In the upcoming Autumn sale, Replica Shoes ’s Hong Kong presents Sanyu’s 1950s masterpiece Nu endormi (Lot 1019), presumably his only large-format oil painting whose model can be clearly identified as the artist’s lover. His beloved appears to have just fallen asleep, a ravishing moment depicted with suggestive, erotic brushstrokes. The work is a rare open expression of Sanyu’s private emotional world. The painting incorporates the aesthetic tradition of "leaving void" and the artistic conception of Zen emptiness, which may be considered a breakthrough attempt in reshaping Western surreal perspectives. Replica Shoes ’s Hong Kong recently presented two of Sanyu’s other notable nude paintings from the same period, both entitled Nu. If observing all three works together, it’s clear that they share the same techniques and colour application, yet the creative philosophy of the two Nu paintings are fundamentally different from Nu endormi. The two examples previously sold by Replica Shoes ’s represent Sanyu’s ode to life, a fantastical aesthetic innovation that combines the female form with cosmic philosophy. Nu endormi appears more personal and intimate, representing the artist’s romantic expression of his love life. Various historical records suggest that the blonde in the work was Sanyu’s lover at the t.mes of the painting, making it the best account of the artist's emotional world in his later years. Nu endormi was included in two publications of two volumes of Sanyu’s catalogue raisonne of oil paintings and exhibited in the solo exhibition at Musée Guimet in 2004, an event that attracted attention worldwide. Whether for artistic, aesthetic or academic value, or historical significance, the present lot is truly unique.

The body language of the woman in Nu endormi is natural and relaxed. Her legs fall open casually, as she settles into sleep, and unconsciously brings the tip of her thumb to slightly parted lips. That vision must have aroused two emotions in Sanyu while he was creating this work. The first is erotic desire, inflamed by that impulsive gesture of her finger, perhaps a code for the artist’s passion and tenderness, as well as the ultimate temptation whenever he is looking at his lover. Throughout the history of Western art, eroticism has been an important aspect. Pablo Picasso once proclaimed his view on art and desire: “Sex and art are the same thing…art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.” Picasso’s art was often motivated by love and sex. In the present work, Sanyu was similarly driven, laying bare his own primal desire. The painting shows Sanyu’s lover parting her legs with feline, erotic ease. The seductive posture resembles that of Sanyu’s Léopard, completed in the 1930s (presented in 2017’s Replica Shoes ’s autumn sale). In the latter, the underbelly of the leopard faces upward, revealing her private parts. Connecting these two works, eroticism for Sanyu appears to integrate the human and the animal, discovering the body’s la beauté convulsive and expressing the artist’s innermost desires. The second emotion is Sanyu’s platonic appreciation for the female body. The sleeping woman in the painting unconsciously reverts to a childlike habit of sucking her thumb. Her expression is unsuspecting and innocent. The work is witness to the deep mutual trust and dependence between Sanyu and his lover.

As Nu endormi neared its completion, Sanyu also worked on another painting of the same subject but of smaller dimension, which appeared in the 2018 Replica Shoes ’s spring sale. In that painting, the woman is in a daze, her presence tranquil and sweet, expressing a romantic, ravishing beauty. When viewed alongside the present lot, one can deduce that from the women’s expression and posture in each respective painting that the smaller example depicts the moment when the woman is just falling asleep, whilst the present lot depicts her in a deep slumber – in the artist’s gaze, adoring and sexual all at once, the woman drifts further into the dreamland in her sleep.

Sanyu lived in Paris at a t.mes when Europe was the grand hall of art. Romantic love inspired countless artistic works. Picasso would create emotional portraits of his many lovers throughout his life. Amedeo Modigliani poured his heart and soul into the paintings of his lifelong love, Jeanne Hébuterne. Gustav Klimt immortalised Emilie Louise Flöge in The Kiss. Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita was inspired by Kiki and Youki to embark on the legendary ‘le grand fond blanc’ in the French art circle. Nu endormi was Sanyu’s contribution in this classic subject in Replica Handbags . According to a monography published in 1995 by the art critic Chen Yanfeng, the artist was dating a blonde woman in the 1950s and 1960s, who he then introduced to Chang Daqian as a model (p.37). Days later, Zhang gave Sanyu a signed portrait of his girlfriend. Today this portrait by Zhang Daqian of Sanyu’s girlfriend belongs to the collects ion at Taipei’s National Museum of History. On it are Daqian’s words: “A model posing, showing off her skill, echoing the women on Zhou Fang’s screens. One steps into an ethereal fairyland, yet the waters and blossoms can’t be touched. Five years ago, in Paris, Sanyu introduced a model to me, a delicate beauty. This is written about her. A light-hearted piece. December 12, 1960, Yuan Ong.”

