Shi Lu (Chinese; 1919-1982), Chinese ink and painting on paper laid to silk, hanging scroll. Hand painting in freehand style and simplified forms depicted two frogs within blooming lotus. Themed calligraphy inscription on right, signed by artist, Shi Lu, followed with iron-red signature seal.
Mounted on pale-creme silk before pale-celadon outer border.

Dimension: 73" L x 25" W
inner painting: 14" L x 17" W

PROVENANCE:
From the collection of General Chen Qi (陳淇) (1912-2000), who styled himself as “Cangquan” (滄泉）and “Yuquanshanren”（玉泉山人), an artist, calligrapher, a prominent businessman and private antiques collector.
EDEN Fine Antiques Galleries is honored and proud to offer General Chen Qi's heirloom collections including unpublished Qi BaiShi paintings, Fu BaoShi, Zhang DaQian as well as his own calligraphy and paintings.
General Chen Qi's collections can be found on Lot 17, 18, 19, 20, and Lot-88 through Lot-142, continuing at Lot 265 through Lot-298.
For more information about General Chen Qi's Biography, please refer to provenance information at Lot 103.

LOT NOTES:

Shi Lu (Chinese; 1919-1982), born Feng Yaheng, was a Chinese painter, wood block printer, poet and calligrapher. He based his pseudonym on two artists who greatly influenced him, the landscape painter Shitao and writer Lu Xun.

Shi Lu came from a wealthy land owning family in Renshou County, Sichuan Province. A student of the Chinese traditional painting style guohua, he studied at Dongfang Art College and West China Union University in Chengdu (1934-1940). He joined the Communist Party of China and in 1949 at the first national assembly was elected and executive member of the China Artists Association.
In 1955 Shi Lu travelled to India to supervise the overall art design of a Chinese pavilion at an international expo. In 1956 he attended the Asian-African National Art Exhibition in Egypt. During these travels he made many sketches of the people he observed developing his technique of Western drawing and Chinese brushwork.
In 1959 he was commissioned to produce a large scale painting to be displayed in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the forming of the People's Republic of China. By this time Shi Lu had developed a mature style and looked upon the opportunity to create what is now considered his masterpiece. The painting depicts Mao Zedong standing on the precipice of the Shaanxi mountains in 1947, leading his troops against the National Revolutionary Army. The painting was criticized for the small image of Mao with a grand landscape and his back turned to the viewer. One critic saying that he appeared "isolated and at the end of the road". Shi Lu refused to revise the painting when asked and further uncompromising stances on his artists vision lead to his eventual persecution by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. His art was publicly denounced, he was put in prison and not allowed to touch a brush for three years. During this time Shi Lu suffered a mental breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After his release in 1970 he quickly returned to painting, taking some of the water color landscape sketches he had made in India and Egypt and adding a dense over layer of ink painting that exhibited a darker and more erratic style, similar to that sometimes found in the work of people with schizophrenia.

Over all in EXCELLENT Condition. Natural imperfection on the medium (paper or silk), regardless from any major damages; includes light blooms, discoloration and minor fading. Consider normal due to the ages.
The bidder assumes responsibility for ensuring that the condition of the item(s) meets with their satisfaction prior to bidding. Any condition statement is given as a courtesy to a client, and is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. EDEN Galleries shall have no responsibility for any error or omission. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging.