Scholar by a Mountain Stream

Description

Gallery Rotation Winter 2014
Figures in Landscapes
Modern period (1912–present)
First half of 20th century
Set of four hanging scrolls, ink and color on paper
Gift of Dr. Cheng-Yang and Mrs. Shirley Chang, 2006/1.116–119
Each of these four hanging scrolls depicts a scholar in a landscape accompanied by an inscription describing the scene. The second scholar on the left is Su Shih (1037–1101), a maverick poet-official, and the third is Lin Bu (967–1028), seen in a thatched hut suggesting his status as an eccentric recluse and poet. Though Feng Chaoran lived in the modern period, he seems to have embraced the poetic and reclusive ideals of such Song dynasty (960–1279) luminaries. In Shanghai he lived on Songshan (meaning “Song mountain”) Road and he named his house “Thatch Dwelling on Songshan.”
The subjects of the paintings may hearken back to the Song dynasty, but the style does not. Feng notes in the colophons that the styles of three of the paintings are modeled on those of Hua Yan (1682–1765), Luo Pin (1733–1799), and Chen Chun (1483–1544), all of whom belonged to the Jiang Su School of painting that originated in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Though Feng was a traditional Chinese painter who emphasized calligraphy-based brushwork and did not stray far from conventional literati (amateur scholar-artist) idioms, his landscape paintings convey a fresh atmosphere through the use of light coloring. He was an important mentor to his nephew, Chang Ku-nien (1906–1987), whose work is on view nearby.