In a large group photo from 1963, titled “Spring Autumn Painting Gathering” and taken in Sanyu’s studio, one can see Sanyu’s female companion sitting above the first row (Chen Yanfeng, Sanyu, p.38). Comparing it to Zhang Daqian’s piece, the features are nearly identical. Comparing, also, the subject in Daqian’s piece to the woman in Nu endormi only further validates the identity of this woman.

Since Adam and Eve tasted forbidden fruit and gained knowledge of good and evil, and thus sexual shame, they used fig leaves to conceal their nudity. Such obscuring has evolved into a subject within Replica Handbags , spurring on artists’ mastery of aesthetics and innovative ability, with myriad expressions developed. In Primavera, Florentine Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli would depict the Three Graces and the goddess of flowers with their bodies veiled. In The Birth of Venus, the goddess uses her hands and long hair to cover herself. Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens would include a hidden metaphor of primal desire in Leda and the Swan while keeping the girl's body entirely covered. The bathing girls shown in the works of Impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas hide parts of their bodies with discreet postures or carefully placed bath towels.

Relatively speaking, aesthetic traditions from Asia tend to be even subtler. Thus, a Chinese-French artist such as Sanyu would have regarded the straightforward nude depiction as a uniquely free expression of imagination, and would have transformed this further through limited brushstrokes. Nu endormi is the finest of example of this. In the present painting, the woman’s body is covered by the suggestion of a white bedsheet, leaving only her head, arms and legs exposed. This “invisible duvet” blurs the boundary between reality and dream, so that the artistic conception of the entire picture has been elevated qualitatively. The void that covers Sanyu’s lover echoes the concept of emptiness (from “the five aggregates are empty’”) in Zen philosophy, and thus her body and mind appear unrestricted and liberated.

This obscuring approach is also key to distinguishing the present lot from the classic Western nude paintings mentioned above, which represent relatively realistic depictions of obscuring the female body, whether through hands, animals or fabrics. In Sanyu's painting, the duvet has lost the sense of real quality, with its boundaries gradually weakened until it is completely integrated with the background. From a spatial perspective, the painting is a continuation of the surrealist style that emerged alongside the art of painting and photography in the early 19th century. American art critic and Columbia University Professor Rosalind E. Krauss once called this approach of expressing spatial contrast and juxtaposition the "invasion of the body by space", (R. Krauss, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths, p. 48). Sanyu used a brand-new surrealistic perspective that blurs the boundaries of the physical body and realistic space, ingeniously using space to break the continuity of the viewer’s logic and senses, evoking much fantasies whilst delivering a visual and mental impact truly unprecedented.

At first glance, the sleeping woman has no way of engaging with Sanyu and dwells within the physical parameters of the composition. As she drifts into the pictorial dreamscape, she transforms to inhabit the artist’s realm of unadulterated imagination – the “invisible duvet” which partially drapes over her torso is a test.mes nt to Sanyu’s unbounded affection for his lover. As she falls into a deep slumber, one can imagine Sanyu gazing lovingly at the curvatures of her silhouette, unable to look away. Nu endormi unveils this fleeting moment of tenderness between the artist and his muse, one which encapsulates the essence of Sanyu’s philosophies and passions. The purity and intensity of Sanyu’s sent.mes nts are reminiscent of those expressed in Japanese Shinkankakuha writer Yasunari Kawabata’s 1961 novel, The House of Sleeping Beauties.

Much like the novel’s aged protagonist, Eguchi, whose infatuation with the sleeping girl toes the line of obsession, Sanyu’s penchant for his lover dances between the boundaries of innocence and erotic desire. The fleshly delineations of the dreaming woman reawaken Sanyu’s youthful virility, instilling within him a newfound ardor for love, as well as a resolution to find the purest forms of solace and meaning in the quotidian. It can be said that The House of Sleeping Beauties offers a window into Sanyu’s soul, from which we can peer into the artist’s spiritual foundation of beauty - Sanyu himself has credited the novel with inspiring the blossoming of his aesthetics. Like the gentle breeze of a warm summer’s night, or the softly sung melodies of a lullaby, Nu endormi leads the viewer to unravel the undulating purities and eloquent passions of beauty.

