Liu Dan

signed LIU DAN, inscribed, dated 2008, and with one seal of the artist

United Kingdom, London, Saatchi Gallery, Ink: The Art of China, 19 June - 5 July, 2012, p. 78

Kuo, Jason C., Chinese Ink Painting Now, Distributed Art Publishers, New York, USA; Timezone 8, Hong Kong, China, 2010, p. 72

Overall in very good condition. Framed size: 228 x 164 cm; 89 3/4 x 64 1/2 in.
"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."

Liu Dan

For the last three decades, Liu has produced an exhilarating legacy of physical grandeur, spiritual immensity and delicately rendered lyrical power in the medium of ink—whether it be monumental landscapes, large-scale and multi-faceted portraits of individual rocks, or distinctive representations of flowers and traditional Chinese dictionaries. 

Liu Dan is one of the most accomplished contemporary ink artists today. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Liu Dan's total oeuvre to date is extremely limited. The Poppy (LOT 508) presented in this sale is one of a few known examples of his larger than life size studies of the opiate poppy flower. Carefully selected for its shape and form, the less-depicted backside of the flower is rendered with meticulous dry ink brushstrokes that reveal an inherently abstract nature. Admired not only for its natural beauty, the delicate poppy maintains a long and storied history, cultivated along the Silk Road from the Mediterranean through Asia, ultimately reaching China and becoming the catalyst for the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century.

Whether painting poppy flowers or scholar's rocks, Liu Dan creates timeless tributes to Chinese culture and philosophy. When painting an object, he views his task as that of a portraitist. His challenge is to uncover the essence of the object – its history, provenance and spirit.

The painting in this sale (LOT 516) is a portrait of the Yu Ling Long (Exquisite Jade Rock) in the Yu Yuan gardens, which is considered the centerpiece of the classical Chinese garden in the old city of Shanghai. The nearly 3.3m high scholar's stone weighs close to five tons and was selected by the Northern Song dynasty emperor Huizong (reigned 1100-1126) from the waters of the Tai Hu lake. While en route by boat to the imperial palace, the rock was lost in a shipwreck in the Huangpu River, only to be dredged up several centuries later by the local official Pan Yunduan (between 1559 – 1577) for the private estate of his father in the Yu Yuan gardens. The naturally sculpted stone features a rough, craggy and pitted appearance for which it has been celebrated and admired for centuries.

Admired in China for their strange and otherworldly qualities, scholar's rocks are perceived as complex and elegant forms with patterns and textures that create an enticing surface. They are appreciated as a representation of the larger natural world and as part of the greater the cosmic universe. In a similar manner, Liu's paintings are less a representation of the depicted object but a meditation on the artist's experience of engagement. In his work, we can see that no matter what he depicts, he is always wandering in his microcosmic world—reaching a state in which "all things and self are mutually forgotten."

Born in Nanjing, Liu Dan studied the Confucian classics—poetry, painting, and calligraphy—from his grandfather at an early age. In 1978, he attended the graduate program of the Jiangsu Academy of Chinese Painting in Nanjing and studied traditional painting under Ya Ming. Liu's works are collected by numerous art museums, as well as important corporate and private collections throughout the world. The artist has been regularly featured in noteworthy solo and group exhibitions in Asia, Europe and the U.S., including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Musée Guimet, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Suzhou Museum, Harvard University Sackler Museum, Princeton University Museum of Art, Yale University Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum of Art.