Third edition of The Loaded B, a curated display of masterpieces from private collections, celebrating the influence of Vincent of Gogh on many artists over the last century.
Focusing on themes such as the concept of everyday work, early modernist Paris and the control of the brush in contemporary painting, each piece is a superb example of the creative possibilities when an artist is armed with a "loaded brush".
Jussi Pylkkänen, Global President, comments: “The work of Vincent van Gogh, the great genius of painting and early modernism of the late XNUMXth century, has had a profound influence on many artists over the years. We are delighted to be able to bring together works influenced by this master painter, particularly in Asia where there is continued interest in masterpieces of this calibre. The Loaded Brush exhibit offers an unprecedented opportunity to view works of art that have rarely been seen in public.”
This curated exhibition features approximately 80 works, with approximately 40 works for sale, by many of the most celebrated artists in Western art history that come from large private collections from around the world.
The scope of the exhibition reveals the range of works by artists who inspired Vincent van Gogh in his artistic career as well as the procession of great artists who have followed his creative lead since his untimely death in 1890. Leading Impressionists including Alfred Sisley , Camille Pissarro , Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Gauguin, who often worked en plein air with a novel of spontaneity and rapidity, exemplify the stylistic development that van Gogh underwent early in his career. Employing a variety of different textural and chromatic effects, Camille Pissarro's Vaches s'abreuvant dans l'étang de Montfoucault, automne (illustrated above) reflects the growing importance of performance in Pissarro's compositions in the 1870s, as he began to communicate his vision with ever bolder brushstrokes and an extraordinarily vivid color palette.
In Paris, van Gogh's work changed dramatically as he discovered a world of metropolitan splendor filled with noise, colour, artistic debate and avant-garde painting. Here van Gogh experimented with impressionist techniques, toyed with pointillism and eventually established his own Arles pictorial language which would become so recognizable within his oeuvre. At the same time, Pablo Picasso was experimenting with the techniques of Impressionist painters and Toulouse Lautrec, but it was under van Gogh's influence that he was truly drawn, seen clearly in examples such as Les courses à Auteuil (illustrated above) and Sur l'impériale traversant the Seine. While Picasso's experiments in this style were brief and quickly assimilated, Fauve artists working in Paris would continue van Gogh's experiments with explosive color and thick, impasto brushstrokes, seen through the works of Vlaminck, Derain and van Dongen.
Other superb examples by Jenny Saville, Zao Wou-Ki, Lucio Fontana and Leon Kossoff show the range of artworks represented, encompassing the fields of Impressionism and Modern Art, Contemporary Asian Art and Post-War and Contemporary Art. Complementing the Christie's Hong Kong auction series, which runs from November 24-28, The Loaded Brush offers the opportunity to see works primarily sold in Christie's rooms in New York or London. Many of the works are for sale, with several pieces on loan from major collectors to complete the curation of this fascinating show.
