Born in China, Sanyu lived his life in Paris and through his immense talent became a legend of his generation. This season, Replica Shoes ’s Hong Kong is honoured to offer Académie de dos, sur tabouret (Lot 1021), which has been in the collects ion of the van Oosterom family in Rotterdam for close to half a century. This is the first t.mes that this lost gem has been presented since it was created 90 years ago, offering a valuable opportunity to appreciate one of Sanyu’s early works.

Académie de dos, sur tabouret was painted in the early 1930s, at a t.mes when Sanyu had a close relationship to his first dealer Henri-Pierre Roché. Sanyu broadened his social circles through Roché and became immersed in the flourishing Paris art world of the Années folles (the “crazy years” of the roaring 1920s). Around this t.mes , Sanyu began studying painting at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where he made more than a thousand sketches. The same style of stool appears multiple t.mes s in works with similar compositions, which shows that this piece is related to his drawing classes at the academy.

Sanyu had an all-encompassing vision, and in Paris, the world’s “capital of the arts”, his work was closely connected to avant-garde thinking of the t.mes . The composition of this piece faintly echoes the famous Le Violon d'Ingres (1924) by Man Ray. In the surrealist photograph, Ray’s model Kiki de Montparnasse resembles the model in Académie de dos, sur tabouret in a number of ways from the short hairstyle to posture. The two works are similar in the way the artists offer irreverent commentary on the figure. Man Ray created a surreal world in a photograph, while Sanyu outlined an exaggerated, distorted torso with calligraphic lines, attenuating the figure’s sensuality with creativity.

A Beautiful Treasure with a Rare Provenance

The original owner of Académie de dos, sur tabouret was Henri-Pierre Roché, the first to collects Sanyu’s works in Paris. Roché was a collects or and dealer with a great eye, as well as a writer. He had a wide circle in the Paris art world, and after meeting Sanyu in the late 1920s, Roché bought more than 100 oil paintings and 600 drawings throughout the years.

Roché’s personal art collects ion was very organised. With the help of his wife Denise, he made an inventory of his collects ion, which included Sanyu’s work, and systematically recorded them in a ledger. Item 48 is “Toile huile, Académie de dos, sur tabouret, 73 x 50 20M,” which is Académie de dos, sur tabouret. The back of the work’s original frame still bears Roché’s Item 48 label and handwritten initials, which is consistent with the markings on other Sanyu works in Roché’s collects ion and confirms the first owner of this painting. The appendix to Sanyu Catalogue Raisonné: Oil Paintings Volume II contains “The Henri-Pierre Roché Inventory of Paintings by Sanyu with Corresponding Catalogue Raisonné Numbers,” but mistakenly identifies Item 48 in Roché’s collects ion as Nu assis (CR14). Later, Rita Wong, the editor, was invited to personally examine Académie de dos, sur tabouret in the van Oosterom family collects ion and confirmed that this work was Item 48 in Roché’s collects ion.

After Roché died in 1959, his wife gradually sold off his collects ion. Many of Sanyu’s paintings in the collects ion were purchased by the young Paris dealer Jean-Claude Riedel, including Académie de dos, sur tabouret. This sale was clearly recorded in Denise Roché’s account records: Sanyu’s Académie de dos, sur tabouret, Item 48 in Roché’s collects ion, was sold to “RIEDEL,” indicating Jean-Claude Riedel, the second owner of the work, for 415 Francs in October 1971. This transaction record and Roché’s other papers and letters are currently in the collects ion of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin.

Riedel was Sanyu’s most important promoter. His gallery opened with “Hommage à Sanyu” in 1977. The gallery’s price list for Sanyu’s work contains nineteen oil paintings, thirteen of which were made in the 1930s. Work #41, captioned “Femme rose sur une chaise 1930 50 x 74 SBG 18.000 F,” is Académie de dos, sur tabouret. Riedel tried his utmost to sell Sanyu’s work, but he sold very few pieces after the exhibition; this painting is an important exception.

L.M.W. van Oosterom’s passion for art and extraordinary worldview is evident from his collects ion. In the 1970s, van Oosterom would often take his three young sons to Paris to visit galleries, which was how they encountered Sanyu’s work at Galerie Jean-Claude Riedel. The first t.mes that van Oosterom saw Sanyu’s work, he was deeply moved and purchased Académie de dos, sur tabouret and the drawing Nu (Lot 1022) from Riedel. This transaction between Riedel and van Oosterom was confirmed by Nelly Riedel, Jean-Claude’s daughter.

Based on old photographs provided by the collects ors, 40 years have passed since Académie de dos, sur tabouret entered the van Oosterom family collects ion in 1977. Today, the family and Replica Shoes ’s are delighted to present this rare gem to the world.

