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.

CONDITION
Overall waviness to the paper

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