Landscape after Kun Can, Hu Peiheng

Exhibition Label:
“The Boundaries of Heaven: Chinese Ink Painting in the Republican Period, 1911-1949,” Feb-2009, Kris Ercums
As a central figure in the Beijing art world, Hu Peiheng was instrumental in forging many of the institutional and organizational foundations central to modern Chinese ink painting. In 1918, at the beginning of the May Fourth Movement—a socially conscious, culturally grounded effort to modernize China—Hu joined what would eventually be known as the Chinese Painting Research Association (Zhongguo hua yanjiuhui). Under the exuberant leadership of the Western-educated artist Jin Cheng金城 (1878-1926), this society organized a series of Sino-Japanese joint exhibitions held in Tokyo and Shanghai during the early 1920s. In 1927, in order to honor the death of Jin Cheng, the association changed its name to Hushe huahui 湖社画会 (The Hushe Painting Association). As part of its mission to “promote art and expound national glory” 提倡艺术阐扬国光, the 200-plus members organized exhibitions of antiquities as well as ancient and contemporary paintings. The society also published Hushe Zazhi, which was edited by Hu Peiheng and remains one of the longest running art publications of its kind in China. For this placid composition, Hu draws on his learned understanding of Chinese art history, evoking the contemplative style of Kun Can髡残 (1612-circa 1692)—one of the Four Monk painters of the Qing dynasty. The inscription reads:

From the boundaries of Heaven a waterfall flows,
The leaves of maples have already turned crimson.
Worldly thoughts are cleansed by the spring,
While leisurely sitting and gazing at the layers hills.
After Kun Can [1612-1697]

Archive Label 2003:
Hu Peiheng seems to have had a special admiration for past masters who expressed a tremendous amount of energy and movement in their brushwork. At the end of his inscription he stated that he was imitating Kuncan, a monk artist known for his dense and richly textured landscapes. Following the words of the poem, Hu has depicted a tiny figure seated in meditation, harmonizing his mind with the flowing water. This clearly expresses the idea of communion with nature which has remained an important concept in literati painting until the present.