Xu Beihong (1895-1953) was a renown Chinese artist, who was uniquely accomplished in both western oil paintings and traditional Chinese paintings. The museum bears his name, Xu Beihong Museum in Beijing had many of fine representations of his works.
One of his most famous oil painting was a portrait titled "Sound of Flute", which, though somewhat veered towards sentimentality, was redeemed by the heroine's shagginess, which transported her to the purer and more primitive and private world. Rather than a candied soiree, we were witnessing the sitter's private communion.
One of Xu's large scaled historical pieces in the style of French Academy, "Tian Heng and Five Hundred Followers", depicted a leave taking ceremony of those figures about to face their tragic and heroic collective deaths. The emotion and intensity were enhanced by the stoicism those figures exerted. However, some choices, such as the Titianesque blue sky and the yellow robe on the figure in the center, somewhat lent the painting a suspicious air of socialist realism. That said, one could not deny the painting's restrained grandeur.
The National Art Museum of China in Beijing has interesting oil painting collections, but when I visited it many years ago, the only oil paintings on display were a group of portraits of political and bigness bigwigs, uniformly done in the quite pompous and imperial fashion, therefore the only works worth seeing were some Chinese paintings and here are a couple of such samples.
The 1960 landscape "Xiling Gorge" by FU Baoshi was a bold presentation of an often painted subject - one of the renown Three Gorges in upper Yangtze River. With broad and assertive strokes, and only a few shades of black, gray and white, Fu fashioned an epic scene worthy of Homer, a monumental world of basic elements - river, mountain, fog, rain, and clouds - charged of primordial energy and majesty.
Further in the direction of modern, JIA Youfu's 1984 landscape painting "A Monument of Taihang" left an indelible impression with bold gestures, complemented by fine and layered details. The overlapping angular planes created a receding and serene universe, while the bold red colors and the jagged upward peaks punctuated the scene like a pounding heart.
Nurtured by many Russian novels while growing up, I developed a special feeling towards the omnipresent birches, which not only aptly set the scenes and evoke the particular melancholy especially associated with Russia and Russian people, and finally, I made effort in 2006 to try to capture such feelings with a painting titled Birches, which is currently showing at the McGuire Real Estate gallery in Berkeley as part of the “Crowded by Beauty” exhibit.
I love the slender shapes of the trees, the softness of the finely-layered birch barks and their eerie silver color, and above all, the eye-shaped knobs imprinted on the trunks from bottom to top, as if birches were meant to be the chosen observers from silent world, so as to judge humankind.
Birches
Oil on Canvas
22" x 28"
Completed in 2006
That painting is also a play of optical illusion - amongst the eyes on the trunks, there was a singular eye floating in the space, unattached, between two indifferent birches. Inundated by so many eyes, this oddity was not immediately obvious; once detected, one might ask, if this is a most determined birch eye, the eye of an invisible human, or just a wandering independent eye belong to nothing and no one.
The main museum in my hometown, Manchurian city Shenyang, Liaoning Provincial Museum, boasted some magnificent artifacts and Chinese paintings, due to the fact that the last imperial dynasty was originated from Manchuria, and had kept a rich trove of art treasures in Shenyang, especially during and after World War II, when Manchu elites retreated back to northeastern China.
Like many cities in China, Shenyang has experienced rapid expansion in the last decade or so, resulting in the move of its administrative and cultural centers southward, including the relocation of the Museum, which traded a round, nondescript building with a rectangular, nondescript building. Below are two pictures of the Museum before and after the move.
Former site of Liaoning Provincial Museum
Current site of Liaoning Provincial Museum
The most treasured painting of the Museum was a painting from Tang Dynasty by 周昉 Fang ZHOU, Tang Dynasty, (active 766~779 - 785~804), titled "簪花仕女图 (Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers)".
Of my several visits to this museum, I was only able to encounter it once, due to the typical fragility of Chinese paintings, and the preciousness of this piece of extreme sublimity and exquisity, which captured the luxury and easy of the court life during the most prosperous period in Chinese history. The dark and dull background was a perfect foil for the array of richly though never gaudily attired and confidently posed high-ranking ladies and retinue, whose pale skin glittered, underneath their crowning jet black coiffures, while denoting the high ranking of these ladies, together with strategically placed darker veils and belts, created much visual highlights and accents to the otherwise utterly sweet and soft sphere.
