Title:
Untitled (album of birds, flowers, and landscapes)
Creator:
Ch'en Hung-shou (Chen Hungshou)
Subject:
Chinese Paintings
Bird-and-Flower Paintings
Description:
As a young boy Ch'en studied with the great professional landscapist Lan Ying and was a star pupil. His landscape paintings
often show a strong decorative quality that demonstrates his ability to go beyond his teachers' example. Ch'en attempted the
civil service examinations three times; after his third failure he turned his attention permanently to painting and began
designing woodblocks. He also gained a reputation as a drinker and lover of women and other amusements.
"This [work by Ch'en Hung-shou] is a small, almost pocket album. It's painted in a stiff style, almost like designs for lacquer,
or something decorative . . . Mostly Ch'en Hung-shou is [regarded as] a figure master, very refined. [However], before he
became a really refined painter he started out rather deliberately emphasizing his craft origin. So, that this could be a
genuine Ch'en Hung-shou was something I didn't originally believe, but came around to it as everyone did, and now everybody
recognizes it for the real thing."
Publisher:
Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Date:
17 century A.D.
Type:
image
Format:
Painting
Album: ink and colors on silk
China, Ming Dynasty
h 8 -1/4 x w 6 inches
Identifier:
1996.49.2.a-l
Coverage:
China, Ming Dynasty
Ch'en Hung-shou - Untitled (album of birds, flowers, and landscapes)