Landscape, Huang Binhong

Exhibition Label:
“The Boundaries of Heaven: Chinese Ink Painting in the Republican Period, 1911-1949,” Feb-2009, Kris Ercums
As Chu-tsing Li observed in his famous study Trends in Modern Chinese Painting, “of all the Chinese painters in the twentieth century, the one single artist who represents the continuity of the literati tradition and who can justly be called ‘the last great literati painter’ is Huang Pin-hung [Binhong].” Born into a wealthy merchant family, Huang was encouraged from an early age to pursue his interest in painting and antiquity. After the family business collapsed in 1888, they relocated to their ancestral home in Anhui, near scenic Mt. Huang. He immersed himself in the local painting style known as the Xin’an School新安画派. In 1907, as a young intellectual, his opposition to the Qing dynasty forced him to seek refuge in the foreign enclaves of Shanghai, where for two decades he taught and worked as a publisher and editor. Huang’s work and ideas reached maturity during the 1930s and ’40s. In his writings he advocated studying Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1127) period works “to trace the past, in order to initiate the future.” Yet, some of his painting techniques, especially his experiments with the effects of light and his autonomous use of brush and ink, converged with those of French impressionism and modernist oil painting. This work was completed when the artist was 85. Although his eyesight was failing by this time, many consider the unencumbered, expressive brush work of his later years as the crowning achievement of a talented and notable career.

Exhibition Label:
"Using the Past to Serve the Present in 20th Century Chinese Painting," Oct-2006, Ai-lian Liu, Asian Art Intern
Huang Binhong has been regarded as “the last great literati painter” in China. Born into a scholarly family in the last decades of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), he was educated in the classical tradition, and trained in the art of painting and calligraphy by studying and copying the works of ancient masters. He lived a long and productive life through the major political and cultural turmoil of modern China, yet he firmly maintained a lifestyle comparable to that of the literati of the past. This landscape painting is a clear statement of his commitment to the literati tradition—the style was inspired by preeminent literati master Dong Qichang (1555-1636), and the inscription comments on the views of Dong and the writer Wang Shizhen (1526-1590). By evoking the literati past in his life and art, Huang positioned himself as heir to this great tradition.

Archive Label (date unknown)
Of all Chinese painters in the twentieth century, Huang best represents the continuity of the literati tradition. Born into a scholarly family in Zhejiang province, Huang's early artistic training consisted of copying works of former masters and learning the theories of Chinese painting. His devotion to the literati tradition was so strong that he dedicated his entire career to literary and artistic pursuits: Huang was considered an important scholar, poet, calligrapher, painter, and connoisseur. Unlike other artists, he did not limit himself to a particular school or region. Huang spent time in the major centers of Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou and traveled all over China, visiting the famous mountains and rivers. Living to the advanced age of 92, he authored several tury and taught at a number of art schools. Despite the major political and social changes in modern China, Huang maintained a life comparable to literati of the past.