Lot 161: Li Huayi , B. 1948 Autumn Mountains ink and color on paper

signed and dated 2007 in Chinese and with four seals of the artist ink and color on paper

45 1/4 by 94 1/2 in. 115 by 240 cm.

Li Huayi's recent Autumn Mountains (2007) depicts a dramatic mountain vista dominated by a mist enshrouded natural bridge backed by steep waterfalls. At first glance the work appears to be directly descended from China's great landscape painting tradition-and in a sense it is-but a deeper consideration reveals it to be the result of a fresh and personal synthesis of Chinese ink painting with an understanding of Western art history, particularly Western modernism. Details such as the tree formations and the brush strokes that constitute the cliff faces strictly belong to neither East nor West, underscoring the artist's achievement: Li presents a personal vision of the world that is inspired by the great traditions without being hampered by them. This is no small feat, as, for contemporary Chinese ink painters, the weight of tradition can be daunting, particularly for those working in the genre of landscape. Li Huayi is one of the very few living artists to successfully advance the spirit of traditional landscape painting within a contemporary idiom. In 2004, his work was featured in a solo exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco entitled The Monumental Landscapes of Li Huayi.

Li Huayi's art education, shaped by the times and by family circumstances, exposed him to the wide variety of influences responsible for his current fluid inventiveness. Born in 1948 to a wealthy Shanghai family, Li professed an interest in art at the age of six, whereupon the artist Wang Jimei was enlisted as his painting master. Wang Jimei was a distant relative of the family and the son of the celebrated Shanghai master Wang Zhen (Yiting, 1867-1938); thus, Li can claim an illustrious lineage as a painter. He trained in the traditional manner, copying paintings and calligraphy. Eventually wishing to learn something new, Li turned to the study of Western style art and at age sixteen became a student of Zhang Chongren (1907-1998), who had trained at the Royal Academy in Brussels. This not only expanded his understanding of art, but also provided him with skills to survive China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). During that era art for art's sake was proscribed, but there was a demand for realist propaganda posters and murals such as Li was able produce. After the Cultural Revolution he, like many artists, was eager to rejuvenate a stultified career and sought inspiration through travel to China's celebrated peaks, such as Mount Huang, as well as the Buddhist caves of Dunhuang. In 1982 Li emigrated to the United States, where he settled in San Francisco and soon earned a master's degree from the Academy of Art. He now divides his time between San Francisco and Shanghai.

According to Li Huayi, the landscape offered here began with a challenging idea: he determined to base the composition loosely around the Chinese word for landscape, shanshui, literally mountain-water. The three distant cascades refer to the ancient pictographic form of shui (water), which is composed of three vertical ripples. The modern character shan (mountain) suggests a group of three peaks, with three vertical lines joined on the bottom by a horizontal line. Li's painting foregrounds just two of the verticals, joined by the bridge, infusing their dynamic forms with the raw strength of bold calligraphy. Thus, while the idea lies behind the painting, it is only a springboard: the painting is not in service of the idea. This is similar to the manner in which Li's painting is fully informed by traditional painting but not limited by that understanding. He achieves the grandeur and majesty of the Northern Song Dynasty masters, yet the composition is indebted to Abstract Impressionism, the trees suggest the wind-swept trees of California, and the highly skilled brushwork cannot be identified with that of any past master. Although a tight composition characterizes Autumn Mountains, the work developed as the artist reacted to controlled chance, a process employed in calligraphic works. Li Huayi always begins his paintings by spreading ink wash and then works with the result to generate the landscape image, reserving some areas as mist or water. Summing up his process, Li says, "Mostly I just follow the energy."

-Britta Erickson