In 1960, the New York Graphic Society published the book “School of Paris” which was organised into the French, Italian, and British branches. The compendium featured 478 artists who had been active in Paris since 1910, including André Brasilier and Zao Wou-Ki, who had only recently arrived in France at the t.mes the work was compiled. Brasilier was one of the very few artists in that group who had been born and raised in France, and in his work, he always looked back to the purest sources of inspiration available to him. Grande cavalcade camarguaise (Lot 1050), offered at this season’s evening sale, reflects how Brasilier learned from the tradition of painting without being stifled by it. The work showcases how he blended Eastern and Western modern art, without forgetting his sources.

André Brasilier was born to a family of artists in 1929 in Saumur, a city in western France. In 1949, he enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and he won the Grand Prix de Rome at age 23. Brasilier held his first solo exhibition in 1952, and from that t.mes onward, he held many exhibitions in cities around the world. He was given a retrospective by the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg in 2005, a test.mes nt to an extraordinary artistic career that has spanned more than six decades.

Brasilier was inspired by two places: Meigné-le-Vicomte, an old town near his birthplace of Saumur, and Loupeigne, where he settled after he married. He was influenced by these rural environments, and he had also been fascinated by the beauty of horses from a young age. He saw in horses loyal companions and kind souls full of living beauty. In Grande cavalcade camarguaise, Brasilier incorporates the beautiful aspects of these inspirational places in a depiction of the ideal peaceful coexistence of man and nature; these places transform into a utopian vision through the artist’s brush.

Brasilier was deeply inspired by Romanticism, Symbolism, and Expressionism, and he sought to depict the soul of his chosen subject. Grande cavalcade camarguaise portrays a winding cavalcade under a blue sky. The horses are almost entirely identical in size and form, which shows that the painting is a constructed landscape derived from the artist’s observations. The blue and white striped sky is also reminiscent of the fluid, distorted orange-red sky in Edvard Munch’s The Scream. In Brasilier’s work, he does not depict the riders’ contours in a painstaking way; he implies that anyone can experience this kind of freedom and ease, which has a subtle connection to the meditations of Munch’s sexless figure. Grande cavalcade camarguaise was inspired by Japanese painter Kaii Higashiyama’s white horses in blue-toned landscapes, as well as the nature imagery of Franco-Chinese poet François Cheng. The black and white horses in the work look like piano keys, with the clouds and forest in the background serving as the strings and woodwinds. These elements mingle into a larger symphony, bringing the viewer on a journey into Brasilier’s spiritual paradise.

André Brasilier’s classic horse-themed works are important pieces in museum collects ions and beloved by international collects ors. During his 2005 retrospective at the State Hermitage Museum, Le Cadre Noir de Saumur, one of his early works, was collects ed by the museum and placed in the company of masterworks by important School of Paris artists, reflecting Brasilier’s museum-worthy status. At auction, Chevauchée hivernale (170 x 205 cm), a work with similar dimensions, sold for £320,000 (HK$3.5 million) in 2019, setting a new auction record for the artist. Grande cavalcade camarguaise is Brasilier’s largest work to appear at auction to date, and as the artist seldom created horse-themed works, collects ors should not let it slip away.

在一次大戰之後至二次大戰之間，來自全世界的頂尖藝術家雲集藝術之都巴黎，濃厚的創作氣氛滋養著不同藝術思潮與流派的崛起，而活躍於此時的藝術家，皆被統稱為「巴黎畫派」。這群來自五湖四海的藝術人才，包括莫迪里亞尼、夏卡爾、藤田嗣治、常玉等，均致力於尋覓具個人特色的藝術語言， 是以成就二十世紀初巴黎百花齊放的藝壇盛況。隨著藝術史的研究發展，「巴黎畫派」的名單陸續增加，1960年由美國New York Graphic Society出版，並分別在法國、意大利及英國版本的<>，將1910年以來活躍於巴黎的藝術家共478人整合收錄，堪稱權威典藉，當中即包括安德烈・布拉吉利以及初到法國的趙無極。在云云異鄉藝術家當中，安德烈・布拉吉利則為當中極少數，土生土長的頂尖法國藝術家。

布拉吉利在1929年生於法國西部城市索米爾的一個藝術世家，其父母同是畫家，父親賈科・布拉吉利更曾在藝術生涯中發起象徵主義藝術運動 。布拉吉利從小在藝術薰陶之下成長，1949年，他入讀巴黎美術學院，及後以23之齡榮獲著名的法國國家藝術獎學金羅馬大獎。布拉吉利在1952年首次舉辦個展，自此於海內外如美國、加拿大、日本、星加坡、香港等地舉辦各類型展覽，2005年更榮獲俄羅斯聖彼得堡的艾米塔吉博物館邀請舉行個人回顧展，為其逾60載藝術生涯的輝煌見證。

