It is so hard to find a proper word to describe this amazing immortal work by Pablo Picasso, which is exhibition by Landau fine art during the ArtBasel 2022:
Due to the fact that this masterpiece hung for years behind the desk of legendary Paris dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, not much clues could be tracked in the last few dacades on it. The painting, from 1965, is six feet long and almost four feet high; some speculate that its sleeping couple represents the artist himself together with his wife Jacqueline at the time,. “It’s one of the most important later Picassos,” gallery owner Robert Landau says, “And nothing comparable from the period has ever been offered for sale.” Landau declines to discuss the price of Les dormeurs, but offers one clue: “We just bought a 17th-century Spanish frame for it in Paris, and that frame alone cost as much as a small house.”
From an asian perspective, Picasso’s portrayal of himself in this painting might be quite familiar, which is commonly seen in oriental drama makeup. Evidances could be barely found to show what brings these elements into this painting, but his old neightbour, Zao Wou-Ki, a Chinese-French painter who’s a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, might be the one who share inspriations. Zao has been considered as “the only Chinese who has gained a reputation in the mainstream art world in Europe”, he graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under Fang Ganmin and Wu Dayu. He is known as “the representative of Western modern lyrical abstraction” and his work Triptyque 2000-2001 is exhibited during the ArtBasel Unlimited.
Guanliang, (Chinese: 关良; 1900–1986), courtesy name Lianggong (良公), a Chinese painter who was an important representative of the first generation of oil painters in China and was known for blending Western and Chinese art styles. Here is his portrayal of dramatic characters with a special style, most of which were created during 1920 – 1940.
