Three-Master Way#95012 40 X 66″ ac
Blue, red, yellow; Picasso, Gauguin, Matisse; Cubism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism are evidently manifested in this “Three-Master Way” by T. F. Chen. Dr. Chen’s Post-Picasso-Matisse series in 1995-96 is the outcome of his successive publications of Picasso and Matisse, two art books in Chinese. Chen’s study on van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse etc. besides enriching his understanding and appreciation of them, has provided icons and images for his “Neo-Iconography” paintings. In a way, it seems that Chen has his version of Western Modern Art.In this quasi-triptych, we see three masters marching shoulder to shoulder. Picasso’s “Nude Dressing her Hair” is a Cubistic sculptural painting with heavy and shortcut reliefs, Chen purposely colored the background in brilliant blue to give a sharp contrast to Gauguin’s red and Matisse’s yellow. Chen reduced the mysterious ambiance in Gauguin’s “The Moon and the Earth” and saturated the dimly red of the woman to a bloody brilliance in order to contrast the darken Earth-God. Beneath him, the red spring water reflects the red Goddess who is turning her back to the viewer, thus give the front-posing figure of this painting a necessary variation. Quite bright and fleshy is Matisse’s Odalisque in an interior of yellow and vermilion. She sits on a green sofa causing the scene an impression of Youth and Hope. Chen expressively emphasized the yellow to envigorate the red and the green in Matisse’s inspiration. As for the size, the two sides of this triptych are equal and larger than the middle part which is narrower, yet full of energy due to its red and the deepness. In Chinese classics, Confucius said that among three persons walking side by side, there must be one I can learn from. As this three-in-one painting shows, we can learn not only from them all, but each of them looks more unique, profound and enriching when they are put together.
– T. F. Chen |
Three-Master Way
Happiness
2015 年 7 月 28 日