I chose a piece by Huang Quan entitled Rare Fowl. It was painted sometime between 907 and 960 during the age of Five Dynasties (I was unable to find a definite date on the piece). This piece depicts 10 fowls, 2 turtles and 12 insects. Originally created without color by Quan, It was likely created simply as a way for Quan to teach his son how to paint, but has become a very popular example of bird and flower painting (source). Quan’s paintings are so detailed and realistic that a story is told in which Quan’s paintings of six cranes on a palace wall attracted live cranes who dwelled by the wall confusing the drawings for some of their own (source).
Bird and flower painting is a form of Chinese painting that grew most during the Song Dynasty, thanks to Huang Quan’s son Huang Jucai that made the bird and flower style the standard style of the Song court in Bianliang (source). It originally began as a way to decorate things, such as ceramic work and used for phoenix paintings on silk during the Warring States Period but developed into a very intellectual pursuit, eventually inspiring the creation of schools that solely studied the bird and flower painting technique.
I like the style of bird and flower paintings because I am very interested in nature and the beauty in it. Bird and flower paintings are just one way to show the beauty in the natural world. I particularly liked this piece because it was simple and detailed. It is easy to imagine the actual animals because it is so detailed. I also like how this picture shows the diversity of birds. I took an ornithology class and as much as I didn’t exactly appreciate learning 200+ Alaskan species, it did give me an appreciation for the diversity that exists in just one species.
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I hope it really was to teach his son how to paint, what a wonderful story. Just that adds so much to the personality of the painting. I too like nature and instantly loved the painting when I saw it. I was not familiar with him until right now. The scattered animals I found interesting, but they seem to fit together well. So the story of it being a teaching piece makes sense. The history of the dynasties is some great information. It’s nice to know a little of the time period. My piece I picked too didn’t have an exact date so don’t worry too much about that, in fact mine had more of a span of a few hundred years. I love the way you soured your info. Very clean!
This piece is very beautiful. It does make the viewer appreciate nature. Like you said it is very simple but it holds much detail. I could see this as a wall hanging on a tapestry. These piece dose have a very Chinese feel, knew it was by a Chinese artist by just looking at it. The only thing that throws me off about this piece is the turtles it seems like they do not fit. The birds and insects make sense but the turtles, I do not know why they are their.
Although there aren’t alot of color and designs going on this is a nice painting. I have an appreciation for it in that all the detail is focused solely on the birds, insects, and turtles. It is nice to see a painting that lets you focus on the natural beauty of the various species of animals. You did a great job on your post! I bet the paintings of flowers are just as gorgeous, did you happen to find any by this artist?
A very nice piece you choose here. Love the detail of the birds and creatures. I feel there is no structure to this painting, like someone was just doodling on the parchment. Which would make perfect sense for the teaching story. He is teaching his son and just drawing some random animals, but they are all so perfect. Good analysis, its nice to have a piece with a little story behind it. Do you know if the symbols on the top left are a signature, or do they just appear on the paper?
This piece looks as if the artist went out into nature and painted what he saw. It does look like something a teacher would use to teach a student. How awesome that the painter is teaching their child how to paint! I love the crane story, it created a great visual in my mind about cranes interacting with their likeness and reminded me of videos of cats or dogs trying to interact with mirror images of themselves, very funny! Thank you for sharing this piece.
Now that is true talent where an individual (Quan) can learn from a Superior or individually learn how to perfectly draw things out in nature. It is pieces like this that make me really appreciate the talent that i will never achieve behind drawing art. Great story on the origin of the painting and the story behind it.