Landscape
Huang Yue
Description
Gallery Rotation Summer 2013
Huang Yue
China, 1750–1841
Landscape
Qing dynasty (1644–1912)
1831
Album leaf, ink on paper
Gift of Ellen and Richard Laing,
2006/2.22.2
This painting (and the one adjacent) comes from an album of four
landscape paintings. It was made in the last decade of the scholarofficial
Huang Yue’s life, when the Qing dynasty was in decline
and government corruption rampant. The two trees growing from
oddly shaped rocks allude to historical Chinese paintings depicting
twin pines. This tree was often a metaphor for a man of integrity,
and a pine damaged by frost and wind suggested his suffering
from political oppression. Between the rocks are clusters of thin
bamboo leaves that seem to grow without a proper trunk. Since
bamboo often represents a gentleman of rectitude, the painting
may express the struggle of righteous scholar-officials during the late Qing dynasty. As an artist in the literati (amateur scholar-artist)
tradition, Huang Yue believed paintings should subtly reflect the
artist’s temperament and virtue rather than presenting a naturalistic
rendering of a scene.
Subject Matter:
It was made in the last decade of the scholar-official Huang Yue’s life, when the Qing dynasty was in decline and government corruption rampant. The two trees growing from oddly shaped rocks allude to historical Chinese paintings depicting twin pines. This tree was often a metaphor for a man of integrity, and a pine damaged by frost and wind suggested his suffering from political oppression. Between the rocks are clusters of thin bamboo leaves that seem to grow without a proper trunk. Since bamboo often represents a gentleman of rectitude, the painting may express the struggle of righteous scholar-officials during the late Qing dynasty.
Physical Description:
This painting (and the one adjacent) comes from an album of four landscape paintings.
Usage Rights:
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