A significant work hailing from a rare series of pale, predominantly white landscapes executed from 1979-1981, Clair et Obscur (Lot 1041) represents the artist’s signature 1970s style which was profoundly informed by literati Chinese landscape painting. Sublime in its ethereal, spiritual quality, the present lot shows two soft mountainous peaks shrouded in thick clouds and snow as Lalan’s delicate brush suggests, without explicating, their rhythmic forms. Lalan found white to be “powerful but ambiguous…fluid, luminous but also sombre”¹ as exemplified in Clair et Obscur’s light palette. The present work’s elusive tranquillity captures the essence of Lalan’s multifaceted practice – accomplishing a harmonious synaesthesia of music, dance and art, that could only be achieved by distilling Lalan’s unique inspirations. Exhibited at Galerie Bellint in Paris (1981-1982), Clair et Obscur was accompanied by Lalan’s revolutionary L’art sythèse or “spectacles” where dancers performed to music compositions in front of paintings of vast, atmospheric landscapes. Clair et Obscure was also included in Lalan’s pivotal Espace Pierre Cardin retrospective show in 1990, and more recently at the Espace culturel du Lavandou in 2010 and holds rich exhibition history. Indeed, the sheer simplicity of the present lot belies the sophisticated language that informed its creation.

Lalan ceased to paint for a year, and instead focused on studying Chinese traditional landscapes and Taoist texts, frequently returning to China. She soon saw painting as a transcendental search for interior truth, to draw deeper insights into the correlation of nature and life. Lalan often expressed her admiration of the Southern Song Dynasty masters, especially Ma Yuan and Xia Gui of the “one-corner” school, who were both native to Lalan’s hometown, present day Hangzhou. The 1970s landscapes saw Lalan’s daring use of negative space and sparse simplicity exemplified in Clair et Obscur and La lune est voilée, sold at Replica Shoes ’s in March 2019 for 6,775,000 HKD, the artist’s auction record at the t.mes .

While the latter’s composition depicts a skewed foreground, the floating peaks in the present work are highly abstract, barely offering a sense of background or foreground. This minimalistic vignette recalls Ma and Xia’s mystical backdrops where gradations of ink wash alluded to distant lands lost in mist. Lalan renders the spatial transitions by applying subtle shades of white, yellow, and grey with captivating effect, exploring the meditative dialogue between light and dark which occupied her earlier work. The restrained use of yellow and ochre illuminates the composition with warmth, suggesting the gentle rays of a rising sun and creating a paradisal dream-like quality. The mountainous forms are asymMetricas lly composed, their elegant outlines undulate like shifting melodies, or rhythmic movements, rising and falling into the amorphous white vastness. Clair et Obscur is an elegant example of Lalan’s ability to balance emptiness and substance, void and wholeness, lucidity and ambiguity in her painting.

謝景蘭在1979至1981年間創作了一系列以白色為主的風景畫，本拍品《清澈與朦朧》（拍品編號 1041）是其中一幅，珍貴罕有。此畫代表了謝景蘭1970年代深受中國傳統文人山水影響的經典風格。畫家透過細膩的筆觸，呈現出山巒高低有致的韻律，雖然沒有清晰的輪廓，但在氤氳雲霧之間，仍依稀可見兩座雪峰相對而立，整個畫面猶如太虛幻境，空靈飄渺。謝景蘭認為白色富含力量，但有一點兒曖昧，予人流通感，很明亮但也有一點陰沉¹，《清澈與朦朧》透過淺淡的色調，把這些內涵展現得淋漓盡致。作品中瀰漫著一股超凡脫俗的幽深冷寂，凝聚了畫家在多個藝術領域的臻絕造詣——音樂、舞蹈和美術三者渾融一體，唯有多才兼善的謝景蘭才可以從中提煉出這種感知互通的境界。

此畫於1981至1982年在巴黎貝林特畫廊（Galerie Bellint）展出，展覽期間，舞者在澒濛大氣的風景畫前，隨著音樂翩翩起舞，這是謝景蘭開創的名為「景觀」的綜合藝術（L’art sythèse）。此畫也曾入選1990年皮耶・卡登藝文空間（Espace Pierre Cardin）的謝景蘭重要畫展，以及2010年拉旺杜文化中心（Espace culturel du Lavandou）的展覽，展出歷史豐富。誠然，《清澈與朦朧》的畫面清簡素淨，很容易令人忽略創作背後的複雜內涵。

謝景蘭曾經擱下畫筆長達一年，轉而研習中國古代山水和道家經典，並多次往返中國。她把繪畫視為追求內在真實、深入探尋天人關係的方式。她傾慕南宋水墨大家，尤其是並稱「馬夏」的馬遠和夏圭，兩人與謝景蘭一樣，均為浙江杭州人，且喜以「一角」和「半邊」的取景方式來引申出廣闊的空間。謝景蘭1970年代的風景畫大膽運用負空間和疏朗的構圖，本作與《遮掩的月》正是箇中典範，後者於2019年3月在蘇富比以6,775,000港元成交，創下謝景蘭當時的拍賣紀錄。

《遮掩的月》前景錯落有致，本作中的山峰則彷彿漂浮在半空，極盡抽象形態，並無明顯的前景和背景之分。簡約的風景讓人想起馬、夏二人的遠山邈水，他們以水墨渲染，暈出霧靄中隱約浮現的島嶼。謝景蘭以深淺不一但色調差異微妙的白色、黃色和灰色，構成引人入勝的空間過渡，其早期作品中重視的明暗對比，在本作中得到充分體現。含蓄的黃色和赭色為畫面披上一層暖光，好像柔和的晨曦，如夢似幻。遙遙相望的山峰並沒有採用對稱構圖，優美的輪廓有如高低起伏的旋律，又彷彿蘊含節奏，在杳茫深廣的白色流形中飛揚、落下。謝景蘭善於平衡畫面的虛與實、整與缺、以及清澈與朦朧，本作標題開宗明義，印證了她的高超造詣。