PANG TSENG-YING (1916-1997)
You, He, and Me
Scroll, mounted and framed, oil on paper
39 x 53.3 cm. (15 ³⁄₈ x 21 in.)
Inscribed and signed by the artist
Dated 1961

Christie's Hong Kong, 20th Century Chinese Art, 27 October 2002, Lot 115.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1916, Pang Tseng-Ying grew up in Beijing, China, where he began a conventional art education when he was little. He had practiced Chinese calligraphy since his childhood under his mother’s instruction, and studied traditional Chinese painting from an early age. He was accepted by the Jinghua College of Art at the Beiping University in Beijing at 18, where he focused his study on Western painting. He then received a scholarship to study in Japan, and entered the Nihon University. Upon graduation, he returned to teach at the Jinghua College of Art in Beijing. He brought his family to Taiwan in 1949, where he taught at the First Girl’s High School, National Fine Arts College, and Fu-Hsin Trade & Arts School. He held his first solo exhibition at New York’s Argent Gallery in 1954, putting on display the works he painted in the Mainland, Taiwan, and Tokyo. The exhibition received prominent media coverage. A member of the modern painting movement during the 1950s and 60s, Pang had produced numerous oil paintings during the years he spent in Taiwan. In 1965 Pang received the highest national honor, the Chiang Kai-shek Award. In 1966 he took up the residency in the U.S., where he garnered attention and praise from the art circle, cementing his status among seminal modern painters.

Resonating with his life motto, Pang Tseng-Ying’s painting philosophy advocates that painting — in addition to embodying the act of creation — should substantiate three indispensable facets: truth, sensibility, and reality. His early oil paintings are rendered in surrealist style, using techniques of brushing, smearing, dripping, and flowing to create unrestrained, rapid brushwork that forms abstract imagery.Elaborate flora and fauna paintings are also among Pang’s better-known works. A robust palette coupled with a sophisticated composition evokes the style of arts from the Five Dynasties period. Inspired by embroidery, brocade, and dyed silks of the Tang Dynasty, his work teems with dynamic colors, vibrant motifs, and palpable textures that blend into a singular Eastern aesthetics.East and West are fused in Pang Tseng-Ying’s watercolors, which encapsulate the scientific and realistic approach of the West, as well as the subdued, idealistic, and philosophical underpinnings of Chinese ink painting.

Important exhibitions include: Pang Tseng-Ying, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (2006); Pang Tseng-Ying, Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan (2000); Artists: 80 Plus and Going Strong, Taipei Gallery, New York, New York, U.S. (1997); Renowned Chinese Painters in New York, St. John’s University Gallery, Jamaica, New York, U.S. (1987); Pang Tseng-Ying Solo Exhibition, National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan (1983); Painting by the Chinese Artist Pang Tseng-Ying, The Church Center of the United Nations, New York, U.S. (1967); The First Painting Exhibition of Chi Hsiang Studio, The Press Building, Taipei, Taiwan (1961); The Exhibition of Oils on Paper by the Contemporary Artist Pang Tseng-Ying, Argent Gallery, National Association of Women, New York, New York, U.S. (1954).