George Chann (Chen Yinpi, 1913-1995)Hong Kong Landscape
Ink and colour on paper, framed
Inscribed and signed Pi and Geo Chan, with one seal of the artist

43 x 97.5cm (16⅞ x 38⅜ in).注脚Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
Private Collection, San Francisco

陳蔭羆　香港風景　彩墨紙本　鏡框

款識：
鯉魚門一如香港仔，漁民群聚之地。每當天晴日暖，曬網漁船排列，海面天光水影，相映成趣。羆繪。
GEO CHAN

鈐印：蔭羆

來源：
現藏家直接得自藝術家
舊金山私人收藏

Raised in a missionary orphanage in California, George Chann trained at the prestigious Otis Art Institute (now known as the LA Art Institute) and was rapidly took prominent place in the major exhibiting institutions on the West Coast. In 1942 alone, he participated in shows at the Palace of the Legion of Honor and de Young Museum in San Francisco, the San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, and the Los Angeles County Museum. Chann might have remained associated with the California plein air school had he not come in contact with the Abstract Expressionist movement and begun to draw upon his own cultural history to develop his own distinct style of abstraction. He was honored with a major retrospective at the Shanghai Museum of Art in 2005, and now, alongside Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-chun, Zhu Yuanzhi (Yun Gee), and others, he is considered among the loosely defined school of overseas Chinese artists who pioneered new paths in abstraction. The two works here are his reworking of seemingly traditional landscapes with his modernist methods and sensibilities, including one of his powerful, punchy abstract canvases. In dense, dizzying layers, Chann builds up a heavy color field that nonetheless maintains a surface lightness, pulsating with the speed and intensity of Chinese calligraphy. It is with works such as these that we see the uniqueness of his vision, one that has made his works among some of the most sought after in the market.


陳蔭羆成長於美國加州的一所傳教士孤兒院，成年後就讀於知名的奧蒂斯藝術設計學院（即現在的：洛杉磯藝術設計學院），畢業後迅速在美國西岸多家大型展覽機構成為舉足輕重的藝術家。僅一九四二一年，才華洋溢的陳蔭羆受邀參與了多家機構的展覽，包括加州榮耀宮藝術博物館、三藩市笛洋美術館、聖地牙哥美術館，以及洛杉磯郡立美術館。假如陳蔭羆沒有接觸過抽象表現主義運動的話，也許他還在加州從事「露天派」的藝術創作。所幸，抽象表現主義令他立足自身文化歷史，發展出自己獨有的抽象風格。2005年，上海美術館舉辦了大型的回顧展，以向陳氏致敬。廣義而言，陳蔭羆與趙無極、朱德群、朱沅芷及其他一眾藝術家一樣，是海外中國藝術家的先驅成員之一，開拓了中國抽象藝術的範疇。在此系列作品中，陳氏將看似傳統的自然景觀重新演繹，運用其現代手法和觀感來創作。其中一幅作品展現恢弘氣勢，為此系列的傑作之一。陳氏在層層堆疊、密集而繚亂的畫像之中構出具有分量的色海，畫作表層卻巧妙地保有的輕薄感。中國書法運筆的快慢緩疾和握筆勁度也在畫作上流露出，憑藉這樣的作品，我們能看到陳蔭羆獨到的藝術視野，正因如此，使他成為藝術市場中最受追捧的藝術家之一。