HUANG Binhong

(China 1864–1955)

Title

Landscape

Place of origin

China

Year

1945

Media category

Painting

Materials used

hanging scroll; ink and slight colour on paper

Dimensions

67.6 x 38.2 cm

Signature & date

Signed u.r., in Chinese, inscribed in black ink "… Huang Binhong in 1945" Signed u.r., in Chinese, stamped in red ink “Huang Binhong [artist's seal]"

Credit

Purchased 1987

Accession number

479.1987

Location

Not on display

Further information

'One of the last in the great tradition of literati landscape painters, Huang Binhong was born into a family with established artistic and literary traditions in Anhui province. From the age of ten he learnt the arts of painting and seal engraving and, in true literati tradition, in his teenage years he began to collect Yuan and Ming dynasty paintings. Having moved to Shanghai at the beginning of the 20th century, he edited an encyclopaedia of writings on the fine arts. Later he became head of the Zhejiang Academy of Arts in Hangzhou, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Assuming such teaching and academic roles was not uncommon for painters of Huang's eminence. His style was deeply influenced by the aestheticism and purity of the literati tradition and, as in this painting, he delighted in the use of brush and ink and used colour most sparingly. The inscription states that the painting is dedicated to Mr. Qin Zhi; it is signed Huang Binhong in his 81st year (1945).'

Bibliography (2)

'The Shanghai School and Modern Painting', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 171 (colour illus.).

Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), Contemporary Chinese Painting, 1985, 14 (illus.). Cat.no.5

Exhibition history (2)

The four seasons, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jun 1989–Jul 1990.

Chinese Painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 27 Nov 1991–27 Jan 1992.