Author: SUN ZONGWEI 孙宗慰

Size: 56.5×76cm

Signed and dated: Painted in 1947

Estimate:

Final Price: RMB 1,200,000

LITERATURE
2012 Qiu Qi Zai Wo-Sun Zongwei’s Centennial Painting Exhibition / P173 / People’s Art Publishing House
2015 Beiping·Beijing-Collection of Sun Zongwei’s Works / P18 / Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House
signed in Chinese and dated 1947
EXHIBITED
2012 Qiu Qi Zai Wo-Sun Zongwei’s Centennial Painting Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing
2015 Beiping Beijing Sun Zongwei’s Works Exhibition, Hanhai Contemporary Art Center, Beijing

Sun Zongwei is one of the pioneers of modern Chinese oil paintings in the 20th cent., and a faithful follower of the realist art system represented by Xu Beihong. He has a solid foundation in modelling, having studied at Nanjing Central University in the 1930s and received guidance from masters Zhang Daqian and Xu Beihong. After the outbreak of the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, the Central University was relocated to Chongqing, and Sun Zongwei also went to Sichuan and as a teaching assistant at the university. In 1941, Sun Zongwei accompanied Zhang Daqian on the visit to Dunhuang to study and copy murals, became a pioneer to depict the life and national customs of the Western Regions. The trip to Dunhuang marked a turning point in Sun Zongwei’s art career. After the exposure to traditional art, he collected a wealth of material and found the direction for subsequent creation. Sun Zongwei abandoned the Western painting paradigm in the creation of oil paintings. By virtue of the “restrained transformation” in the modeling, the unique combination of colors, and the expression of Eastern charms, he blazed a trail for the pursuit of “integrating the east and west” in the creation of Chinese oil paintings in the 20th century. Fu Baoshi spoke highly of his artistic achievements: “Needless to say, Zongwei has a good foundation in Western paintings. He worked in Dunhuang for two or three years, and his achievements were impressive when he came back.”
After the trip to Dunhuang, Sun Zongwei created landscape paintings drawn from nature in addition to figure paintings. Although these works are based on realism, these differ greatly from those in the 1930s in terms of the style of painting. Based on the Hall of Supreme Harmony at the Forbidden City, the painting The Hall of Supreme Harmony created in 1947 is an important work in the period of transition of style. The Hall of Supreme Harmony had always been a venue for important ceremonies. When Japan announced unconditional surrender to China on Oct. 10, 1945, the formal surrender ceremony in the North China Theater was held at the square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. More than 100,000 people witnessed the surrender ceremony. In The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the artist chose a far-view angle from the side, which froze the space scene like a wide-angle lens. In the foreground are several large copper vats standing near the wall, orange light splashing on the mottled ground, and two whispering tourists in ordinary costumes. The Hall of Supreme Harmony in the middle looks majestic, with double eaves hip roof and three-layer white marble stairs. The red walls and golden roof are solemn and brilliant under the azure sky with white clouds. The milling crowd near the white marble stairs and the red flag indicates the continuity of history and the subsequent new era. At this time, this building that stood for the supreme authority in the feudal empire is endowed with new life and meaning in the new era.