The Met has many fabulous paintings. I love especially Zhao Mengjian’s delicate bai miao Narcissus handscroll, and the exquisite dan cai Pleasures of Fishes handscroll by Zhou Dongqing.
In Shanghai Museum I was delighted by a handscroll of orchids by Zheng Xie (Zheng Banqiao) – I love his bamboo paintings as well. Here is just a glimpse from my photos:
I was very fortunate to see Bada Shanren’s Flowers on the River at the V&A’s exhibition of Chinese masterpieces. it also included the wonderful Nine Dragons scroll.
Xu Gu is also a favourite, especially his mad-eyed goldfish. He also painted squirrels and this frantic cat. Henry Li talks about Xu Gu’s work.
Not to be confused – Wu Changshuo and Wu Guangzhong – the first is amazing, and I love the the latter’s free style. I also love Pan Tianshou.
The Fascination of Nature is a wonderful handscroll by Xie Chufang, with exquisite plants, insects and other creatures painted in Song dynasty meticulous style. At first glance it seems an idyllic evocation of nature, but then you notice the lurking snake and toad, and the butterfly helplessly carried along by a winding column of ants. It is probably a protest at life under the new and brutal Mongol Yuan dynasty. One of the contemporaneous inscriptions says “Small insects labour to eat, each to his own, Hiding and spying they ambush each other. immoral men seek profit not according to justice. Their wisdom is also the level of those kinds”.
Talking of handscrolls, Wang Ximen‘s tour de force A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains is amazing.
Contemporary favourites include Yang Yanping.
Fu Baoshi is famous for his watery landscapes. Henry Li painting in the style of Fu Baoshi: he uses a special brush but you could experiment with your own stiffer brushes to see which gives the best effect. The Met Museum had an exhibition about Fu Baoshi, with lecture.
contemporary figure painter Fan Zeng 范曾.
- Some of his paintings.
- Videos 1, 2, 3 .
- Fan Zeng’s painting of Laozi – and a connection to Stephen Hawking!
- Interview and a portrait of Einstein! Plus an insight into how Rong Bao Zhai recreates paintings by woodblock printing. They seem to have published at least one book of his work.
Fantastic to be able to see famous Chinese painters in action:
Lightly animated version of handscroll Spring Dawn in the Han Palace (National Palace Museum Taipei), with close-ups. The Walters Art Museum has a copy. Scroll round here to see more. A warning to portrait painters!
Quirky animation Travelling Through Brush and Ink, exploring more of the NPM’s famous paintings.