Mountain GorgeInk and color on paper, mounted, framed and glazed, signed by the artist Li Huayi, with an artist's seal Li Huayi.25 3/4 x 52 3/4in (65.5 x 134cm),转到 Chinese Paintings Go
注脚:李華弌 重巒涧壑 設色紙本 鏡框Provenance:Kaikodo, New York, purchased 4 November 2002來源：2002年11月4日購於紐約懷古堂Over the centuries Chinese painters have returned to the foundations of the Chinese landscape painting tradition by reviving the landscape style of the Five Dynasties and Northern Song periods (907-1127) and the early masterpieces by artists Li Cheng (919-967) and Guo Xi (ca. 1060-1080). Drawn to the dramatic soaring mountains and atmospheric renderings of the natural world's order, successive waves of Chinese painters sought to capture the majestic spirit and sublime power of the monumental style.In the Yuan Dynasty Sheng Mou (ca. 1310-1350) and Wang Meng (1308-1385) continued with the Li-Guo tradition, and in the 17th century, Dong Qichang (1555-1636) revived the Northern Song masters' methods in his forging of a "Great Synthesis" of the traditions of Chinese landscape painting. Dong Qichang wrote that the structural power of Li Cheng's landscapes was due to the artist's approach in building the mountains from the sides, as opposed to a more primitive, full frontal viewpoint:雲山皆依側邊起勢,不用两邊合成Cloudy mountains arise from the sides activating their kinetic momentum, its useless to just converge the two sides togetherArtists of the Qing dynasty who followed the Orthodox lineage espoused by Dong Qichang would have had the ability to recall the Li-Guo monumental mode as a part of their broader artistic repertoire. Li Huayi's Mountain Gorge (lot 128), was painted in the last decade of the 20th century, and in it the artist condenses more than a thousand years of tradition. Li Huayi became fascinated with the Northern Song Monumental style after viewing a Fan Kuan (active 990-1030) landscape in Beijing in 1978. Although most of Li Huayi's early artistic training was in Western-style drawing, he began re-interpreting the Li-Guo artistic idiom in 1992, after he had moved to the United States, and began studying art in San Francisco. Li Huayi creates his monumental landscapes with meticulous brushwork endowing the scene with a combination of power and elegance. The precise strokes build the structure of precarious cliffs, and the closely drawn lines bring a rhythmic vitality to the painting. The daunting heights reach far beyond what the limits of the painting allow, and the mountains' true height is unknowable. The few scattered groups of trees are crisply detailed and highlighted in white, bringing a closeness and intimacy to the painting that contrasts with the grandeur of the vast, mist-shrouded cliffs.The soaring mountains are foreboding, but, the artist's use of light endows the painting with depth. Near the center of the composition a dark mass of rock anchors the cliff, and receding into the deep distance, the painting lightens, and although the sky is not visible to us, it is evident that a brighter atmosphere is ahead. The atmospheric grandeur and varied brushstrokes are borrowed from the Li-Guo tradition, but the opaque coloring and the strong contrast of light and dark is more reminiscent of the paintings of Gong Xian (1618-1689). Li Huayi paints landscapes that are drawn from centuries of artists who preceded him, yet his creations are unique and timeless in their mood. Classically inspired and grounded in traditional brush methods, his paintings are also unmistakably modern. His successful creations open a new avenue in the long tradition of Chinese ink landscape painting.