香港蘇富比是次秋拍隆重呈獻之常玉五〇年代鉅作《睡美人》（拍品編號1019），應是其畢生創作中唯一能夠明確以戀人為模特兒的大尺幅油畫，畫面以滿喻暗示性的情色筆觸雕琢伊人入夢之絕美時刻，罕見地將藝術家的私密情感世界公諸於眾；畫中同時融合東方「留白」美學與禪宗「空靈」意境，突破性地重塑西方超現實視角。若將本畫與同時期的其他裸女主題作品並觀，如香港蘇富比近年呈獻的《曲腿裸女》和《翹腿的裸女》，可見其技法與色彩運用基本一脈相承，但深究其藝術創作之理念，卻有本源性區別：《曲腿裸女》和《翹腿的裸女》旨在表現常玉結合女體形態與宇宙哲理的生命詠嘆，是一種奇想式的美學創新；而本幅《睡美人》則是常玉對於晚年愛情生活最私密、最浪漫的真切表達，成為世人一探藝術家晚年情感世界的最佳線索。《睡美人》不僅見諸於兩本常玉全集，還參與了2004年巴黎吉美亞洲藝術博物館舉辦、並引起全球迴響的〈常玉：身體語言〉大展，綜上所述，無論從藝術性、美學高度、學術價值，還是歷史意義的角度而言，本畫實屬世無其二。

《睡美人》中，女人的肢體語言自然且放鬆，伸出被子外的兩條大腿恣意打開，呈現沉睡狀態；同時櫻唇微張，酣睡中無意識地吮含手指——這看似不經意的動作實際上是常玉內心兩種極端情緒的映射。第一種，是常玉對於慾望的情色描繪。舔舐手指，不僅是其對於戀情柔腸百轉的濃情語碼，更是面對愛人，每分每秒都在煎熬的極致誘惑。縱觀西方藝術史，情色藝術是其中重要一環，不斷出現在古典繪畫中的裸女，舉手投足時常流露挑逗的曖昧情愫，以滿足世人窺探的渴望。現代藝術大師畢加索亦曾明確地表達過他對藝術與情慾的看法：「藝術和性是一碼事……藝術是危險的，但是，如果它純潔了，就不成其為藝術了。」畢翁的創作常以愛和性為原動力，常玉在本作亦是如此，他在《睡美人》中將自己潛意識中原始的慾望托盤而出，女人兩腿大開的體態帶有類似貓科動物般的嬌媚，是一種明顯的情慾暗示。端詳之下，更能發現畫中女人的誘人身姿，與蘇富比2017年秋拍中呈獻的三〇年代作品《花豹》中胸腹朝上、以私密處示人的花豹如出一轍，足見常玉在詮釋情色描寫時將人與動物融匯貫通，發掘身體的驚厥之美，將內心慾望以毫無保留的方式釋放。第二種情緒，即為常玉對女體的珍愛與對貞潔的憧憬。女人毫無防備的沉睡，如同嬰兒般地吮吸手指，天真浪漫，亦是二者互相信賴、依存的深切體現。

在本幅《睡美人》誕生的同時期，常玉還創作過另一幅尺幅較小的同主題作品，曾出現於蘇富比2018年春季晚拍中，畫中麗人鳳眼迷離，呈現寧靜而甜美的神態，體現唯美浪漫的氛圍。若將其與本幅《睡美人》並觀，據兩畫中裸女的神情和姿態，不難推測小尺幅這一張是描繪美人剛入睡之際，而本幅《睡美人》則是美人沉睡之時，可見其創作順序有時間前後之過渡——在常玉愛慾交織的凝望中，女人由淺至深地入睡，最終融為其心底一道化不開的濃情。

常玉所處年代的歐洲藝術殿堂，以對伴侶的愛慕之情為靈感的創作不勝枚舉：畢加索一生以戀人為靈感創作無數情感濃烈的肖像作品；莫迪利亞尼為他的畢生摯愛珍妮·赫布特恩傾盡心血創作無數；克里姆特以愛人艾米莉·弗洛格為原型在《吻》中刻畫出一對相擁親吻的戀人；藤田嗣治受琪琪與小雪的啟發，開啟法國畫壇「乳白色肌膚」之神話；《睡美人》亦是常玉對此番藝術史中經典主題的傳承與昇華。按藝評家陳炎鋒在1995年出版的專著《常玉》第37頁，藝術家在五、六○年代交往著一名金髮女友，常玉更曾於五〇年代中期將她介給張大千擔任模特兒，後者為其女友繪製一幅親筆題字的水墨肖像作品，現為台北歷史博物館典藏，參見大千在此幅作品上之題字：「作態妝喬識汝工，任呼周昉畫屏風，可憐誤入天台夢，流水桃花路不通。五年前在巴黎，常玉介紹一模特兒，頗有姿致，此寫其貌也。重展戲題。庚子年 (1960) 十二月十二日，爰翁。」；另外，按陳炎鋒在《常玉》第38頁收錄的一幅1963年「春秋畫會」拜訪常玉工作室時拍攝的大合照當中，可見一位金髮女郎端坐前排，按陳炎鋒之圖說，此人即為常玉女友。若與本幅《睡美人》中金髮及肩、鳳眼迷離的模特兒與本張舊照以及前文提及的大千作品比對，三者面容輪廓、髮型裝扮實為吻合，應為同一人。由此可見，常玉在創作本畫時，乃以當年的戀人為描繪對象，才得以將熟睡的女人刻畫得入木三分，憐愛之情溢於言表。

