FANG; JUNBI
1898 Fujian; China - 1986
Censer with Plum Twigs.

Republic period. 1920s. With frame 56x44;5cm; painting 39;5x27;5cm.

This framed oil painting from Fang Junbi (Fan Tchun-pi) shows a censer on a wooden base; surrounded by a plum twigs with white flowers. The still life gets lively with the lingering smoke from the censer and this evokes the presence of the invisible owner.
The censer and the plum twigs are identical with the ones in a portrait of Madame Chen from 1925; in which she is shown as a meditation Buddhist. So this painting of censer and plum can be seen as a self portrait of a somewhat reserved woman artist.

Fang Junibi is not only a famous female artist in the 20th c; but she was game-changing about the self-image of women artist worldwide. Being the first Chinese woman studying at the 蒫ole Nationale Sup閞ieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris; she mixes techniques and motifs from the West and her own tradition in her work. Sign.: Fan Tchunpi; Junbi. Condition A/B.

Provenance:
-Before the 1950s; present from the artist.

Literature:
-Fang; Junbi [Ill.] - Fan Tchun-pi; Artiste Chinoise Contemporaine; Mus閑 Cernuschi; Paris; 1984.
-Pao Galleries [Ed..] - A Retrospective Exhibition of the Works of Fan Tchun-pi; Hong Kong; 1978.

Art trade; Van Ham.