Lot 191: He Duoling , B. 1948 Peeping oil on canvas

signed He Duoling and dated ' 96 in the lower left, framed oil on canvas

measurements note 160 by 130cm.; 63 by 51in.

Edinburgh, UK, The Fruitmarket Gallery, 1996

Reckoning With The Past - Contemporary Chinese Painting, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh 1996, p.58
He Duo-ling, Contemporary Chinese Art Collection, Mountain Art Museum, Taiwan, 1997, p.176-178.

Hanart Gallery, Taipei
Acquired from the above by the current owner

He Duoling's paintings are lyrical, poetic and mysterious; his melancholy is symbolic and elegant. Gray dominates the canvas. A classical female figure appears on the upper left, while a modern woman is taking shower a on the right. The skylight's design complements the steps leading upward. There is no divide between the inner spirit of He's art world and traditional Chinese humanity. Intentional or not, that door is open. The soft, thin, and smooth brushwork is wielded to avoid contrasting colors against each other, while merging the lines and shapes as well as skillfully diluting the nervousness in the artist's heart. He has progressed from a thin warmth and sorrow in his early works to the later Russian-styled melancholy, sadness and pain. He's art, saturated with Chinese thinking and feelings, ponder the profoundness of life, especially the elapsing of youth, the decay of beauty, and the distortion of love, offering the audience the artist's insights and confusion about life.