Huang Binhong's flower-and-bird paintings

Just now I sorted out some photos taken earlier this year, among which I discovered something I'd almost forgotten, i.e., the Serial Exhibition of Huang Binhong. I went to the West Lake Gallery on a sunny and breezy spring afternoon in late April, intentionally or not, for an art tour. There were few visitors as I wandered in. The hall on the ground floor, I recall, displayed landscape paintings by a contemporary Chinese artist, interestingly, with some interaction with the late Mr. Huang Binhong upstairs.

Huang, well versed in the works and techniques of the great masters of the past, was sure a master of freehand landscape painting. He experimented with traditional techniques for the use of ink, including shading and layering, e.g., he achieved a simple yet profound effect in his landscapes by the use of thick dark ink over which he applied light or heavy coloring. His work was also known for its powerful brushwork and its fresh approach to composition.

On that day, however, I for the first time ever got to know another aspect of Huang's art through his lively flower-and-bird paintings (or rather sketches). About a hundred such exercise sketches from Zhejiang Provincial Museum's collection, nearly half of which were not mounted (and only four of them with Huang's private seal stamp), hung or lay in the windows for visitors like me to ponder upon their simplicity and depth. I read his poems about these flowers -- Bai Hua Yin in murmurs while observing his delicate lines and strokes on paper. His flower-and-bird paintings can even parallel his landscape works! No wonder Pan Tianshou, another great master of flower-and-bird painting, once commented, "Huang's landscapes are wonderful, and his flowers and birds are even more wonderful, esp. for the freedom (zi zi zai zai)."