drawing, a sector dominated by Chinese artists

Auction sales of works of art around the world fell slightly in 2022, according to the annual report of Artprice, the world leader in information on the art market, published on Tuesday March 14. Painting remains the leading category, with 70.9% of worldwide turnover. In second place, drawing accounts for 14% of world sales proceeds, dominated by major Chinese artists. Cui Ruzhuo, Xu Beihong and Qi Baishi each posted sales of more than 10 million dollars (9.3 million euros), and a work by Zhang Daqian even exceeded 43 million euros.

This hegemony is explained by “a characteristic of Chinese art, which is generally done on paper”, explains Jean Minguet, analysis for Artprice. The resulting works therefore generally fall into the drawing category. The buyers are “mainly Chinese, continues Jean Minguet, and they are particularly fond of artists on the border between traditional art and Western modernity”.

► Zhang Daqian, le « Picasso oriental »

Landscape After Weng Ximeng, which was sold for nearly 44 million euros in Hong Kong, became in 2022 the most expensive Chinese painting ever auctioned by Sotheby’s. The buyer is unknown, but the auction house said Chinese collectors were among the main interested parties.

Budding Lotus
Zhang Daqian (1899-1983)#paintingpic.twitter.com/S1v6Q5VgGW

— Twig (@Twig_) September 17, 2017

Its author, Zhang Daqian, was born in 1899. A master of traditional techniques, he initially contributed to the reappearance of bright, neglected colors in Chinese painting.

Faced with the desire of the Chinese Communist Party, which came to power in 1949, to sacrifice tradition on the altar of modernity, Zhang Daqian went into exile and ended up settling in California. In the United States, he integrated the contemporary art of his time with traditional painting, drawing inspiration in particular from abstract expressionism, the first major American artistic movement, led by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

Qualified as “Oriental Picasso”, he met him in Paris in 1956. When the Spanish painter asked him what he thought of his paintings inspired by Chinese culture, Zhang Daqian tactfully replied that he did not have the right tools. and offers him traditional brushes.

► Xu Beihong and his “muscular horses”

Xu Beihong, whose work has exceeded the 10 million mark, is best known for his drawings of horses made with traditional ink. “He uses different tones of ink on white paper to create an effect of shadow and light. His horses are slender and all in muscle, full of energy”, explains in Le Point Carmen Ip, expert in Chinese painting at Sotheby’s.

If he is a tutelary figure of the communist regime, since he chaired the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, his work, like that of Zhang Daqian, is influenced by the West. “Xu Beihong invented an original style by incorporating the realism of Western painting into Chinese painting”, analyzes Carmen Ip.

Specifically, Xu Beihong draws on the anatomical knowledge of his European counterparts. “In the 19th century, the literate tradition in China saw the representation of the human body reduced to nothing, whereas the West had been cultivating it for five centuries. (…) Xu Beihong played an essential role in this return of the human body in Chinese painting”, notes the curator Philippe Cinquini, still in Le Point.

► Cui Ruzhuo, a contemporary but traditional art

Cui Ruzhuo, although he was born in 1944, takes up traditional Chinese art. His paintings, made with traditional ink, represent majestic snowy landscapes where nature reigns supreme. One of his works, a polyptych called The Grand Snowing Mountains, sold for more than 36 million euros in Hong Kong in 2017.

Zeng Fanzhi, top 1 ranked #Chinese artist and his work of #art: “The Grand Snowing Mountain” Full ranking at https://t.co/RqXLrOGzJUpic.twitter.com/9k7vVqM3t8

— Myriam Ullens (@MyriamUllens) May 24, 2017

Specialized in the technique of finger painting (painting with the fingers), Cui Ruzhuo draws on rice paper. His painting is inspired by that of the Qing dynasty, which ruled China between 1644 and 1911. If this traditional approach, in harmony with the tastes of the Communist Party, does not prevent him from meeting significant commercial success in his country, European museums prefer dissident artists like Ai Weiwei or Yue Minjun.

► Qi Baishi, l’autodidacte

Before becoming a painter, Qi Baishi had to become a carpenter. Born in 1864 into a poor family, he learned to draw in a traditional manual dating from the Qing dynasty, the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual.

Obsessed with animals, Qi Baishi goes so far as to raise insects of all species at home, from mantis to locusts to dragonflies, in order to be able to draw them better. This autodidact opens up new horizons in Chinese painting, traditionally dominated by scholars. In 2017, a set of 12 works by Qi Baishi were sold for a total of nearly 120 million euros in Beijing.

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