Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Literature

U. Grosenick, C. H. Schubbe, eds., China Art Book, Cologne, 2007, p.615 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
"Zhang's artworks focus on the relationship with the past, memory and history.The artist has always placed an emphasis on the existence of history and memory in the present. In his works, history exists in the present, there is no way to erase it, and it is continuously being revised. It is impossible to not involve history, our current perception is too derived from our memories. Zhang has always been a traditional artist, who expresses man's experiences and emotions through his paintings.Those scintillating spots, scars and lines on his canvases reveal the references to history and there lease of emotions. Such traditional expression and the insistence on it brings us back to the belief in and worship of painting's narrative." (L. Leng, Revision: Zhang Xiaogang, Pace Wildenstein,2008. p. 7)
To the artist's generation of Chinese citizens, the colour grey is a protective coat often donned during the Cultural Revolution: a comforting indifference within the masses, an emotional nostalgia of the fading past and an uneasy thread between dreams and reality.The blurriness of Zhang's technique has been compared to Gerhard Richter's paintings: both use old photographs as resources, the lines melt into forms, and an ambiguity is introduced into the painting.The idea of realism is deliberately removed; a distance is created between the painting and its source: in this case, possibly a vintage photograph.The canvas' metaphorical grey displays the vast emptiness of the self-exiled generation.The serene expression of the dispassionate young lady in this present lot only raises questions. Who is she, and where is she going? Is she gazing through reality or have we caught her in a dream state? A patch of yellow light lands on the emotionless visage, directing us into her gaze, which extends into a complex reverie.
Artist Biography
Zhang Xiaogang
Chinese • 1958
Relying on memory and inspired by family portraits from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Zhang Xiaogang creates surreal, subtle artworks that explore the notion of identity in relation to the Chinese culture of collectivism. Using a muted, greyscale palette, Xiaogang repeatedly depicts a series of unnervingly similar figures, often dressed in identical Mao suits, to create an endless genealogy of imagined forebears and progenitors. Their somber, melancholy gazes are interrupted only by thin red bloodlines intimating familial links as well as occasional pale splotches of color resembling birthmarks.
Xiaogang investigates how to express individual histories within the strict confines of a formula. His sitters, while appearing muted and compliant, are given physical exaggerations: oversized heads, tiny hands and long noses. These distortions imply stifled emotions and give a complex psychological dimension to the artist's work.
View More Works

19

Zhang Xiaogang

Untitled

2006
Oil on canvas.
200 x 260 cm. (78 3/4 x 102 3/8 in).
Signed and dated 'Zhang Xiaogang 2006 [in Chinese]' lower right.

Estimate
£300,000 - 400,000 ≠†

Contemporary Evening Sale

29 June 2009, 7pm
London

1
Gert and Uwe Tobias
Untitled
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ♠
Sold for £32,450
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2
Sergej Jensen
Odd Couple
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ‡♠
Sold for £26,250
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3
Barry McGee
Untitled
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £22,500
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4
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (large colored butterfly white background 10 wings)
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ≠†
Sold for £145,250
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5
Wim Delvoye
Clio
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ♠
Sold for £85,250
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6
James Turrell
Acro, Blue
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000
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7
Mario Merz
Senza titolo (Una somma reale è una somma di gente)
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000
Sold for £217,250
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8
Florian Maier-Aichen
Untitled
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ≠♠†
Sold for £51,650
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9
Roni Horn
Seen in the distance
Estimate £35,000 - 45,000
Sold for £82,850
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10
Andy Warhol
Five Guns
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £211,250
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11
Ed Ruscha
That Was Then This Is Now
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000
Sold for £713,250
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12
Richard Prince
Spiritual America IV
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
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13
Jack Goldstein
Untitled
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000
Sold for £121,250
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14
Thomas Schütte
Stahlfrau Nr. 7 (Steel Woman no. 7)
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £457,250
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15
John Chamberlain
Mr. Moto
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £529,250
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16
Robert Rauschenberg
Wolf Wood (Urban Bourbon series)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £289,250
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17
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £85,250
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18
Jeff Koons
Mermaid Troll
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
Sold for £241,250
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19
Zhang Xiaogang
Untitled
Estimate £300,000 - 400,000 ≠†
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20
Ed Ruscha
Doric
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
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21
Gerhard Richter
Schatten 6
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡♠
Sold for £133,250
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22
Wilhelm Sasnal
Cemetery
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ‡♠
Sold for £37,250
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23
Kehinde Wiley
Passing/Posing - St. Helena
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ‡
Sold for £51,650
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24
Robert Indiana
Art
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 Ω
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25
Yan Pei-Ming
Timonier 009
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
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26
Yoshitomo Nara
Your Dog
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
Sold for £121,250
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27
Yue Minjun
Untitled
Estimate £250,000 - 300,000 ≠†
Sold for £421,250
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28
Alighiero Boetti
Tutto
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £181,250
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29
Kenneth Noland
Shift
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000
Sold for £121,250
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30
Tal R
Fungusia
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ≠♠†
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31
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ≠♠†
Sold for £85,250
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32
Feng Zhengjie
Chinese Portrait P Series 2006 No. 2
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ≠†
Sold for £98,450
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33
Inka Essenhigh
Pegasus
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ≠†
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34
Michael Raedecker
ins and outs
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ≠♠†
Sold for £111,650
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35
Wang Guangyi
Art Go
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ≠†
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36
Damien Hirst
Beautiful Lazarides Inc. Auction Spinny Thingy Where Will It All End, Money For Old Rope, Buy This You Bugger, Its Got Kline Blue Bloody Splashes In It For Fuck's Sake, Love You Really Painting (with xxxxx)
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡♠
Sold for £193,250
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37
Jonathan Meese
Die Verschworung des Dr. Pottsau
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £97,250
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38
Jitish Kallat
Collidonthus
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000
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39
Wim Delvoye
Cabinet (Installation of 14 Delft sawblades and 2 Delft gas canisters)
Estimate £55,000 - 65,000 ♠
Sold for £85,250
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40
Ashley Bickerton
Herr Schoendorff
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £51,650
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Contemporary Evening Sale

29 June 2009, 7pm London

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Provenance

Literature

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Zhang Xiaogang

19

Zhang Xiaogang

Untitled

Contemporary Evening Sale

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29 June 2009, 7pm
London