"Free man, you will always cherish the sea! The sea is your mirror; you contemplate your soul In the infinite unrolling of its billows; Your mind is an abyss that is no less bitter. "
Lalan was one of the few twentieth-century pioneering Chinese female artist in the French art world. She is a multidisciplinary artist, full of versatility, and the French Ministry of Culture awarded her a prize in 1973 for her avant garde invention of l’art synthèse, or integrated art, which synthesized music, dance, and painting. This not only was a recognition of her ability to break new grounds, it also underscored the way she transcended t.mes and space which explored deeper aesthetic ideas and expressive forms. In the mid to late 1980s, Lalan's artistic creation returned to pure abstraction-- she united the gestural movements of traditional calligraphy from the 1950s and 1960s with the compositional structure of abstract painting from the 1970s. As a result, the paintings of the 1990s is considered a retrospective of her life and creative process. As a result, Untitled (Lot 1039), painted in the 1990s, is an important work that exemplifies the best of Lalan’s artistic career. From 2009 to 2010, the piece was a highlight in exhibitions held at the Shanghai Art Museum, the Macau Museum of Art, and the National Museum of History in Taipei. Additionally in 2019, Replica Shoes ’s Hong Kong held a private selling exhibition titled ‘Lalan: Endless Dance’ and it achieved great success. This 20th Century pioneering Chinese female artist once again attracted much attention in the art world and reached new heights.
In the late 1980s, Lalan and her husband moved to Bormes-les-Mimosas, a town in southern France, and this proximity to the ocean provided an endless source of inspiration for Lalan’s work. She created a significant amount of works during this t.mes , focusing on the ocean theme. Untitled is one of the few works in this series to depict calm, mysterious ocean at night. Lalan first laid a refined yet sedate ground in indigo, then added splashes of deep blue and ink grey to convey the magical power. The almost atomized ocean spray is finely dispersed over the image, intermingled with meticulous yet relaxed and rhythmic continuous lines. These short, quivering lines are reminiscent of the small waves that curl up from the ocean. When combined with the lightly dancing white dots, the work presents a musical joy in clearly modulated rhythms. Compared to the obvious calligraphic symbols and dense style of Lalan’s early abstract work, Untitled reflects a more and free-spirited nature, while retaining her distinctive blend of Chinese traditional landscapes and Western painting techniques. The strength of the sprays and splatters in this piece are reminiscent of the bold splashes of paint and seemingly casual brushstrokes employed by American Abstract Expressionism artist Jackson Pollock. Even though Lalan spent most of her life in France, her art forms in the last years eventually returned to Eastern aesthetics, emphasizing the expression of personal emotions through her brushworks. She abandoned all hyperbolic formalism to create art but to paint with the purest attitude, making an indispensable contribution to modern art history.
謝景蘭在其中一個畫展中
「無拘束的人，你將永遠愛海洋 海是你的鏡子；你照鑑著靈魂 在它的波浪，無窮盡的奔騰。」
謝景蘭是二十世紀法國藝術界具有影響力的少數女性藝術家先驅，她一生多才多藝， 1973 年因研究音樂、舞蹈、繪畫合一的「綜合藝術」獲得法國文化部頒發獎金，這不僅是對於她開創新領域的肯定，同時亦標誌著藝術家的創作橫跨時間與空間的向度，探索了更為深層的美學概念與表現形式。謝景蘭從八〇年代中後期再次回歸純抽象創作，結合五、六〇年代的書法性線條與七〇年代的抽象山水景象中的細膩柔情，是藝術家對於過往歲月及創作歷程的回顧與高度總結。創於九〇年代，《無題》（拍品編號1039）為結合謝景蘭一生創作精華的代表作之一，先後於2009至 2010年期間，在上海美術館、澳門藝術博物館、台北歷史博物館作為重點亮品展出，其重要性可見一斑。2019年，香港蘇富比舉辦了名為「謝景蘭︰舞躍抽象」的個展，使得這位才華橫溢女性藝術家再度得到藝術界關注，並得到巨大的迴響。 八十年代後期，謝景蘭與丈夫搬到法國南部金合歡鎮，那裏鄰近大海，為謝景蘭的創作帶來源源不絕的靈感。她這段時期創作了不少作品，皆以描繪浪濤澎湃的汪洋一隅為主題。 此幅《無題》是藝術家少見描繪深夜寂靜神秘的大海。謝景蘭先以嫻靜沉穩的靛藍打底， 再以深藍、墨灰以潑彩形式組織畫面力量，可見到原子般的浪花細膩地分散在在畫面上， 雜以細密而輕柔舒緩的綿延線條，富於節奏的韻律。這短促顫抖的線條令人想起大海卷起的小浪花，連接潑撒的白點如輕快踏舞，輕重節奏分明，畫面充滿音樂愉悅感。相比謝景蘭早期抽象作品中明顯的書法符號跟濃重風格，此件的用色更加開放自如，同時亦留下融合中國傳統山水與西方畫技的獨特風格。這種揮灑潑濺的力度使人憶起美國抽象表現大師傑克遜·波洛克（Jackson Pollock）的那種大膽甩畫點、漫不經心的畫法。雖然謝景蘭大半生在法國，最後還是回到東方文化世界，強調個人情感在畫筆中的承載與表現，摒棄一 切浮誇的形式主義，以最純粹的心態創作，為近現代藝術史的發展進程呈現了舉足輕重的貢獻。
