Please note our offices will be closed from Friday March 29 through Monday April 1 for Easter. Local pick-ups will start on Tuesday April 2.
LOT DETAILS
                     
                     
                     
                     

This session is closed for bidding.
Current bid: $10,000 CAD
Bidding History
Paddle # Date Amount
823587 12-Jun-2021 02:11:12 PM $10,000

LOT h031

1938 -
Chinese Canadian

Portrait of Gordon Smith
oil on canvas
signed and dated 2015 and on verso titled on the gallery label
37 3/4 x 29 3/4 in, 95.9 x 75.6 cm

Estimate: $12,000 - $16,000 CAD

Sold for: $12,500

Preview at: Vancouver Art Gallery, 4th Floor

PROVENANCE
Donated by the Artist and the Estate of Gordon Smith
Courtesy of Equinox Gallery, Vancouver


Zheng Shengtian is an artist, scholar and curator based in Vancouver, Canada. He is the Managing Editor of Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, the Adjunct Director of the Institute of Asian Art, Vancouver Art Gallery, a Research Fellow at Simon Fraser University and a Trustee of Asia Art Archive in America. In the 1980s he taught at China Academy of Art in Hangzhou as Professor and Department Chair. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota and at San Diego State University. Since immigrated to Canada in 1990 he was the Chairman of Chinese Canadian Artists Federation in Vancouver, the Secretary of Annie Wong Art Foundation and co-founder of the Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (Centre A). As an independent curator, he has organized and curated numerous exhibitions including Jiangnan - Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibitions, Shanghai Modern, the 2004 Shanghai Biennale, China Trade, Art and China’s Revolution, Landmark and recently, Winds from Fusang toured to USC Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and the Diego Rivera Mural Museum in Mexico City. He was the senior curator for Asia of Vancouver Biennale and won the Lifetime Achievement Award for his curatorial work. He is a frequent contributor to periodicals and catalogues and four volumes of his writing on art and culture were published by China Academy of Art Press in 2013. He has lectured widely at institutions including Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Stanford University, McGill University, Tate Modern, Getty Museum, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, M+ among others. His artwork has been showing in China, USA, Canada and Russia. Zheng received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2013.

This expressive portrait by painter, scholar and teacher Zheng depicts the well-known West Coast artist Gordon Smith (1919 – 2020)—and was given as a gift for Smith’s 95th birthday. Over the course of his 75-year long career, Smith worked to expand the dialogue between abstraction and representation in his paintings and prints. This depiction of one of Canada’s most respected modernist artists bridges Zheng’s own longstanding intellectual and artistic engagement with Chinese and Eurocanadian modernist aesthetics. Contemporaries and colleagues on the local art scene, Zheng and Smith had a great deal of respect and admiration for each other, as this affectionate portrait attests.

Please note: Consignor Hammer Price proceeds of this lot will benefit the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Buyer is hereby advised to read fully the Terms and Conditions of Business and Catalogue Terms, including the Vancouver Art Gallery Art Auction 2021 | Spring Forward HO2 Sale Notice and Special Terms of Sale, and any Addendum or Erratum specific to the Vancouver Art Gallery Art Auction 2021 | Spring Forward HO2 auction.


All prices are in Canadian Dollars


Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.