Title:
Su Wu and Li Ling, with Attendants (Farewell of Su Wu and Li Ling)
Creator/Contributor:
Ch'en Hung-shou (Chen Hungshou)
Date:
17 century A.D.
Identifier:
CM.108
Format:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
China
h 50 x w 19 inches
Description:
t: Chang-hou
h: Lao-lien, Fu-ch'ih
After 1645 monastic name h: Lao-ch'ih, Hui-ch'ih
Ch'en Hung-shou was born in Chu-chi, Chechiang to a wealthy family and showed early promise as an artist. He is best known
as a figure painter and was often compared to Ts'ui Tzu-chung, hence the phrase "Nan Ch'en pei Ts'ui," (Ch'en in the South,
Ts'ui in the North). His paintings of historical characters always carry a feeling of the antique and often harbor a sense
of estrangement.
"This painting is from Ch'en's middle period, the 1630s, when his paintings often seem heavy-handed and unsubtle [he was keeping
up a copious commercial output to support himself, with studio assistants]. But this one, the more you look at it, turns out
to be full of subtleties and intricacies, and is really quite moving in the end."