，早被剝奪了擁抱祖國山河的權利。即使只有一天，我多麼渴望能在陽朔做一幅畫呵！」

吳冠中《雨中畫情》節錄

一九七二年年底，還在河北李村下放勞動中的吳冠中被批准短暫的假期，攜妻子返回貴陽探望病中岳母，途經匯聚桂林山水之精華的陽朔，短暫停留一天一夜。當時雖驟雨連綿，吳冠中依舊冒雨堅持寫生，連夜繪出數幅速寫草圖，成為日後桂林主題油畫創作的源源靈感。完成於一九七三年的《桂林風景》（拍品編號1014）便是此系列中難得的佳作，作為貫穿吳冠中藝術生涯中長達二十年的桂林系列之宏大開端，畫面在油彩豐厚的層次之上，融入水墨溫潤悠遠的意境美，不僅見證了藝術家與桂林之間的不解之緣，更在其油畫民族化探索道路上留下了厚重的一筆。

對於吳冠中而言，繪畫是一門終身不斷的研究，每一個題材都值得千錘百煉的反復琢磨，桂林題材作品即為吳氏這一創作理念的最佳佐證。七〇年代藝術家三度踏足桂林，仍感意猶未盡，對此他曾發表感言：「往返追捕，根據記憶，順著月下老人的紅線……若有人要來此寫生 ，只能到自己腦子裡找尋。」（吳冠中〈桂林山村〉，載於《畫眼》）對這腦海中完美景象的追尋，自七〇年代開始延續了二十餘年，其間，據《吳冠中全集》記載，藝術家以桂林一帶主題創作過油畫7幅，而在七二至七三年完成的桂林題材創作中，兩幅以桂林山村為畫題，另兩幅則側重漓江江景，唯有《桂林風景》將山村與江景合而為一，反映藝術家在相同主題下不斷革新求變，在本畫中完美融合主觀感受與鍾情的客觀素材，將個人審美之感悟發揮至極。《桂林風景》在完成不久後，即被吳冠中親手贈予親屬珍藏，印證本畫在藝術價值之上飽含的濃重人情意味，實為彌足珍貴。

羅帶玉簪，江山如畫

本畫構圖匠心獨運，以巧妙的佈景方式引人如畫。前景中，秋樹蒼勁利落，向上延伸，吳冠中藉之稍作遮擋，巧妙地避免了中景中白房村落的一覽無餘，反倒更加令人想要一探究竟；樹尖以紅葉點綴，秋日爽朗之生氣頓生畫面；右下角碧青的漓江水蜿蜒向深處，帶領觀者的視線進入畫面骨幹。立於正中的兩座山頭佔卻畫面三分之二，無疑是本畫當仁不讓的主角，而如此以山為主角的思路在藝術家桂林系列當中，可屬獨一無二的構圖處理。白房村落錯落有致，先在兩山間若隱若現地點綴，繼而引導視線下行至山前開闊平地處，頓時肆意分散開來，猶如一道奔流的瀑布，極具視覺衝擊感。此獨特構圖與中國國家博物館珍藏之巨幅《長江三峽》（400 x 300 cm，1977年）異曲同工，而本畫在《長江三峽》誕生的四年之前已完成，可見藝術家對這一構圖的無比鍾情，將其作為日後創作的靈感藍圖沿用至恢弘鉅作中，其承前啟後之重要地位可見一斑。

杜甫對漓江曾有「水似青羅帶，山似碧玉簪」之讚譽，吳冠中亦曾在散文《風景哪邊好？——油畫風景雜談》（載於《美術》雜誌1981年第12期）中曾提到：「從造型角度看，“羅帶”與“玉簪”才是漓江山水的本質之美。……我想將羅帶與玉簪的對照之美，使構成酥軟與柔和的虛實之美，作為充溢整個畫面的主角。……羅帶，那是漓江命脈。」吳冠中借用中國畫中的水墨韻味，以絲綢與玉器的質感詮釋眼之所見：漓江水如青羅帶一般青隽飄逸，帶有酥軟的情調；山峰則層次分明，中景山峰橫塗豎抹，峰壑浩蕩，壯美中顯露生機，後景中朦朧的遠山呈現半透明質感，恰似碧玉簪的溫潤與柔和。色彩濃淡相宜，構圖虛實相生，在南方空氣的濕潤與朦朧中，油彩筆觸與水墨意境相得益彰，盡顯道家陰陽相生之智慧。

情景交融，不滅風骨

國學大師王國維有言：「一切景語，皆情語也」。《桂林景色》帶著濃郁的泥土氣息，一筆一畫、一草一木皆交織著吳冠中的生平際遇。六、七〇年代，生活上的種種逆境從未蠶食藝術家的志氣和風骨，反而讓他更堅定為藝術而奮鬥的人生目標。在經歷長達六年的禁畫令的壓抑後，《桂林景色》絕不僅是對景象的重現，而是滿載藝術家對生活的真情實感，以及對未來的無盡期盼，藉桂林山水這一片風調雨順之景，以及畫面高聳俊逸之山峰，寄語開闊平和的心胸視野，銘記無畏艱險的精神態度，正如藝術家所言：

「踏破鐵鞋，我追尋的只是樸實單純的平常景物，是極不引人注意的景物，但其間蘊藏著永恆的生命，於無聲處聽驚雷！」

《風景哪邊好？——油畫風景雜談》節錄，載於《美術》雜誌1981年第12期