WANG XUETAO 王雪濤 (Cheng'an, China, 1903 - 1982) Still life with peonies Ink and colour on paper, mounted as hanging scroll With inscription and two seals of the artist and one collector's seal 69cm high, 137cm wide 王雪濤 歲朝清供圖 設色紙本 立軸 款識： 歲朝清供。 丁亥除夕，馬瓦壺底案頭，花果清蔬自得稚趣，論師選化也。 傲雪居士雪濤。 鈐印：「王雪濤印」、「遲園」 藏印：「齋絮樓」 -Wang Xuetao was born in Cheng'an, Hebei province, in 1903, at the very of the Qing Dynasty. Growing up through the turbulent early decades of the 20th century, Wang studied painting at the Western Painting Department of the Beijing College of Art, and later transferred to the Department of Traditional Chinese Painting. Wang Xuetao also studied with the two masters Qi Baishi (1864–1957) and Wang Yun (1887–1934), providing invaluable tutoring and shaping his artistic practice. Whilst he maintained a long friend with Qi, Wang Yun's emphasis on gathering visual memories arguably had a more profound impact on Wang Xuetao's art. His visual style, as demonstrated in the current lot,bines confidently-executed free brushstrokes with splashes of vibrant colours, the latter particularly visible in the layered pink and puce petals of the peony flowers. In 1954, he served as the executive director of the Chinese Painting Research Association and was hired as an associate researcher of the National Art Institute of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 1955, he participated in the preparations for the Beijing Chinese Painting Academy. In 1957, he was appointed as the painter and member of the Academic Affairsmittee of the Academy. In 1978, he was appointed as the Dean of the Beijing Academy of Painting. His works can be found in major museum collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.-