Provenance:

Lin Fengmian, one of the most well respected Chinese artists of the 20th century, has been lauded by fellow artist Shiy De-jinn as a "Revolutionary Pioneer of Chinese Painting", "Brilliant Chinese Painter of the 30's" and "Most Admired Master¹". Leveraging the best of both Chinese and Western techniques, Lin devoted his life to painting and teaching the art of painting, and was extremely successful in both endeavors. He established the National Academy of Art in 1928, one of most significant schools of art during that era. This was followed by the Hangzhou National College of Art, the birthplace of many of China's 20th century artists. Lin's students included Zao Wou-ki, a prominent master in the world of Chinese art; Wu Guanzhong, Shiy De-jinn, Chao Chun-hsiung and Chu Teh-chun. His focus on integrating freedom of expression, open-mindedness and harmonized body movement in the painting process has become a guiding principle for all art students.

Living through the Cultural Revolution, Lin Fengmian's life was full of drama. He was toppled from the highly revered status of a renowned artist to that of a 'bourgeois' and was locked up in a cattle shed with all the other people that were also branded 'bourgeois'. He suffered much hardship and humiliation during that time. It was only in his twilight years that his status as a brilliant artist was reinstated. Lin had a large repertoire of artwork of which his creations during the 1950's demonstrated a wide diversity in style. Post 1950, the Chinese government focused on agriculture and the military and decreed that artists should only paint scenes of the common people at work. In 1958, to accomplish their goal of painting for the people, Lin and fellow artists Guan Liang and Wu Dayu went on a field trip into the country and stayed with the peasants there for one month. Since 1959, Lin made many trips to the fishing villages in Danshan, Zhejiang province for a first hand experience of the life in a fishing village². Born and bred in a village, Guangdong province, Lin Fengmian was a friendly and simple person who loved nature. Making fieldtrips to the countryside to paint and befriending the peasants were not difficult for him. He once wrote: "Firstly we must be proactive and sincere in making friends with the farming community. We must be able to fully capture the essence of life in the villages and, most importantly, feel the warmth, kindness and basic decency of the farming community. Only then can we breathe life and reality into our paintings.³"

The painting "Fisherwomen" on auction today is one of Lin Fengmian's earlier oils, a rare find. Very tastefully laid out, this painting exudes harmony in the use of a subdued color base with rays of light casually meandering through the scenes. This is indeed a painting that encompasses all of the artist's skills. Wong Lian-fon, a well-known Hong Kong collector of Lin's paintings once assessed this painting and called it the "mother of all paintings". Having seen most of Lin's oil paintings of fishing villages, he describes this one as "most complete", "with the hottest lines", "best of the best", all quotes from Mr. Wong. A well-respected art collector, Wong Lian-fon has been collecting Lin's paintings since 1978. He also got to know the artist himself and has a deep understanding of Lin's life and his style of painting. Lin Fengmian is his favorite artist. Wong is enthralled by the realistic themes and symbolism represented in Lin's paintings. He places "Fisherwomen" as an early 1950's oil. Painted with a clever combination of Eastern and Western techniques, this painting is indeed one of the very best of the 50 or less of Lin's oil paintings circulating in the market today.

The owner of the "Fisherwomen" is an 87 year-old collector who has homes in Hong Kong and Taiwan and is an old friend of deceased calligraphers and painters Pu Sin-yu and Huang Chun-pi. This aged collector has a background that includes a high-ranking post in the military followed by about 30 years as a businessman in Taiwan. Having owned this painting for 7 to 8 years, he first bought it from the son of an old friend (Chen) of Lin Fengmian's. Hailing from Xiamen, Chen was a military officer with the Chinese Communist Party. During the revolution, he was very kind to the imprisoned Lin (1968-72). In gratitude, Lin presented him with the "Fisherwomen" and many other watercolor paintings which Chen kept until his death in the early 1990's. After Chen's death, his son, who inherited the paintings, sold "Fisherwomen" to this present collector.