簪花仕女图 Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers
Enlarged replica of 簪花仕女图 Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers
Another striking painting was "红衣西域僧图 (Red Robed Western Monk)" by 赵孟頫 Mengfu ZHAO (1254-1322) of Song Dynasty. Here, the western world meant Western Asia. The painting was interesting, not only for the sitter, who was obviously exotic-looking to Chinese, but also the composition and the employment of a single viewpoint, which was more typical in western art idioms. The triangle form of the monk, the rock and the tree behind him, almost invoked a feeling of Italian Renaissance painting, and the single and closeup viewpoint was also an abrupt departure from Chinese painting tradition of a multiple viewpoints, such as the painting above. Here, instead of showing a huge swatch of landscape, and the complete form of the tree, the painter chose to show only the tree trunk and a few barely visible leaves and branches on the very edge of the painting, thus forcing the viewers to concentrate on the figure. Instead of a picturesque tableau, the painting became a character study, via his upright posture, his brilliant red robe, which contrasted strongly to and complemented by the verdant, moss-covered rocks, whose strangely lined surfaces per chance also echoed the monk's weathered and wise face and irregularly shaped head. An unforgettable glimpse of his inner world.
红衣西域僧图 (Red Robed Western Monk)" by 赵孟頫 Mengfu ZHAO (1254-1322)
Courtesy or my sister, I can share some fascinating photos of crop "drawings" on display in Shenyang, China at the moment. The colorful drawings of corporate logos, presumably the sponsors', animals, buildings and well-known and beloved mythical figures, such as the Monkey King, were absolutely enchanting.
These paintings definitely have attracted some gawkers, who for a modest fees, could clime atop the observation tower or deck for a good view. Hopefully, it is good business.
Pinacoteca Nazionale (National Gallery) di Ferrara, also known as Palazzo dei Diamanti, named for its rusticated façade of diamond spikes, impressed with effortless elegance of the building and its collections.
The first striking piece greeted visitors was an "Assunzione di Santa Maria Maddalena" by Maestro della Maddalena Assunta.
The highly stylized landscape was an idealized world, where animals, plants, and humans mingled together in harmony. The low vantage point and the receding flat landscape helped to generate a visceral sense of witnessing Saint Mary flying up. Hovering just above the ground, the pious and still youthful Mary, borne
by several cherubim and greeted by a pair of angels with enormous
wings, though delicate and even fragile, commended attention through her centered position, contorted pose, and brilliant bloody red drapery. The small V-shaped hills framing the base of the painting, also added the sense of uplifting.
Assunzione di Santa Maria Maddalena, Maestro della Maddalena Assunta
I was also very moved by another Mary painting - Madonna col Bambino, which featured the tender Mary and a very trusting and adorable baby Jesus, engaging in silent and intimate communion, demonstrating the palpable love and trust between the mother and the baby. A touching sweetness permeated the painting, yet the painting never fell to the level of saccharine; the sweetness was manifested in the simplicity of these figures, their most natural exhibition of pure emotions, and the delicate and harmonious hues of pink, rose, and blue, all artfully woven together.
Madonna col Bambino, Sebastiano Filippi detto Bastianino
The formidable and somewhat gloomy fortress, Castello Estense in Ferrara, Italy was surprisingly airy and even cheesy inside.
Such as this whimsical ceiling painting, one of many, depicting carousing nude men and cherubim, who, despite in the drunken stage, allowed their stances and gestures to be regulated by some tidy order. Their pale flash tone worked really well against the elegant background of blue and pink walls and windows of a building façade, thus introduced another dimension of order and regulation. Finally, the fantastic drawn floral borders on milky colored background firmly planted this hedonistic scene in a florid paradise.
Opposite to that ceiling painting's festive atmosphere, a triptych of grisaille frescoes in a courtyard depicted some serious and highly-placed personalities, was all somberness and world-weary. Despite the lacking colors, or because of that, these "veiled" paintings were memorably atmospheric and evocative.
During my brief day trip to Italian city Ferrara, I admired two bronze sculptures on top of the arch entrance to its Palazzo Municipale (City Hall) — Arco del Volto del cavallo (Arch of Horse Front).
On the left, there was the seated statesman Duca Borso d'Este & Marchese Niccolo III d'Este and on the right, equestrian sculpture of Marchese Niccolo III d'Este.
Of these two equally impressive sculptures, the more flamboyant equestrian made more immediate impressions.
The overt masculinity and grandeur was reflected with his insolent expression, his immobile pose, and his easy on the schlepping charger. The silhouette of the powerful horse and the rider was as solid as a mountain, as if nothing could challenge and stop his marching supremacy.
Marchese Niccolo III d'Este
The seated Duca Borso d'Este, on the contrary, was all self-confident serenity, radiating innate strength, as if so confident of his divine invested power that he needed no military poses and trappings to uphold his control over his domain.
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