Chao Chung-hsiang (Zhao Chunxiang)

excuted in the 1960s-1970s

Important Private Asian Collection

Ten Spring Flowers Blooming: An American Collection of Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy, Heibei Education Press, Shijiazhuang, China, 2006, pp. 237 and 239

This work is in overall very good condition except for a negligible dirt mark near the upper right corner.
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One Man's Journey

Chao Chung-Hsiang’s Innovation of Chinese Art

Chao Chun-Hsiang’s work plays an important role in the history of modern Chinese art. Working at the intersection between old and new, East and West, Chao revolutionized traditional Chinese ink painting by playing with avant-garde concepts – a choice that risked his success as artist, but ultimately brought new hope to the Chinese art scene in the midst of Westernization and conservative political atmosphere.

Sotheby’s presents Landscape (Lot 1030), Abstraction (Lot 5046) and Five Phases (Lot 1031) — three fine and rare works that not only showcase Chao’s proficiency and innovation in traditional ink painting and abstract painting, but also attest to the endurance of Chinese art in the face of challenging times and the rise of Western civilization. From learning first to master traditional painting, then fusing it with western ideas to find common ground, Chao’s career trajectory is as diverse as it is impressive.

East Meets West in Landscape

Chao’s art education began in home school. He later attended Henan First Normal University, where he graduated with first honours, and then taught at the National Academy of Arts, where Pan Tianshou mentored him in new painting traditions. Though traditional methods were so engrained in Chao, he eventually started to view them as religious beliefs, especially after traveling and working in America. Starting in 1958, Chao’s childhood education and formal training became less immediately evident in his works. Few examples of his traditional ink paintings remain. Records show that there are about dozen known pieces, most measuring 33 x 33 cm. Six measuring 118 x 58 cm, of which four or five survive. Landscape is one of them.

Blending Chinese & Western Styles

At first glance, Landscape appears very traditional. Upon closer view, its composition and choice of colours reveal a strong influence from Western art. A side-by-side comparison with Cezanne’s “Saint-Victor Mountains" reveals similarities in layout and the use of space. In art school, Chao was taught that Cezanne was the father of modern Western art by his teachers Lin Fengmian and Wu Dayu who believed that Cezanne’s landscapes resonated with Chinese landscape paintings. This would have an early influence on Chao Chun-Hsiang’s work. When compared with modern landscape paintings, the colours of Landscape appear more vivid: the deep red ocher pavilion set against a green landscape commands attention. In Chinese painting, the use of red and green is called “danqing” while in Western colour theory, it is regarded as the use of complementary colours. As Chao reinforces traditional expression using “Dan,” he is also putting into practice Western theory. Even though Landscape does not have an inscription like many of Chao Chun-Hsiang other paintings that describe a certain nostalgia, one can still feel the longing for home in this painting. Many years after completion, Chun used acrylic paint to add abstract elements to some of his paintings, producing entirely new works. This artist upholds that in order to revolutionize traditions, one must first have a deep understanding of them.

Introducing the East to Abstract Expressionism in Abstraction

Chao Chun-Hsiang was a student of formal artistic technique at school, but was also heavily influence by the philosophies of Lin Fengmian and Pan Tianshou who promoted “fusing Eastern and Western styles” and “innovating tradition” respectively. Chao Chun-Hsiang went to Spain in 1956 and New York in 1958 to experience life in the Western world and learn from its artists. He arrived in New York when Abstract Expressionism was at its peak. In such an exciting and creative atmosphere, Chao Chun-Hsiang not only had the opportunity to socialise with Abstract Expressionist masters such as Franz Kline, he was also discovered by the Guggenheim Museum which granted him an opportunity of solo exhibition. Abstraction, which was included in this season’s Modern Asian art day sale, exemplifies this second phase of Chao Chun-Hsiang’s career.

White Lightening, Black Storms

Abstraction exhibits the boldness of American painting and at the same time incorporates elements of Chinese aesthetics. Chao first uses black, gray and white oil paint to construct a background in the style of Chinese ink painting, then he adds a robust and unyielding silver foreground, and finally, he inserts a vivid orange between the two.  Even after half a century, one can still feel the painter’s turbulent creative process when looking at the violent balls of white flames that burn in battle between the large brushstrokes. On the use of colour, Chao Chun-Hsiang once said, “Colour should not be used sparsely. Sparsity has no feeling.”  After the 1960s, the artist primarily worked with acrylics on paper, his oil paintings therefore became increasingly rare. “Abstract No. 1,” a painting similar to this one, was sold at the Hong Kong Sotheby’s auction for 2,887,500 HKD, testifying to the popularity of this series among collectors.