Embrace the Art Within – Limited Print Edition Show of San Yu
Donna Art is delighted to announce the upcoming exhibition “Embrace the Art Within – Limited Print Edition Show of San Yu” from March 4th to May 4th, 2024 at Gallery 101 in Taipei 101. This exhibition brings together globally limited edition prints of San Yu’s artworks, issued by institutions such as the National Museum of History Taipei, galleries, and enterprises in 2017 and 2018. These prints are produced using museum-grade acid-free art paper and canvas through digital micro-jet technology. With the aim of integrating art into home environments, Donna Art has carefully selected twenty-nine limited edition prints with themes of flowers, still life, and animals, inviting art enthusiasts to savor the elegance and style of San Yu’s paintings.
San Yu (1901-1966), a master artist hailed as the “Oriental Matisse” in the global art scene, blended Eastern ink painting with Western Fauvist visual styles, making his works popular worldwide since the 1920s. Born in Nanchong, Sichuan, China (formerly known as Shunqing), San Yu began learning painting from his father at a young age and later studied calligraphy under the calligrapher Zhao Xi. In 1921, he traveled to Paris to pursue art. In Paris, San Yu met Pierre-Henri Hoché, the largest collector in Paris, and his works began to gain attention and collectability in the French art scene, exhibiting in multiple galleries and participating in autumn and independent salon exhibitions. Nudes, flowers, and animals were his three main creative themes. The National Museum of History Taipei has held retrospective exhibitions for San Yu in 1978, 1984 and1990 respectively, as well as a grand commemorative exhibition in year 2001 on the occasion of San Yu’s centenary. A retrospective San Yu’s exhibition was held in Guimet Museum in Paris in June 2004 exhibiting more than 60 works, demonstrating his importance as a Chinese artist in the international art scene.
According to “The Complete Works of San Yu’s Oil Paintings,” San Yu created a total of 133 flower paintings in his lifetime, with 55 of them featuring chrysanthemums. In the Asian modern art market, San Yu’s paintings have fetched record-breaking prices, pushing his value to over one billion Taiwanese dollars. Among them, works featuring flowers have achieved astonishing prices, highlighting the representativeness of flowers in San Yu’s artworks. Flowers are not only his attempt to continue the connotation of traditional Chinese literati painting but also a medium to allude to his life journey. Just like the chrysanthemums depicted in his paintings, they often exist in bold compositions, filled with imaginative spaces and surreal scenes, appearing proud and independent, yet existing in the flower capital of Paris where all flowers bloom together.
Donna Art warmly welcomes art enthusiasts from all walks of life to visit the “Embrace the Art Within – Limited Print Edition Show of San Yu” and immerse themselves in the artistic world of San Yu, experiencing the fusion and beauty of Eastern and Western art.
Exhibition Period: March 4th to May 4th, 2024
Curated by: Donna Art
Venue: Gallery 101 (1st Floor, No.7, Sec. 5, Xinyi Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City)