33 Auction 2018 Singapore Spring Auction - Modern and Contemporary Art (SG026)

Zhao Shao'ang was born in Panyu of the Guangdong province. At
16 years old, he became the student of Gao Jianfu (1889 – 1933),
one of the Three Masters of Lingnan, credited with bringing the
nihonga style of painting from Japan to China. In 1930, Zhao
founded the Lingnan Art Studio in Guangzhou, and became the
Head of the Chinese Painting Department at Guangzhou Art
Institute in 1937.
Works of the artist are characterized by an economy of
brushstrokes that focuses the viewer’s attention on the most
elemental aspects of the painting. The appropriate allocation of
white space in the painting, termed “liu bai” ( 留 白 ) lends clarity to
the work and adds to the aesthetic effect of the painting. He is
renowned for capturing bees and birds in the span of an instance,
often depicting them in mid-motion. The painting Hibiscus and
Bird is a collaborative effort between Zhao and another artist
named Rong Shu Shi (1903 – 1996), who was also another
Lingnan artist, while the painting Purple Flower and Grasshopper
was completed by Ye Shao Bin (1869 – 1968) and Zhao Shao’ang.
The artist’s delicate renderings of the bird and grasshopper has
the effect of giving the works a sense of dynamism, an important
embellishment that completes the paintings.
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ZHAO SHAO ANG; YE SHAOBING
(Chinese, 1905 - 1998; Chinese, 1896 - 1968)
Purple Flower and Grasshopper
inscribed, signed Shaoang by artist Zhao Shao
Ang and dated renchen year (1952) in Chinese;
stamped with 2 seals of the artist lower left
Bauhinia flower painted by artist Ye Shaobing
ink and colour on paper, hanging scroll
100 x 33 cm
S$ 9,000 - 12,000
US$ 6,670 - 8,890
趙 少 昂 ; 葉 少 秉
紫 花 螳 螂 圖
1952 年 作
彩 墨 紙 本 立 轴
款 識 : 壬 辰 春 二 月
葉 少 秉 寫 紫 荊 花 餘 為 綴 螳 螂 並 題
少 昂 ( 左 下 )
鈐 印 : 少 昂 信 鈢 ( 左 下 )
少 昂 ( 左 下 )
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