Lot 1396: LUO ZHONGLI

LUO ZHONGLI
(B. 1948)
Grandma's Love
signed in Chinese; dated '1984' (lower right)
oil on canvas
59 x 68.7 cm. (23 1/4 x 27 in.)
Painted in 1984

Fingerhut Gallery of Carmel, California, USA
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Luo's childhood was spent in the prosperous Chongqing Municipality of Sichuan Province, making his lifelong entanglement with the theme of peasantry all the more striking. During the Cultural Revolution, like so many city youths, Luo was sent to the countryside to learn from hard labor hydro-electric factory in the Daba Mountain area, giving him the rural experience that would influence him throughout his career on his art. He felt that the peasants were constantly under exploitation and felt compelled to speak for them, to make their burdens heard and understood. It was such a profound personal experience that his genuine concern for humanity lends an emotional sweep to his art. Impressed by the works of Jean-Francois Millet, Luo learned to portray his rural subject matters with more sophisticated skills and techniques in the style of Western Realist rural paintings. His detailed Realism enables him to thoroughly capture the bitter and impoverished lives of the peasants in rural China, and the sense of heaviness is noticeable in Luo's iconic Father which led him to fame in the 80's. The artistic career of Luo can be roughly divided into three stages. The first stage commenced at the birth of Father. Since then, the plight of peasants has been recorded by his skillful hand and his superb photo-realistic painting techniques. Tibetan Chief (Lot 1398) and the Tibetan Series (Lot 1397) are works from this period. In much the same way as Father, these two paintings have a subversive undertone against the trend of romanticized Chinese rural 'realist' paintings of the previous era. The dark tone of their skin, its rough and dry texture, as well as the intricate wrinkles on their faces are acutely portrayed by his delicate, almost invisible brushstrokes. The bodies bear the traces of ages and hardship, are often in stark contrast with eyes that sparkle like stars in the night sky. The peasants in Luo's portrayal, despite their crudeness and simplicity, exude impressive gumption and perseverance. Their neat adornment was a tribute to the upright and honest peasants who are held in the artist's high regard.