LIU KUO-SUNG [GUOSONG] (CHINESE B. 1932)

LIU KUO-SUNG [GUOSONG] (CHINESE B. 1932)
Mountains and Water, 1964
ink and color on paper
85 x 55 cm (33 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.)
framed dimensions: 103 x 66.5 cm (40 1/2 x 26 1/8 in.)
signed and dated lower left

PROVENANCE
Gifted by the artist to the parents of the current owner, ca. 1966 in Iowa City
thence by descent

LOT NOTES
Initially considered as a political subversive due to the westward leaning language of his work, Liu Guosong [Kuo-Sung] has since come to be seen as a major contributor to the development of 20th century Chinese art and even as the "father of modern Chinese painting". Stressing the importance of experimentation, Guosong`s work embodies the fusion of eastern and western traditions, at once recalling Tang Dynasty landscapes and the work of Abstract Expressionists. As the artist famously put it:?To imitate the new cannot substitute for imitating the old; and to copy the West cannot substitute copying the Chinese.

Guosong`s paintings have an undeniable presence that is in no small degree due to the materiality of their surface. During the 1960s the artist developed a style utilizing bold gestural brushwork and eventually embraced surface manipulations -- applying collaged elements as well as removing fibers directly from the surface to mimic brush lines and create a delicate sculptural quality. This approach lends itself to the otherworldly, diaphanously textured landscapes that have made Guosong famous -- often featuring rocky terrain and orbs representing the moon, Earth and sun, in part inspired by the photographs taken during the 1968 Apollo Space Mission.
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