縱觀西方藝術史，無論文學還是繪畫作品中，對於身體赤裸部位的遮掩或選擇性的表達，自古有之。自亞當與夏娃因誤食智慧果實而懂得分辨善惡羞恥，就近用兩片無花果樹葉遮擋身體關鍵部位之際起，藝術作品中遮擋逐漸演化成一門考驗藝術家美學造詣與創新的學問，表達方式五花八門：文藝復興時期佛羅倫薩畫派大師桑德羅·波提切利名作《春》中美惠三女神以及右側花神以薄紗蔽體；《維納斯誕生》中女神維納斯通過手與及腿長發遮擋隱私部位；巴洛克畫派代表人物魯本斯《利達與天鵝》中藉以天鵝隱喻原始慾望，同時遮蔽少女身體；印象派鼻祖雷諾瓦及德加筆下的經典的浴女形象亦常以肢體語言或浴巾巧妙地掩飾身體部位。

東方審美則相對含蓄，著重「計白當黑、無聲勝有聲」之意境，在此語境之下，西方美術中對於裸女平鋪直敘的刻畫自然地轉變為一種通過有限筆墨引申出無限暢想的獨特表達方式，《睡美人》即為此番東方美學之最佳典範，畫中金髮伊人沉睡，身體除首足兩端之外全部隱匿於一床雪白被褥中，意境上尤見蘇軾筆下「一樹梨花壓海棠」之詼諧妙趣；而在「留白」手法的運用之外，此床「隱形的被子」模糊現實與夢境的界限，讓整幅畫面的意境得到了質的昇華，恰而適當的空白呼應禪宗思想中「五蘊皆空」的空性，色、受、想、行、識蘊諸法皆空，空白之下的女子似乎在夢中解除了身心的束縛，獲得了自在的解脫。

同時，此番遮掩之道亦是將本畫與前文提及之西方經典裸女作品區分開來之重點：前者無論是借手、其他動物或是織物，均是相對寫實的描繪，而到常玉筆下，被子失去了真實存在的質量感，邊界感亦逐漸削弱，最終完全與背景融為一體，從空間運用的角度而言，畫面延續了19世紀前葉隨繪畫與攝影藝術興起的超現實主義風格，美國藝術評論家、哥倫比亞大學教授羅莎琳·克洛斯曾將此類體現空間反差與並列的風格稱為「空間入侵身體」（“invasion of the body by space”, R. Krauss, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths, p. 48），常玉以一種全新的東方式超現實視角，模糊身體與現實空間的界限，巧妙地利用空間打破觀者邏輯與感官上的連續性，引人遐想，更營造出空前的視覺與精神衝擊。

現實中，沉睡的伊人顯然無法與常玉有任何互動，但一旦進入畫中的夢鄉，她即可化身為藝術家想像空間的極致——伊人身上的這一床「隱形的被子」，便是常玉對其無盡關愛的體現。從入睡到熟睡，可以想像常玉充滿憐愛的目光停留於伊人倩影，彌久不散。可見這段浪蕩子與少女的忘年之情，是常玉在畫中表達自己愛情與人生觀的重要載體和精神寫照，而這種純粹而熱烈的情感描繪呼應日本新感覺派文豪川端康成一九六一年的同名小說作品《睡美人》。

小說中老人江口對於沉睡少女近似痴迷的凝視與臆想，與創作本幅《睡美人》時已邁入老年的常玉對於睡夢中的愛人的迷戀何其相似，二者拿捏着情色戲謔與童貞純情的界限，企圖借女人美麗的肉體重新感受盛年的生機，是對愛情的精神寄託，更是尋求極致美好的慰藉，充滿象徵意義。可以說《睡美人》是打開常玉內心精神世界的一扇窗，從中可以窺視他對於美的精神底蘊，反之，藝術家也借本畫來講述自己一生的美學修養，它就如同一陣蕩漾的夏夜晚風，一首低吟淺唱的安睡曲，引導世人去發掘最純淨又最炙熱的美。