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The Freshness of Young Artists

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Author Topic: The Freshness of Young Artists  (Read 419 times)
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Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« on: October 05, 2015, 11:36:01 am »

Hi All

Today,  while   visiting an Asian  Arts  exhibition  in HK  with  Geoff and  also talking to  some  exhibitors, I was  reminded  of  a very basic  thing

Often -   indeed  usually  -   artists  paint their best works  when they are   relatively young and  unknown.

It's a  known  fact  that  most  people  are  at their most creative and innovative  phase of  life  when in their mid-20s

I know  that  of  myself  in my mid  20s  when  I did  my  best  original scientific  work, and  in writing  songs.
(Today I   still  cannot  understand  my own  Ph D  thesis,  which  was  later  published  in the  Proceedings  of the  Royal  Society ... !  At the time I  wrote  it there  were  only  four  other  scientists  in the  world   qualified to  adjudicate my  thesis )

I believe the same goes  for  IPBs,  except  for the  caveat that it  takes  several  years  to  learn the  necessary  skills  before  one can  paint  creatively  in miniature,  so  it's  hard  for a  young  artist (unless he/ she  starts  very  young...  16/17 YO )  to  acquire the  necessary  skills  in order to  create  original  work  at high  quality  in his/ her  mid  20's

Paradoxically,  one of  the biggest  scams of  all  shows  this  to  perfection. I refer to  the  Liu Jianghua / Da Yong  scam   whereby  Liu Jianghua (whoever he  may  be  in reality)   commissioned  Da  Yong - and  maybe a   couple of  other   Hengshui  junior  masters -  to  have bottles  painted  by their   students  and then   signed "Liu Jianghua"  and   sold  to  unwitting  collectors, especially  in Singapore.

There  is  even a   book  published  of  "Liu Jianghua masterpieces"  !

But the  strange  thing is  this : 

I accidentally  bought  several bottles  painted  by the  very same  students   whose  works  were  eventually  passed  off  as  "Liu Jianghua"  bottles.  The  bottles  I  bought  were   either  unsigned  or  else  signed "Jiang Hua"  or  other    short-term art  names  (one is actually   signed  in full "Liu Jianghua" )   but  regardless of    the  signature, they are  beautiful  bottles ! 

In fact, one  particular  bottle  - it's a  spider  theme (see pics  attached)  is  so  beautiful  that I even  posted  a  RMB1,000  reward  in Hengshui  during  my  first visit for anyone  who  could  identify the  real  artist .

It  finally  turned  out to be  Zhang Limin  who painted the  bottle, and although  ZLM  has  gone on to  to become a  very  well-respected  artist   and  deservedly  so (he moved  for a  while to the  new  new  Qin  School  in Xian,  but  I  recently  heard  he has moved  back to  Hengshui) ,  I personally still  reckon this  spider  bottle  to  be probably  his  single  most  original and  beautiful  work

 At the  time I  wrote  the  "commentary"  on this  bottle (P144) , I had  still  not  figured  out the  Liu Jianghua  scam - hence the   words I  wrote,  which I have not  updated

In fact  both my bottle  P144  and  the   equivalent  "Liu Jianghua" bottle  were  both painted  by  Zhang  Limin, as  I now  realize .  But  I  actually think that  my  version is  the  best  ... it's kind  of  more  "earthy"  and  original  than the   final  version  scam-signed  "Liu Jianghua"

Strange  but  true !

So how to  spot  works  but  up-coming new, budding  artists , the  future "Wang Xisans"  of the  VMIPB  world?

I really  don't  know !

Da  Yong  recently  sent  me  pics  of  4 x  bottles . I am certain   that  none of them  were  painted  by  DY  himself -  his  own personal  style is  too  different.  But every bottle  was  a  masterpiece.

If  only we  could  know the   real  artists....

Any thoughts  from others  on this  topic, please ?

I declare the  discussion open and  I am open to  rebuttal !   Smiley

Cheers

Peter

PS:  The  way  I  present  this  bottle   P144   is as  per  my new  method of  cataloguing  all my bottles. 
 If  anyone is  interested  in how  I did  this, please  ask



* P144(A).jpg (256.25 KB, 768x1024 - viewed 41 times.)

* P144(B).jpg (250.98 KB, 768x1024 - viewed 27 times.)
« Last Edit: October 05, 2015, 12:22:42 pm by Peter Bentley 彭达理 » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2015, 12:17:16 pm »

Can not add anything to your comment about Liu Jianghua bottles.. 

Hope you and Geoff have a nice time together !

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