Ma Baozhong

signed in Chinese, initialled in Pinyin, and dated 1991

Acquired directly from the artist

China, Beijing, National Art Museum of China, The First Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art 96-97, December 1996 - January, 1997; Hong Kong Arts Centre, April, 1997, p. 74
China, Beijing, Ku Art Center, Unexpected Out of Control, 2007
China, Beijing, Xin Beijing Art Gallery, Touch - Ma Baozhong's New Works, 2008, p.22
China, Heilongjiang Museum of Fine Arts, The World - Exhibition of Ma Baozhong's Works (1987-2008), 2009, p. 47
China, Beijing, Proud Gallery, Ma Baozhong, 9 September - 9 December, 2010

Fine Arts Literature, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, China, 1996, unpaginated
Lu Peng, 90's Art China 1990-1999, Hunan Fine Art Publishing House, China, 2000, p. 59
Ma Bao Zhong, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, China, 2006, p. 44

This work is generally in fair condition. There are patches to the back of the canvas and scattered craquelures on the surface with the most visible ones on the lower right edge. There is also a paint loss to the right of the soldier's face, measuring around 5 cm in diameter. All of these are consistent with the age of the work. Please note that it was not examined under ultraviolet light.
"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."

Internal Injury
Ma Baozhong

Ma Baozhong’s unique position in contemporary Chinese art cannot be labeled simply with the movements of Cynical Realism, Political Pop, or the New Generation, with which almost all artists from his generation associate. Rather, Ma’s highly regarded oeuvre, marked by his vivid yet surreal depiction of politicians and historical events in works such as Headquarters of Volunteers and China, China, is widely known as a malleable counter-force to the pre-existed framework in China’s mainstream art scene in 1990s. As prominent art critic and curator Zou Yuejin has written, “Compared with the Political Pop, his [Ma’s] paintings are political (a soft or neutral kind) but not pop; compared with Cynical Realism, his realism is free of cynicism, with his works often being more serious than the most typical realist works; compared with the New Generation, his attention to reality is bare of mischief and comes with a respect for universal values.”¹ Internal Injury (Lot 720) is a large- scale masterpiece from the artist’s early career that first showcased the motif of warfare, and more importantly, Ma’s critically-acclaimed “epic narrative” style. It was also one of the very first paintings from China in response to the end of Cold War, making the work of tremendous rarity and art historical value.

Born in 1965 to a soldier’s family in Nehe City in the Northeast province of Heilongjiang, Ma Baozhong has cited the notion of war and politics, and his own personal distressed experience as the basis for his works. “I enjoy thinking about issues like wars, weapons, international affairs, etc. The military conflicts and weapons during the Cold War deeply aroused my curiosity when I was very young. Later, after I dropped out of university, I have gone through a lot of pressure in life and have reflected on the future and fate. You can detect the sign of these experiences in my paintings.”² Influenced by his two older brothers who were interested in painting, Ma’s training in art began in 1983 with painting courses in Harbin. It was during this period when his paintings gained the attention of Li Bin, a well-respected artist of his time in the province, who further encouraged Ma to enroll at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The artist’s subsequent admission to the Second Studio of the Oil Painting Department at the prestigious academy has set a concrete training ground in experimenting and fine-tuning the different painting styles from the West, from Socialist Realism led by The Wanderers in Soviet Union, to Romanticism from France. Inspired especially by Western masters such as Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein, and Egon Schiele, Ma has skillfully incorporated elements of their approaches into his-own artistic vocabulary, and through it, created some of the most compelling works dealing themes of human existence and power-play, including the present lot on offer.

Internal Injury from 1991 represents a major break from the artist’s previous portraiture-sketches. It is one of the first largescale works painted by the artist shortly after the end of Cold War, and thus introducing a number of military motifs and original composition. On view appears to be a grim snapshot of an event in action, with key figures strategically placed along the perspective scale, constituting the structure of the epic narrative. Most notably, a colossal woman is seen standing on the left in front of a two-story building, with her arms wide open and head lifted up towards the sky. Her forlorn expression and posture suggests the desire for freedom, whether it would be from the social or political constraint. In fact, the frequent appearance of the woman motif has raised different interpretations from curators and critics alike. Curator Jia Fangzhou wrote, “In portraying the female figure with a dense warm red, the artist conveys to its audience a burning pain. In this male-dominated world, women often become the victim of artificial disasters, which are created by the male. It is for that reason that Ma Baozhong has made the appropriate decision of using female figures as the main subject in his visual pattern.”³ At the same time, Li Xianting also offers his own observation, “The juxtaposition of scenes of war and fashionable, contemporary women provide a subtle contrast. Depictions of peace, war, refugees, and commerce tell us of a world torn apart by conflict. The girl in the foreground, ignorant of all this, symbolises, a really deplorable fact- while some wallow in daily pleasures others are suffering from war, bloodshed and death.”⁴

Behind the woman are soldiers, a helicopter, civilians, a leafless tree, and refugees, and finally a snow- field, each further reinforcing the contemplation of consequential tragedy immediately after war, that would reappear throughout the artist’s works in the mid- 1990s. For the setting, Ma brilliantly infuses the studios of Central Academy of Fine Arts as the building model and his hometown the same for the snow-scape, while the human figures are painted with a layer of stiffness and coldness that resembled the style of Egon Schiele. It is precisely this juxtaposition of realism and surrealism that would earn Ma Baozhong a special irreplaceable stance independent from the major currents of his time.

Ma’s leave from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989, just two years before the creation of Internal Injury, proves to be a positive transition for the artist in hindsight. It was during this period where Ma had the freedom to experiment with sketches of weaponry that would ultimately paved the way for the creation of his highly accomplished oeuvre.

1 Zou Yuejin,“Perspective: On Ma BaoZhong’s Art World”, The World: Exhibition of Ma Baozhong’s Works, Heilongjiang Museum of Fine Arts, 2008

2 “Some People are in No Position to Choose!: Interview with Pi Li”,Ma Baozhong, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2006

3 Jia Fanzhou,“China, China-On Ma Baozhong’s Paintings”, Ma Baozhong, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2006

4 Li Xianting, “Talk Something for Ma Baozhong”, Ma Baozhong, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2006