Lot 1069: YUYU YANG

YUYU YANG
(YANG YIN-FONG, 1926-1997)
Adoration
signed in Chinese; dated and numbered '63 2/9' (engraved on lower back) bronze sculpture
35 x 31 x 97 cm. (13 3/4 x 12 3/16 x 38 1/8 in.)
edition 2/9
Executed in 1963

Artist Publishing Co., Yuyu Yang Corpus, Taipei, Taiwan, 2005 (illustrated, p. 204).
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Yuyu Yang Artistic and Educational Foundation, Yuyu Yang: Vanguard on Native Soil, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2006 (illustrated, p. 128).

Adoration (Lot 1069), an elegant spotted deer, belongs to Yang's Calligraphy series, where he finds inspiration in calligraphy and transforms them three-dimensionally. The vivid outline of the deer resembles ancient Chinese logographic oracle bone script executed in energetic brushstrokes. Delicate yet somehow rustic-looking, the animal wears its beautiful long antlers and shows off its upstanding and lean body looking most confidently. From Adoration viewers see strength, finesse, and translucency from the bronze lines that give life to the sculpture. Its title suggests hope and faith, which the piece aptly reflects through an aura of eternal elegance, lightness and humility that is conveyed to its audience and surrounding. Emblematic to Yang's artistic career, another version of Adoration was presented to Pope Paul VI in 1964, marking the beginning of his three year sculptural journey in Italy, at the same time testifies the significance of this creation in Yang's early artistic career.