常玉一生浪跡巴黎，憑藉非凡的魅力與天賦，締造一代藝壇傳奇。本季，香港蘇富比榮幸徵得來自荷蘭鹿特丹的梵・奧斯特羅姆家族珍藏近半世紀之《椅子上的背姿裸女》（拍品編號1021），此一曠世遺珠在創作完成九十年後首度曝光，誠為鑒賞常玉早年筆下芳華的珍稀機遇，細訴著藝術家在繁華年代所經歷的繽紛與燦爛。

《椅子上的背姿裸女》作於三〇年代初，其時常玉與第一任經紀人侯謝關係密切，常玉透過侯謝得以拓闊社交圈，並浸淫在「狂飆年代」下迅速發展的巴黎藝壇。與此同時，常玉進入風氣自由開放的大茅屋學院習畫，與不少當時灸手可熱的藝術家並肩作畫，期間創作逾千幅速寫素描，在構圖相近的作品中更多次出現同款凳子，由此可見本作之構思與其在大茅屋寫生的經歷不無關係。

常玉抱持無垠的視角，親歷世界藝術之都，其作品亦與當時的前衛思潮緊緊掛鉤，如本作之構圖即隱然呼應著先鋒派藝術家曼・雷於1924年所創之超現實攝影名作《安格爾的提琴》。《安格爾的提琴》中的模特兒是有「蒙帕納斯女王」之稱的琪琪，她豐腴兼魅惑的體態，深得巴黎畫派諸位的追捧，其出眾的形象亦見於藤田嗣治、莫迪里安尼等名家筆下無數的經典作品中；《椅子上的背姿裸女》中的模特兒梳著短爽的髮型，與琪琪之造型一致，更與同年代以琪琪為模特兒之常玉油畫隱然呼應。曼・雷利用相機影像塑造超現實的世界，常玉則以其書法性的線條勾勒誇張變形的胴體，以富幽默感的手法淡化坦蕩蕩的情色意味，在一片「留白」的意境裏創寫東方美學的現代篇章。

《椅子上的背姿裸女》的原藏者是常玉在巴黎的第一位收藏家亨利・皮爾・侯謝。侯謝不僅是一位眼光獨到的收藏家兼經紀人，同時亦是一位才華出眾的文學家，擁有多重社交身份的他在二十世紀初的巴黎藝圈交遊廣闊，並在二〇年代末結識到常玉，在交誼的短短數年間，侯謝購藏了常玉逾百件油畫及600幅素描。

侯謝對於個人的藝術收藏處理得細心妥當，在其妻子丹尼絲的協助下，生前已清點所有藏品並有系統地編錄成冊本，當然亦包括常玉的作品，其中庫存第48項：「Toile huile, Académie de dos, sur tabouret, 73 x 50 20M」即指《椅子上的背姿裸女》 。本作的原裝畫框背面仍然貼有侯謝的第48號庫存標籤，以及侯謝手繪的首字母標號，與其餘侯謝的常玉藏品標記方式一致，由此確立本作的第一任來源。在《常玉油畫全集第二冊》的附錄中，亦載有侯謝收藏對應油畫全集編號的清單，當中的侯謝庫存第48號被誤記為全集編號14之《椅子上的裸女》，後來衣淑凡女士更獲邀親身檢驗梵・奧斯特羅姆家族藏之《椅子上的背姿裸女》，由此確認侯謝庫存第48號實指本作。

侯謝於1959年辭世，其妻子丹尼絲陸續將他的藏品出售，而包括《椅子上的背姿裸女》在内的大多常玉作品，都被年輕的巴黎畫商尚・克勞德・希耶戴所購藏。此一銷售在丹尼絲・侯謝的手帳中清晰記錄，侯謝庫存第48號的常玉作品《椅子上的背姿裸女》在1971年10月以415法郎售予「RIEDEL」，亦即本作之第二任藏家希耶戴；這份交易記錄連同其餘的侯謝手稿和書信，現藏於德克薩斯州大學哈利・蘭森中心。

希耶戴是常玉身後最重要之市場推動者，其畫廊於1977年即以「禮讚常玉」作爲開幕展，在當年畫廊的常玉作品價目表中，一共列出19件油畫，當中13件創於三〇年代，編號41「Femme rose sur une chaise 1930 50 x 74 SBG 18.000 F」即指《椅子上的背姿裸女》。希耶戴推廣常玉不遺餘力，但該次展覽後售出的作品並不多，而本作即爲重要一例。

來自荷蘭鹿特丹的L.M.W. 梵・奧斯特羅姆先生對藝術與文化充滿熱情，尤其對非洲和大洋洲手工藝品產生了濃厚的興趣，其收藏亦包括了當代藝術如威廉・德庫寧等，非凡的世界觀在其豐富的藏品中顯而易見。七〇年代，梵・奧斯特羅姆先生經常攜同三名年幼的兒子到巴黎參觀畫廊，並因而接觸到在尚・克勞德・希耶戴畫廊及其展出之常玉畫作。梵・奧斯特羅姆先生首度親炙這位來自中國的藝術家筆下之作，已深深被打動，在展覽後不久又回到該畫廊，向希耶戴直接購藏了《椅子上的背姿裸女》以及素描作品《背姿裸女》（拍品編號1022），引證常玉裸女畫之獨特魅力。此項希耶戴與梵・奧斯特羅姆先生的重要交易，獲得希耶戴的女兒奈莉・希耶戴親證，本作的收藏歷史脈絡從此清晰完整。

《椅子上的背姿裸女》自1977年起進入梵・奧斯特羅姆家族收藏至今，世代相傳，與之共度四十載美好的光陰。以現藏家提供之舊照片為證，本作一直神隱荷蘭鹿特丹梵・奧斯特羅姆家族囊中，如今終於由藏家與蘇富比共同破解芳踪之謎，珍罕無比。