In the vast expanse of history, an artist's career is fleeting. It relies on chance and historical records to fill in the gaps, allowing many masterpieces to escape obscurity and sparing us the regret of lost treasures. Taiwanese scholar Chen Yen-fon a.k.a Antoine Chen, an art expert based in France, stands out as a discerning connoisseur and a kindred spirit to Sanyu's art. The 2024 Autumn Auction by Ravenel features the "Antoine Chen's Sanyu Collection" section in Modern and Contemporary Art, showcasing six precious ink drawings and watercolor by Sanyu that Antoine Chen brought back to Taiwan in early years.

These works have now been directly acquired from Antoine Chen's family by the current collector. The lot 041 "Reclining Nude" is the featured artwork on the Taiwanese photographer during the Japanese0colonial period. Comparing the lives of Antoine Chenand Sanyu, the two were born half a century apart and did not know each other. However, they both hailed from affluent merchant families, were naturally gifted, and shared a deep love for art. They both went to Paris in succession to further their studies in art, contributing to the momentum of cultural exchange between Eastern and Western art. In 1966, Sanyu passed away in Paris due to an accident. His posthumous works were auctioned at the Drouot, with some acquired by French collector Michel Habart (1911-1987). That same year, Antoine Chen was studying drawing and modern painting theory with Li Zhong-sheng, nurturing his vision of studying abroad in France. This also created the opportunity for his later friendship with Michel Habart, ultimately bringing Sanyu back into the Chinese art world. Although Sanyu never visited Taiwan, his art took root here. By a stroke of fate, forty-two of his oil paintings are preversed at the National Museum of History in Taiwan. In 1978, the National Museum of History held the first retrospective exhibition of the artist. It is the art institution with the largest and most complete collection of Sanyu's late-period works in the world. However, it was Antoine Chen's tireless research and decades of efforts to introduce Sanyu to the art market that truly opened the door to the public's recognition of the artist. In 1982, Antoine Chen organized the "Sanyu: Drawings and Watercolors from the Sanyu Era"exhibition at Printmaker Gallery in Taipei and

published Sanyu's biography "Sanyu: Une Chanson cover of the 1984 invitation for the "Sanyu: Drawing and Watercolor in Paris" at the Oriental Gallery in Paris. The Lot 045 "Study of Hands" is included in the biography "Overseas Chinese Fine Arts Series: Sanyu", published by the Artist's Press in 1995. Antoine Chen was born in 1949 in Taichung, Taiwan. He is the son of Mr. Chen Geng-bin, the founder of Hsing Tai Color Printing Company and the first Nostalgique." In 1988, he assisted the Taipei Fine

Arts Museum in holding the special exhibition "China à Paris"; in 1995, he co-organized the National Museum of History's "Sanyu Retrospective Exhibition" and compiled the catalog "Overseas Chinese Fine Arts Series: Sanyu," pioneering the

study of Sanyu in the Chinese world."Every line in the full-body depiction of the nude speaks, shouting the anguish of sexuality. ...Look at his structure! His lines! ...Simplicity within complexity, and complexity within simplicity!" - Friend of Sanyu, Sinmay Zau (Poet of The Crescent Moon Society, 1906-1968) Having studied traditional calligraphy from a young age, Sanyu was highly skilled in brushstrokes and had a deep sense of rhythm and variation in his technique. After arriving in Paris, he enrolled at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where he began drawing nude sketches and spent the next ten year honing his Western painting techniques. Using his familiar ink and brush tools, he captured the rhythm of the human from with flowing and graceful lines. The concept of "freehand" in Chinese painting, which simplifies the complex, resonated with the wave of modernism in the Western world at that time. At the same time, the rise of "Surrealism" in Paris during the 1920s, along with advancements in photography, provided richer visual distortions. From the "thighs of the universe" described by poet Xu Zhi-mo to the various ever-changing poses of nudes, Sanyu's work reveals his enthusiastic embrace of new ideas and his open-mindedness in creating a personal style.