A masterpiece of 20th Century Chinese painting will be presented by London dealer Robert Hall at the Fine Art Asia 201 in Hong Kong, running Oct 4-7.
Geese Returning Home, by the Chinese master Shen Yaochu (1907-1990) is a monumental work that had been stored and unseen in the market since it was completed in 1985. It which depicts wild geese soaring majestically through clouds at sunset and had been made for the new terminal of San Francisco International Airport. However, the work, which measures 418 cm in height and 180 cm in width unframed, was too large to be hung and Robert Hall was subsequently offered the chance to purchase it privately.
Shen Yaochu was a master of traditional Chinese painting who became known for his bird and flower and landscape paintings in the xieyi, or freehand, Expressionist style. Born in 1907 in Zhao’an County, Fujian Province, Shen Yaochu moved to Taiwan in 1948, where he died in 1990. Like his near contemporaries Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), Shen Yaochu has been regarded as a master of modern Chinese painting on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.