It is a fact that when the artist left Shanghai for Hong Kong in 1977, he gave away many of his paintings to his friends and students. Wu Guanzhong later also made mention of this in his book. Another of Lin Fengmian's students Zhu Ying stated in his article "Art Must Be Tasteful!"as following: "When his wife and child left the country in 1955, Master Lin was left all alone. He poured all his energy into his painting. He spent a lot of time in the remote villages, searching for subjects and inspiration. He created many pieces of work depicting various aspects of life in the fields and scenes of autumn harvests, always attempting to immortalize life through his art. In these paintings, you can see that he focused on the general movements of the human body, using vivid colors and casual lines to project a series of rich and varied scenes, not paying too much attention on details. An outstanding and eye catching piece of work4."

Lin Fengmian's "Fisherwomen" is a painting that integrates the emphasis on light and lines applied in Western landscape painting with inspiration obtained from Han portrayals, Chinese leather-silhouette and opera masks. Lin Fengmian loved life so much that even the many hardships and setbacks that he had encountered in his lifetime could not make him stop painting. In his twilight years, he revisited his earlier style of painting using ink and color instead of oils. Crated at a tuning point in the artist's life, "Fisherwomen" exudes naivety and romance, manifesting Lin Fengmian's principle to be sincere and true when creating a painting. The dynamically fluid lines and vivid colors superbly portray the naive curiosity and grace of the busy fisherwomen stopping in the midst of their chores to watch the painter at work.

1 Shiy De-jinn, Revolutionary Pioneer of Chinese Painting - Lin Fengmian, (Hsiung Shih Art Book), Taipei July 1982, p. 9
2 By Zhu Pu, Modern Artists - a Study of the Works and Life of Lin Fengmian, Xuelin Publishing House, 1988, p. 150. "1959. During that year, Lin made many trips to Zhoushan Fishing Farm to paint. ... June 8, Lin painted 'Living off the Sea'to commemorate the 10th anniversary of revolution in Shanghai."
3 Lin Fengmian 'Entering a New Era' Published January 1 1959. 'Wenhui Bao'
4 Wu Guanzhong., Looking Beyond the Ends of the Earth - Wu GuanZhong's Memoirs, WanXiang Books, 1992 p. 485
5 Ba Dong, An Analysis of the Development of Lin Fengmian's Artistic Style - A Trailblazer for Modern Chinese Painting (Journal of the National Museum of History, excerpt - volume 23), National Museum of History, Taipei December 2002

Reference:

... His figure paintings were categorized into Chinese beauties and traditional operas, all very exceptionally done and unique. All his beauties were painted with perfectly shaped eyebrows and heart-shaped faces and he never varied the style. However, the costumes and stature for the figures were always portrayed differently. He used white lines and white powder on dark bases to depict the translucence of white silk, creating a romantic kaleidoscope of color. He used fluid and smooth lines in his paintings, projecting a sensation of floating lightness. He also liked to use backlighting to add atmosphere to his paintings. He also drew inspiration from folk art e.g. shadow puppets made from leather and the legendary characters from traditional operas to create figures that were structured and yet full of character and flavor. The result was a painting that exudes tranquility and tasteful grace that continuously holds the viewer's attention.

By the late 1950's, Lin Fengmian had already encountered setbacks in his personal and emotional life. This was exacerbated by the massive political turmoil starting with Mao Zedong's nationwide call for "steel manufacturing", "a people's co-operative" and for everyone to stop whatever they were doing and go "kill the sparrows". All these and other nonsensical political events brought China to a standstill and enveloped the entire country with a sense of fear and insecurity. As such, Lin's paintings began to demonstrate dramatic change. He rejected his earlier gentle soothing style of painting and adopted the Western approach of "expressing one's thoughts". He began to create paintings depicting human suffering and the struggle for survival."

Lin's influence and contribution qualifies him as a praise of "the Father of Modern Chinese Modern." As compared with Lin Fengmian, one of his contemporaries Xu Beihong who also studied in France at the same time, insisted on traditional, realistic style of academicism and was reluctant to adopt new art trend and abstract style originated in Europe. It reveals that these two artists chose different life styles. They brought different impacts on modern Chinese art movements and also made a significant contribution. Lin Fengmian's art style differs from Xu Beihong's preference for Western traditional realism. The diversification is an essentiality for the development of culture.

- A quote form Mr. Ba Tong's 'An Analysis of the Development of Lin Fengmian's Artistic Style - A Trailblazer for Modern Chinese Painting', Journal of the National Museum of History, volume 23, National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002 (With the author's the permission to quote)