「先鋒」一詞在現代藝壇的語境下近乎只褒不貶，力圖擺脫傳統並另闢蹊徑之藝術家，常被冠以此譽。布拉吉利以一名法籍本土畫家的身分立足於巴黎畫派以異鄉藝術家為主的藝文圈之中，無論在文化背景、家境、個人經歷等層面上，他都與遠渡重洋的大多數無法直接聯繫，然而他並沒有選擇跟隨一個於當時發展蓬勃的派系，來適應潮流的發展，反而堅持往內探索，回溯人生不同階段之中，最原始純粹的靈感根源，創作一系列圍繞自然、馬匹、音樂、其妻子和繆斯尚塔爾的精彩作品。「先鋒」於布拉吉利身上彰顯的意義，與史學大家錢穆先生所提出「革新固當知舊」的概念類同，本季首登晚拍的《大卡瑪爾格騎兵隊》（拍品編號1050），正為布拉吉利引鑑傳統而不受其束縛，融貫東西現代藝術而不忘本源之最佳寫照。

藝術家的靈感之地有二：一是位於出生地法國西部城市索米爾的舊城鎮梅涅勒維孔特（Meigné-le-Vicomte），布拉吉利小時候與家人同住鄉郊的老莊園，始被馬匹之美深深吸引； 二是他在婚後遷居的盧佩恩（Loupeigne），那裏鄰近森林，草地和沙灘，既為其畢生創作的靈感來源，亦是其筆下馬匹的馳騁之地 。古今中外不乏描繪駿馬及騎者的作品：中國現代藝壇大師徐悲鴻筆下駿朗矯健的奔馬，印象派大師艾德嘉竇加對馬匹的神態以及騎師的情緒的仔細描繪等，皆偏向著重畫面的動態描寫。相較於駿駒的凜凜英姿，布拉吉利更愛馬之柔情，他尤其喜愛馬匹善良的靈魂，及其自古以來作為人類忠實的夥伴，充滿靈性之美。《大卡瑪爾格騎兵隊》所描繪的圖景，正是藝術家綜合其靈感之地的美好特質，以及人與自然和諧共存的理想形態，繼而幻化筆端的一片心中桃源， 畫面散發一派悠然閒適之氣，空靈曠遠，令人神往。

布拉吉利形容其創作為現實之變貌（transfigurative painting）， 他追求捕捉物象的靈魂，強調主觀表現的創作手法，與其深受浪漫主義和象徵主義，以至現代藝術的表現主義影響息息相關。他曾明言浪漫主義大師歐仁・德拉克洛瓦所述的：「畫作必先作為視覺饗宴」對其啟發甚深 。藝術家在創作《大卡瑪爾格騎兵隊》 時，亦有沿用德拉克洛瓦從自然實境取材，並結合敘事聯想的創作手法：騎兵隊伍在蔚藍天空下蜿蜒前進， 排列整齊且無重疊， 馬匹的大小和形態亦近乎完全相同，可見畫家所描繪的是升騰自景物觀察的心象風景。畫面藍白橫紋相間的天空，同時讓人聯想起表現主義大師愛德華・蒙克的名作《吶喊》中，流動而扭曲的橘紅天空，而布拉吉利在作品中並無著墨於描繪騎兵的細緻輪廓，亦似在隱喻如此自由暢想可以屬於任何人，與蒙克排除人物的性別預設之哲思有著微妙聯繫。

《大卡瑪爾格騎兵隊》亦展現藝術家啟發自與之同年代的東方藝術大師的創作，包括日本藝術巨匠東山魁夷的藍調風景和白馬系列，以及法國著名華裔詩人程抱一以自然為題的詩歌意象。東山魁夷曾表述其在構思白馬系列作品時，猶像聽見莫扎特的鋼琴協奏曲第二樂章的旋律在腦海迴蕩，並觀《大卡瑪爾格騎兵隊》畫面上的黑白駿馬，亦猶如此起彼落的琴鍵，飛舞的雲彩和繁茂的林木背景則像絃樂和管樂，交織成宏偉廣闊而不失柔美的交響樂曲。騎兵隊伍由遠至近，自畫面右上方前行之勢， 與天空的放射雲相互呼應，充分利用作品的畫幅，寬宏大氣。立於作品的宏大尺幅前，猶可隨著縈繞耳畔的悠揚樂韻，引領觀者悠遊其心中的精神樂土，往藝術家的無垠想像中自由馳騁。

布拉吉利筆下的經典馬匹主題，既為博物館級的重要作品，亦備受海內外藏家的密切關注。藝術家在2005年於俄羅斯聖彼得堡艾米塔吉博物館舉行個人回顧展後，其早期創作 《索米爾的騎術學校》即由博物館收藏，並列同時代的巴黎畫派大師傑作，足見藝術家於博物館收藏界別之重要地位。拍賣場上，與本作尺幅相近的《冬日騎行》（170 x 205 cm），已在2019年以逾320,000英鎊（約港幣3,500,000）成交並刷新藝術家的拍賣記錄。本季首登晚拍的《大卡瑪爾格騎兵隊》為至今拍賣市場上最大尺幅， 是藝術家的馬匹主題創作中，屈指可數之難得巨作，實為藏家不容錯過之選！