Eternal Rivers and Myriad Mountains (Lot 1018) is a remarkable work by Liu Kuo-Sung, a leader of the modern ink movement. The painting is presented on a six-foot piece of paper (180.5 x 96.2 cm), the largest size of paper that Liu typically employed in his early single sheet works. The piece’s bold imagery can be traced directly to the Northern Song period and the ambience of Fan Kuan’s Travellers Among Mountains and Streams (Xishan xinglü tu), which conveys a profound sense of the lofty boundlessness of the landscape. Eternal Rivers and Myriad Mountains is a synthesis of the artist’s greatest technical achievements since he began innovating in ink painting. The sunset clouds in the upper middle portion of the painting echoes with his Space Series from the late 1960s. The twisting, undulating mountains are depicted using the “stripped tendons, peeled skin” technique that Liu pioneered, which he infuses with the brushwork of Song-dynasty landscapes to create a finer texture. The innovative techniques that he has explored since the early 1960s are employed in the middle ground and foreground that occupy over two-thirds of the work. The foreground features collages of inky black, ice blue, red orange, and bright yellow, showcasing Liu’s breakthroughs in the ink medium and his revolutionary advocacy of brushless ink painting. Liu introduced a “water-rubbings ” technique into his work in the 1970s, which became more mature by the 1980s. This method governs large areas of the painting: Eternal Rivers and Myriad Mountains uses this water-rubbings technique as a foundation for a natural and smooth image. With spray guns and paper, he depicts a succession of towering peaks through the mist, beautifully crafted and exquisitely lifelike.

Eternal Rivers and Myriad Mountains reshapes the spirit of landscape in an innovative way, echoing Liu’s life and career in the 1980s. With Reform and Opening in the 1980s, he became the first overseas Chinese artist to hold a travelling exhibition on mainland China, sweeping the art world into the “Liu Kuo-Sung whirlwind.” During this t.mes , Liu was influenced by the mountains and rivers of China, which informed important later series on Tibet and Jiuzhaigou. He also had the opportunity to form close relationships with noted calligraphers and painters in China and to explore tradition deeply. In 1984, Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong commissioned Liu Kuo-Sung to create Flowing Water Comes Constantly From the Fountain Head (182.8 x 91.4 cm). The artist personally likes this painting a lot, which had led to the creation of Eternal Rivers and Myriad Mountain in this subsequent year; Liu employed similar composition and techniques in this work so that both masterpieces echo to one another. Eternal Rivers and Myriad Mountains was exhibited at the major Liu Kuo-Sung retrospective held by the Taipei Replica Handbags s Museum in 1990. Coinciding with Liu Kuo-Sung’s 90^th birthday this month, Replica Shoes ’s is proud to present this spectacular masterpiece of the artist which not only is a rare find on the market, it is also an important highlight of this season’s sale, as a similar work has not appeared at international auction for several decades.

《千山外水長流》（拍品編號1018）乃現代水墨運動領袖劉國松的爐火純青之作，其以六尺整紙（180.5 x 96.2 cm）呈現，是藝術家早年單幅作品的常規最大尺幅；從立意而言，本作氣魄直追北宋，猶有范寬《谿山行旅圖》之氣象，深得山水之崇高磅礴；技法上更集藝術家水墨革命以來之大成： 上中部分如晚霞般的色彩層遞，呼應他六○年代後期的「太空系列」；山巒起伏轉折，以劉氏開創的「抽筋剝皮皴」呈現，融合宋代山水筆意，賦予更細緻的脈絡肌理；佔畫幅逾三分之二的中景與近景，則展示藝術家自六○年代初期致力探索的嶄新技法；近景以墨黑、冰藍、橘紅和亮黃裱貼，展現劉氏在水墨媒材的突破，及有墨無筆的革命性主張；劉國松七○年代開始在作品引入水托技法，至八○年代更趨成熟，大範圍駕馭畫面：《千山外水長流》正是以水托技法形成行雲流水的畫面基礎，再以噴槍及紙托塑造層巒疊嶂聳立於雲霧之間的細膩景觀，堪稱匠心巧手、渾然天成。

《千山外水長流》以創新手法重塑山水精神，呼應劉國松在八○年代的事業與人生；藝術家自五○年代起致力革新國畫，率先從美國抽象主義取得靈感，由此誕生「狂草系列」；1968年，壯遊美、歐的藝術家受阿波羅太空船探月之壯舉所鼓舞，開創膾炙人口的「太空系列」；七○年代，劉氏轉赴香港中文大學藝術系執教，及至八○年代，隨著中國大陸改革開放，又成為最早在國內舉行巡迴展覽的海外華人藝術家，形成席捲全國的「劉國松旋風」；此時，劉氏不僅親炙祖國山河，成就往後的西藏及九寨溝等重要系列，更與國內書畫名家密切交流，深探傳統精粹。1984年渣打銀行委託劉國松創作《為有源頭活水來》（182.8 x 91.4 cm），作品完成之後，藝術家甚為鍾愛，遂於翌年以相近構圖及技法創作《千山外水長流》，彼此互相輝映。今年適逢劉國松九十大壽，蘇富比非常榮幸能夠呈獻本幅巨作，《千山外水長流》曾於一九九〇年展出於台北市立美術館舉辦的劉國松大型回顧展，絕對為藝術家在創作生涯各個階段的經歷和體驗之印證，堪稱數十年來國際拍場難得一見的藝術家頂尖傑作。