李曼峰

直接購自藝術家
私人收藏，新加坡

The work is in good condition overall, as is the board, which is free from warping and cracks. There is light wear and handling around the edges of the painting, but only visible upon close observation. Examination under ultraviolet light shows no sign of restoration. Framed.
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Lee Man Fong’s oeuvre is demonstrative of the artist’s keen affiliation that he had with his natural environment, for the paintings are a celebration of the Southeast Asian wildlife and countryside. As a Chinese artist many of his aesthetics and creative principles were greatly influenced by his heritage, with the animals that inhabited the paintings reflective of his own self-identity. The type of wildlife selected were also an opportunity for the artist to find familiarity within a foreign locale, and thereby ground Lee Man Fong’s oeuvre in images that referenced his past life as a child growing up in China.

Family of Horses perfectly exemplifies the artist’s favoured themes and motifs that inhabited the paintings. The three horses in the self-titled painting are portrayed as social beings, with Lee Man Fong acting as a respectful bystander to their natural play and interaction. The work is set within a green pasture that is absent of the usual naturalist iconography, such as foliage or other like animals to fill in the composition. Rather the artist chooses to deliberately concentrate upon the horses themselves, as means to guide the audience’s attention to their peaceful familiarity with each other’s presence.

Within the Chinese tradition, horses have been revered for their strength, beauty and physical grace. An animal that is frequently seen in the country’s history of creative expression, the horse embodies much of the philosophies that are highly revered amongst Chinese scholars and artists. Therefore Lee Man Fong’s choice depiction of the animals in the present work is a revealing look into the principles that the artist deemed to be important.

Thus while Family of Horses may be perceived as a naturalistic painting, within the context of Lee Man Fong’s role as an immigrant living in Indonesia, the animals may represent a deeper, and more complex part of the artist’s psyche. A testimony to the artist’s skill of wildlife observation, the painting is also a celebration of Lee Man Fong’s cultural paradigms, and ultimately Asian values.