Wu Guanzhong’s painting reached a peak in the 1970s. In his early days, he studied at the Hangzhou School of Replica Handbags s and then went to France to study modern art. He went through a 30-year period of reflection on his return to China, and carried on painting after he was sent to work in the countryside. He absorbed the natural beauty of his home country and folk aesthetics, forming his own personal "Wu aesthetics". Many of his classic oeuvre were created during the 1970s-80s including the renowned Guilin series and the Rice Paddies of Central Sichuan (Lot 1054). In March 1979, Wu Guanzhong was invited by the School of Art at Southwest Normal University in Chongqing to give lectures. He took the teachers to paint in the Daba Mountains and Da Zu. Rice Paddies of Central Sichuan was created at that t.mes . Paddy fields are a special type of scenery common to southwest China. They allow farming in mountainous areas. Wu Guanzhong was deeply touched by the beauty of the paddy fields, but due to difficult weather conditions he didn’t produce many oil paintings on this theme, which had largely enhanced the rarity of each work. Wu Guanzhong wrote an article on the topic in his prose collects ion Beyond Painting - Forty Essays. This is the complete text:

Paddy Fields

"Paddy fields are planted in terraces and covered in water. The reflection of light is so bright that the people of Sichuan call them mirror fields. Who do these huge mirrors reflect? They reflect the sky. Never say paddy fields are just water. They reflect the subtle sky, as the light from the sky and the shadows of the clouds waver together. It is the silver grey light on the water that I have pursued on my pallet for half my lifet.mes .

Along with the ups and downs of the hillside and the zigzag criss-crossing paths, ink lines flow throughout. Whether they are beautiful or ugly depends on the shape of the hillside. So I stepped onto the muddy ridge carrying a heavy box of oil paints, going up and down, left and right, searching, choosing, matching and setting up an appropriate composition. There were a few little trees on the ridge. They were thin but strong and pretty because they are close to water. Their reflection in the water was very clear. The light sketches present the simplicity and tranquility of the paddy field.

When I choose paddy fields, I consider the season and the terrain. It has to be a cloudy day to avoid interference from the sun. It is a prose poem, so I have to shut out the noise. I am only satisfied with a few of my paddy field paintings. I painted most of them in the 1970s, and it was not easy. I did no more of them thereafter."

In Guanzhong’s artistic philosophy, both oil and ink painting have their own unique features. Therefore, no matter which medium he chose to work with, he always used the other as a supplement. In Rice Paddies of Central Sichuan, the main subject, the paddy fields, was painted using the gossamer tracing technique from Chinese ink painting. This technique emphasizes the tapering and pliability of lines to make clothes look like they are soft and floating. Wu Guanzhong’s highly creative imagination allowed him to create his own artistic language, combining elements from past and present, China and abroad. The connections between the lines he used to represent the paddy fields in Rice Paddies of Central Sichuan and the gossamer traced clothes in ancient paintings are clear. He on the other hand always drew on the advantage of oil paints – the eye-catching colours and strong tension they produce. He used a thick chrome yellow and lake green to highlight the plants in the paddy fields. He also smeared a hint of peach pink onto the little tree in the middle to brighten up the picture. He used a subtly changing silver blue and light cyan to form the texture of the valley in the distance. It conforms to the principle of atmospheric perspective, yet it doesn't overtake the subject. If you look closely, the view in the distance is just as interesting. It is clear that Wu Guanzhong is able to manage a work of any size.

七〇年代是吳冠中油畫創作的高峰期，隨著長達六年的繪畫禁令局部解封，藝術家被允許在下放李村期間的節假日作畫，其在七、八〇年代四出寫生，將早年在杭州藝專及留學法國所研習之現代藝術素養，融於表現自然山川之美。藝術家的許多經典創作主題如桂林系列以及本幅《蜀中水田》（拍品編號1054）等皆出自此時期。一九七九年三月，吳冠中應邀前往重慶西南師範學院美術系講學，同時率領美術系教師到大巴山及大足等地寫生，《蜀中水田》亦在此時誕生。梯田是中國西南的川滇地區常見之特殊地貌，在丘陵山坡上以階台形式沿等高線建築，若碰上年中的灌水季，水田景觀即如層層相疊的澄明鏡子，一天之間的日出日落，雲起霧散，皆倒映在田中水面，美不勝收。然而由於寫生過程需要長途跋涉，加上選景需配合天時地利，藝術家一生以此為主題的油彩作品甚少，其於散文集《畫外四十篇》曾撰文如下：

〈水田〉

「梯田種水稻，田裡灌滿水，一片明亮，四川人謂之鏡子田。偌大的鏡子照誰，照天空。莫道水田僅是水，其間反映了微妙的天空，天光雲影共徘徊，我半輩子在調色板上追求那種銀灰的水色天光。

隨山坡上下迴旋，阡陌蜿蜒曲折，墨線在寰宇間浮游，是美是醜，全憑山坡的體態身段。於是我背著笨重的油畫箱，踩著泥濘的田埂，上、下、左、右地跑、找、選、配，組織既入畫又合理的構圖。田埂上偶植有小樹，瘦瘦的樹襯著水光分外堅硬而俏巧，其落入水中的倒影又那樣清晰，輕描淡寫地繪出了水田之寧靜與淡泊。

選水田要靠季節、地形，還要陰天，避免陽光干擾。是散文詩，要排除噪音。我自己滿意的油畫水田僅寥寥數幅，大都作於七〇年代，均來之不易，是自己的絕響了。」

吳冠中認為油彩與水墨各有其不可取代之處，兩者的融合往往能達相得益彰之效。吳冠中在創作《蜀中水田》油彩版本的同時，亦創作了水墨版本，而此油彩作品即吸收了水墨技巧中「高古游絲描」之長。「游絲描」在古代繪畫中主要作勾勒人物衣服輪廓之用，以尖細柔韌的線條，表現軟薄質輕的衣紋效果。若把《蜀中水田》中勾勒水田的線條與古畫中使用「高古游絲描」繪畫的人物衣服相較，即可見其內在關聯。《蜀中水田》的精妙之處，正正在於藝術家在精品尺幅之上，依然達到遠、近景分明，且滙通中西的能力極高《蜀中水田》以墨色線條勾勒水田的等高線地形，運筆輕快流暢，線條之間可見以青綠、鉻黃突出田間的植被，畫面中央的小樹則以象牙白和桃紅抹染，提亮畫面一片銀灰素雅；遠景的陰影部分以銀藍和淡青的皴擦，繼承印象派運用色彩表現空間形態的技巧，形成與前景梯田景觀的對比肌理。藝術家以輕盈筆觸刻畫田間樹木的倒影，呈現「鏡子田」的獨特印象。《蜀中水田》無論在用色、筆觸、以至構圖透視方面，皆盡見藝術家累積自數十年來的寫生經驗，對於統合畫面元素的敏銳觸角。

本季晚拍，蘇富比共呈獻吳冠中三幅寫生作品，包攬其最為人所稱道的風景主題：桂林、水田以及西雙版納。三幅作品的靈感來源均來自藝術家經歷文革下放農村的低潮後，在七〇年代晚期否極泰來，繼而前往各地采風寫生的珍貴記錄，見證藝術家在創作路上的不懈耕耘，並且在油畫民族化的道路上，致力於融和西方現代主義與東方書畫傳統的之明證，時代意義與收藏價值無容置疑。