Attributed to Shi Lu (1919-1982), Village Scene with Pumpkins石鲁 (1919-1982) 乡村金秋 设色纸本 镜心Watercolour on paper款：石鲁印：石鲁, 25 x 18.2 in — 63.5 x 46.2 cmProvenance:Acquired in China in the 1980s.From the Collection of Joe Der, Toronto/Montreal.来源：多伦多/蒙特利尔乔德先生私人珍藏Joe Der was an early immigrant to Canada after the government's repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947. In the 1980s, Der began visiting China once more, where he actively contacted contemporary artists and collected art and antiques. He eventually established Toronto's first gallery for contemporary Chinese art, named the Yangtze Art Gallery, operating from 1985 to 1990, and was located across from the Art Gallery of Ontario. Along with building friendships and acquiring works by artists such as Zhou Sicong, Chen Qidao, Shi Lu, and Shang Tao, he devoted great energy into promoting Chinese art in Canada, even hosting Shi Hu to work and stay in his home for six months. Der also arranged an artist-in-residence fellowship for Gu Wenda in Toronto, which culminated in exhibitions at York University and Yangtze Art Gallery in 1987.1947年排华法案废除后，乔德先生成为最早一批来到加拿大的移民。1980年代开始，他重访中国，积极地与大陆当代艺术家交流，与此同时收集艺术品与古董。经过不懈努力，他在1985到1990之间经营了多伦多第一家当代中国画廊——扬子美术馆，与今日的安大略美术馆隔街相望。他致力于在加拿大推广中国艺术家，结交并收藏了大量艺术家的作品，包括周思聪，陈其道, 石鲁和尚涛。他还曾邀请石虎在他的家里进行了六个月的艺术创作。乔德先生还曾在多伦多为谷文达组织了一个“艺术村”团体。1987年，该团体的作品于约克大学和扬子美术馆开展，获得了空前的成功。Note:Possibly in response to Mao's sweeping vision of a return to "grassroots socialism" in the years after the first "Five Year Plan" in the early 1960s, Shi Lu switched from the grandiose scaled landscapes that characterized his work in the 1950s, to a smaller, more "human" scale. Like the readjustment of a telephoto lens, his views changed from the wide scenery vistas, which were almost his signature style, to a greater focus on larger foreground elements, as demonstrated in his work "In Response to Shi Tao's Painting" (1960, kept in the National Museum of China, Beijing). By 1962, his work moved even closer towards the subject in a series of paintings viewing rural activities and images, in some cases a single figure or farm worker, or a scene of villagers and farm buildings. In Wang Yiyan's introduction to "Shi Lu: The Literatis vs. the Revolutionary" (Victoria University of Wellington), he states that "the figurative paintings of Shi Lu largely fall into three basic groups: workers, farmers and ethnics". Which one of these three is this scene of village life?The socialist ideal and revolutionary spirit are maintained in this seemingly simple watercolour, which is not so simple when studied more carefully. Upon first inspection, we see the arches of a rural building in the centre with dark black shutters, the tiled roof heavy with pumpkins and the corner hung with corn, children in the street, a ladder to the left to access the roof, and a bicycle propped up against the building. The arches immediately suggest that the farmers caves (yaodong) of Yan'an, Shaanxi, and the iconic Shi Lu painting "Fighting in Northern Shaanxi" (1959, National Museum of China) showing Mao in 1947, perhaps saying "see how far the revolution has come in fifteen years". If we follow