Zhu Dequn is one of the three major Chinese oil painting artists, skilled at blending Chinese and Western modern art styles into his unique paintings; More accurately, Zhu Dequn should be described as a contemporary artist who deeply loves poetry and literature; At last year’s Sotheby’s contemporary evening auction, Zhu Dequn’s “Ode to Nature” was sold for HK$114 million, setting a personal record for the highest transaction price ever.
Today, you need to know one more thing about Zhu Dequn’s achievements. Sotheby’s this season’s modern art evening auction will be held next month, and a painting known as the “first museum-level snow scene triptych” in the auction house and art world, titled “Snow in Prosperous Times,” will be featured in the public auction, with an estimated value of HK$80 million to HK$120 million, as part of a significant private European collection.
Compared to the “Untitled” series, the “Snowscape” series is definitely Zhu Dequn’s most famous series of works, and “Snowscape of Prosperity” is the first triptych of snowscapes to appear at auction, already comparable to legendary paintings before its auction. Born in 1985, the “Snowscape series” is inspired by the Alps, where Zhu Dequn, during his visit to France in 1965, had the opportunity to climb the highest peak of the Alps, the Mont Blanc, and was deeply inspired by its snowy mountains. He continued to study and experiment for the next twenty years, trying to incorporate different shades of white into the paintings.
Until 1985, Zhu Dequn went to Geneva, Switzerland to participate in the “Five Abstract Painters Joint Exhibition”. On his way back, he encountered a snowstorm in the Alps. The breathtaking scene of snowflakes flying in front of him deeply moved him. This impression lingered in his mind for twenty years. Finally, when he visited the snowy mountains again, he sublimated the initial impression into a passionate and soaring creativity, shaping the profound connotation of the snowscape series.
The “Snowscape Series” has only eight sets of large multi-screen displays, with “Snow in the Prosperous Age” being one of only two sets of “Snowscape Triptychs,” and the only one to appear in public after being reluctantly released from a private collection. In the same year that the work was created (1986), “Snow in the Prosperous Age” was immediately sent to Privas, France to participate in the artist’s solo exhibition. At that time, the art world highly praised this work for its unparalleled composition and size, and it was rare to see precious photos taken at the opening ceremony of the artist that year. After the exhibition in France that day, “Snow in the Prosperous Age” disappeared for a full 23 years, only to reappear in 2009 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Suzhou Museum. The museum specially invited Zhu Dequn to personally select several important works, including this one, for display, demonstrating the artist’s high regard for this work and solidifying its status as a classic masterpiece in the series.
Master Zhu Dequn’s name has been widely known in the overseas art world, becoming a model for Chinese artists, largely due to his artistic journey and background. Born in Anhui Province, one of China’s gymnastics strongholds, Zhu Dequn actually had a great passion for gymnastics in his youth. It was only through his father’s keen observation that his talent for painting was discovered. His father successfully persuaded him to enroll in the National Hangzhou Art School, where he encountered two important figures in his career – the renowned artist and school principal Lin Fengmian (also the master of Zao Wou-Ki) and his classmate and inspiring friend, one of China’s three great art masters, Wu Guanzhong. The former had a visionary artistic perspective, opening up Zhu Dequn’s understanding of traditional Chinese art and Western modernism, allowing him to develop a unique personal insight that later manifested in his abstract ink art that combines both Eastern and Western elements.
Moreover, during Lin Fengmian’s time studying with Zhu Dequn, he shared many experiences of studying art in Paris, deepening the latter’s determination to study art there. Finally, around 1955, Zhu Dequn made up his mind to go to France to study art. His extraordinary talent amazed the local art scene, and within a year, he won the Silver Award at the Paris Spring Art Salon with a portrait painted together with his wife Dong Jingzhao, earning the nickname “Oriental Mona Lisa” in the art world.
As for the latter, because he was a contemporary partner of Zhu Dequn at the National Hangzhou Art College, they established a deep and mutually respectful, inspiring relationship. Later, the two of them also met Lin Fengmian’s other great disciple, Zao Wou-Ki, and found that everyone had a unique interest in and pursuit of Lin Fengmian’s advocated and pursued Pan-Asian aesthetic expansionism. Therefore, they worked together to evolve this proposition into a Chinese-style modernism and applied it to artistic painting.
On the other hand, since Zhu Dequn devoted himself to studying art, he developed a strong interest in Chinese calligraphy and poetry, and was deeply influenced by another ink painting master, Pan Tianshou, developing a painting technique with a rich attitude towards painting – bold brushstrokes and a characteristic of completing a stroke in one go. Later, while studying in Paris, he was further influenced by the Western abstract painter Nicolas de Staël, formally forming an abstract painting technique full of artistic conception. His friend Wu Guanzhong even described Zhu Dequn’s paintings as: “From a distance, they look Western, but up close, they are Chinese ink paintings.”
In recent years, Sotheby’s has repeatedly achieved excellent results in auctions of works by Chu Teh-Chun, and last year, with the huge five-panel painting “Ode to Nature,” it set a new auction record of 114 million Hong Kong dollars. This year, the Chu Teh-Chun Foundation announced a large-scale global retrospective exhibition for the artist. Seizing this important opportunity, Sotheby’s is proud to present Chu Teh-Chun’s rare masterpiece “Snow in Prosperity,” leading all sectors to focus on the artist’s unique aesthetic value and establishing his esteemed position as a master. Chu Teh-Chun’s rare masterpiece “Snow in Prosperity” will be auctioned at Sotheby’s “Modern Art Evening Sale” on April 18. Sotheby’s Hong Kong will also hold a preview from March 19 to 21. Art enthusiasts should not miss this opportunity.
資料及圖片來源：Courtesy of Sotheby’s Hong Kong
