Lin Fengmian (1900-1991) Farewell my concubine

oil on canvas, signed LIN FENGMIAN, mounted on board and framed

Purchased directly from the artist by the vendor in Shanghai in 1964.

The canvas has been laid on to a paper board, which is then backed with maisonite board. There is numerous horizontal cracks to the surface mainly to the cream coloured ground. There are also some virtical cracks towards to top and sides of this ground.
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This painting demonstrates Lin Fengmian’s masterful integration of Chinese and Western elements and media. Influenced by the early 20^th century avant-garde movement, Lin blended Cubism with artful imagery of Chinese folk arts such as shadow puppetry and paper cutting. This piece belongs to his Chinese Operaseries which he began from 1951, where he depicted Beijing opera characters. Chinese opera inspired Lin to explore novel composition, arrangement and transformation. His works display the dynamics of Chinese opera by juxtaposing a series of flat images that represent the progression of various scenes of an opera piece to depict various time frames on a single canvas. He once said, ‘I love to watch movies and all kinds of plays and operas. It doesn’t matter if the performance is good or bad, what really interests me are the images and expressions, the gestures and movements – as long as there is enough variety in these, I’ll be enthralled’.

 

A very similar painting depicting the same scene was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 25^th April 2004, lot 704. Further paintings from his Chinese Opera series include Heroines of the Yangs – Mu Guiying Taking Command, Stealing the Royal Horse, Heroines of the Yangs, and Autumn River, from the collection of Monsieur and Madame Helle, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 6^th April 2009, lots 521-524 respectively.