Liu Xiaodong - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale Hong Kong Sunday, November 25, 2018 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private Collection
    Ravenel, Hong Kong, 30 May 2011, lot 43
    Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

  • Literature

    Song Xiaoxia, ed., Works of Liu Xiaodong 1990-2000, Beijing, 2000, p. 65 (illustrated)
    Jean Marc Decrop, ed., RedFlag Collection: Liu Xiaodong, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 66 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    Liu Xiaodong is one of China’s foremost contemporary painters. As massive social, industrial, and geographical change came post-Cultural Revolution, so did a “New Generation” of figurative painters aiming to combat the outdated aesthetics of Socialist-Realism. Liu Xiaodong uses Neo-Realism, often painting ‘en plein air’, as a means to focus on the ordinary world and present the realities of life in modern China. He paints with an interest in time, creating a documentary-like narrative around his subjects. Here, a typical Chinese bathhouse is depicted, its heat and steam captured in black and white. By cementing an everyday activity within the context of a rapidly evolving country, Liu gives it an implicit sense of value.

63

Boys in the bathhouse no. 5

2000
signed and dated 'Xiaodong [in Chinese] 00' lower right
acrylic on paper laid on canvas
137 x 137 cm. (53 7/8 x 53 7/8 in.)
Executed in 2000.

Estimate
HK$500,000 - 700,000 
€56,300-78,800
$64,100-89,700

Sold for HK$437,500

Contact Specialist
Jonathan Crockett
Deputy Chairman, Asia and Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Asia
+852 2318 2023

Isaure de Viel Castel
Head of Department
+852 2318 2011

Charlotte Raybaud
Specialist, Head of Day Sale
+852 2318 2026

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale

Hong Kong Auction 26 November 2018