Footnotes

• Provenance: Mary and George Bloch, purchased directly from the artist in Hong Kong in the late 1970s
  
  George Bloch (12 October 1920 to 27 April 2009) was born into a prominent industrial family in Vienna and educated in England. In 1938 he decided to move to Shanghai. It was on the streets of Shanghai during the war-years that George acquired his business skills and laid the foundations for his wealth. Uprooting yet again, he moved to Tokyo in 1949. It was in Tokyo that he established Herald International Ltd. George moved the company to Hong Kong in 1955. Today, the company is called Herald Holdings Ltd and is publicly listed and quoted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It manufactures and distributes toys, timepieces, houseware, and computer components and currently has nine of its own factories in China.
  
  In 1969, George married Mary and they began to actively collect art together, expanding George's early interest in collecting stamps to encompass a wider, far more sophisticated range of art. George was a born collector, but with his partnership with Mary his interests broadened considerably. Early acquisitions of Chinese and some Japanese art, included lacquer and ivory carvings, ceramics, glass and other works of art soon led to a life-time love for modern Western paintings and sculpture. Together they also formed the greatest private collection of Chinese snuff bottles.
  
  Their collection of twentieth-century Western paintings was among the first formed in Hong Kong, and came to be seen as the most important in the region. At the time you could see more Picassos hanging on the walls of their apartment in Villa Monte Rosa than there were in the rest of Hong Kong put together. From this interest sprang a range of activities which took them to museums and auctions around the world, and saw Mary appointed to the Peggy Guggenheim Advisory Board in Venice.
  
  Their interest in twentieth-century Chinese painting was ignited by a chance meeting with Lin Fengmian at a dinner party at the Frech consulate in the late 1970s. Lin had come to Hong Kong without funds, and had brought a selection of paintings with him to sell. The Blochs bought their first four paintings directly from the artist at the dinner party, following up with four additional carefully selected purchases.
  
  George passed away in April 2009.
  
  林風眠 秋鶩 設色紙本 立軸
  
  註：
  滕王閣序 王勃
  雲銷雨霽，彩徹區明。落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色。
  
  蘆葦飛騖，是林風眠最具個人特色的題材。遼闊遠淡的雲天，夜幕將臨；蘆葦搖伏，兩三飛雁，逆風疾翔，畫境蒼茫蕭索。林風眠自述：「我出生於廣東梅江邊上的一個山村裡，當我六歲開始學畫後，就有熱切的願望，想將我看到的和感受到的東西表達出來。後來在歐洲留學的年代裡，在四處奔波的戰亂中，仍不時回憶起家鄉片片的浮雲、清清的小溪、遠遠的松林和屋旁的翠竹。」那不畏風霜、萋萋叢生的蘆葦，在他故鄉的河灘水際，處處可見。經過了文革的壓抑，飽受無數的起起落落，或許他是自比秋騖，不如歸去。
  
  來源：瑪麗及莊智博伉儷於1970年代末在香港直接得自畫家本人
  
  莊智博（George Bloch, 一九二○年十月十二日～二○○九年四月二十七日）出生於維也納工業世家，曾負笈英倫。莊智在一九三八年決定移居上海。在抗戰期間的上海街頭，莊智練就了一身生意人的本領，為將來的大業打下了基礎。一九四九年再度搬遷，移居日本東京。他在日本創立了興利國際有限公司（Herald International Ltd）。一九五五年，莊智將公司遷至香港。如今該公司已擴展至玩具業、鐘錶業、家用品及電腦零件等不同領域，並在中國擁有九家工廠。該公司已在香港股市掛牌上市，今名為興利集團有限公司（Herald Holdings Ltd）。
  
  莊智與瑪麗於一九六九年共結連理，並開始共同收集藝術品。本來就熱愛收藏的莊智，因與瑪麗結合而提高了品味、拓展了視野，從原本的集郵轉變而為收藏各類藝術創作。兩人早期收藏的中國與日本藝術品包括漆器、瓷器、琉璃、象牙雕刻等，之後逐漸培養出對西方現代畫與雕塑的終身愛好。莊智與瑪麗還因收藏鼻煙壺而著稱於世，其數量之多，堪稱世界私人收藏中國鼻煙壺之冠。
  
  莊智與瑪麗可算是香港第一個也是最重要的，收藏二十世紀歐美繪畫的家族。當時全香港所能找到的畢卡索畫作，可能還不及掛在莊智博夫婦玫瑰新邨住家牆上的作品來得多。由於熱愛藝術收藏，夫婦兩人遊走世界各地，造訪博物館、參加拍賣會，瑪麗也因而被聘為威尼斯佩姬·古根漢顧問團（Peggy Guggenheim Advisory Board）的一員。
  
  一九七○年代後期，莊智與瑪麗在香港法國領事館的一場餐會上與林風眠相遇，從而激起其對二十世紀中國畫的濃厚興趣。當年林風眠身無分文來到香港，只帶了幾十幅畫作準備變賣。莊智博夫婦在餐會上直接從林風眠手中買了四幅畫作，而隨後又仔細選購了另外四幅作做為收藏。
  
  莊智博於二○○九年辭世。
  
  
  Lin Fengmian's hometown, Gegongling Village, Baigong Town, Mei County, Guangdong Province, China
  (Provenance: Han Mo 24, Han Mo Xuan Publishing Co., Ltd, Hong Kong, 1992)
  林風眠的故鄉，廣東省梅縣白宮鎮閣公村
  （圖片來源：《名家翰墨》月刊第24期，翰墨軒出版有限公司，香港，1992年）
  
  Mary and George Block at their home at Villa Monte Rosa in Hong Kong in the early 1990s
  1990年早期瑪麗及莊智博伉儷攝於香港玫瑰新邨寓所

---

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Paintings

---

Auction terms and conditions