the movement and imagery of the painting, it is in reality trying to portray how prosperous rural life has become. The harvest bountiful in pumpkins and corn is depicted bigger than the people in the street below, a bicycle propped to one side as the symbol of urban prosperity, telling us that the farmers are as wealthy as factory workers. Most importantly, the scene is telling us a story of community members prosperous enough keep their children happy. Colour, joy, abundance, prosperity, and simplicity–these are how Shi Lu is trying to describe rural life in the early 1960s.The same scene in a larger format by Shi Lu is kept in the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, titled "Plant Pumpkins, Reap Pumpkins", further inscribed "painted in Yan'an Gao Er Primary School", dated to 1961. When comparing the painting from the National Art Museum of China with the current lot, the NAMOC version appears to be the better of the two in execution, where the wider paper has allowed the artist to pull back just a little more from the view to give the building its left side more fully, filling out the ladder, and clearing up the lattice of the doorways to make a finer pattern. The pumpkins are better ordered in the NAMOC version, and the reorientation of the group of children from vertical (towards the building) to horizontal (arranged along the bottom) allows for a larger crowd and layers of activity. This raises the possibility that the current lot may be a preliminary study for the scene, a first attempt, or even painted "en plein air" while viewing the scene, and soon afterwards repainted with changes and more attention to detail.Compare with examples with similar fruit sold at China Guardian Hong Kong, March 30, 2019, lot 19; and of similar roofed houses at Sungari International Auction Beijing, June 20, 2018, lot 285; Christie's New York, March 17, 2015, lot 325; and China Guardian Hong Kong, October 6, 2014, lot 206.Notes provided by Anthony M. Lee, Asian Art Research, Canada.在1960年代早期，第一个“五年计划”实施后的几年内，石鲁或许是为响应毛泽东的“草根阶层主义”，他一改其1950年代的画风，从雄伟山水切换到了微小的“人民”身上。如《读石涛有感》（1960，藏于中国国家博物馆，北京）所画，石鲁好像转换了一个远摄镜头的焦距一般，他的视角从其特有风格中的广阔远景转而聚焦在前景中突出显眼的元素上。至1962年，石鲁通过一系列作品将视角拉近到了乡村生活和画面中常见的主题，有时是单一的人物或农民，或是村民在农舍前的一幕。正如王一燕（惠灵顿维多利亚大学）在《石鲁：文人对抗革命》一文的介绍中所说：“石鲁的具象绘画大多专注于三个群体：工人，农民和民族”。那么在这幅画作中描绘了哪一个群体呢？看似简单的水彩中实则蕴藏着社会主义理想与革命精神，但是仔细研究的话就会发现这幅画远远没有看起来那么简单。首先，我们能看到最中间农舍上的拱门和黑漆漆的窗，瓦顶上堆放着南瓜，屋檐上挂着玉米簇，孩子们在街上玩耍，左边立着可以爬上房顶的梯子，还有靠在墙上的自行车。这些拱门立刻表明这种农舍是陕西延安的窑洞，联系石鲁在其著作《转战陕北》（1959，藏于中国国家博物馆）中描绘的1947年的毛泽东，这幅画作仿佛在告诉我们：“看看这十五年里革命的伟大进程。” 如果我们顺循这幅画作中的动向和意象，它实际上在描绘乡村生活已经到达了相当富裕的水平。丰收的南瓜和玉米比下面街上的人们占的画面还要大，一个靠在墙上的自行车象征着城市的繁荣，告诉我们农民已经和工厂的工人一般富裕了。最重要的是，这一情景展现出群众已经富裕到可以买得起自行车并让孩子们过上幸福生活。色彩，喜悦，丰裕，富足，和简朴-这些是石鲁想要描绘的1960年代初的中国乡村生活。这幅画作与现藏于北京的中国美术馆内，石鲁描绘同一情景但画幅更大的《种瓜得瓜》之间有着明显的联系，上面有石鲁1961年创作时的亲笔题字：“延安桥儿沟小学画”。对比两幅画作，中国美术馆所藏版本使用了更宽的画纸，拉远了画家的视角，让我们能看到建筑物左侧和梯子的全貌，并且理清了拱门上的窗格以塑造更精细的图案，仿佛略胜一筹。中国美术馆版本中，南瓜的摆放更有条理，并且孩子们在画中由纵向（朝向建筑物）改为横向（沿着画面底部）的布局让我们看到了更大篇幅的人群和多层次的人物活动。这些或许说明沃丁顿的版本是中国美术馆版本的前身，石鲁的初稿，或者是他在观摩此景后注意到了更多细节，立即修改并重画的“外光主义”创作。对比香港中国嘉德2019年3月30日，拍品编号19，北京中贸圣佳2018年6月20日，拍品编号285，纽约佳士得2015年3月17日，拍品编号325，以及香港假的2014年10月6日，拍品编号206著：安东尼 李，加拿大亚洲艺术研究Estimate: $15,000—20,000