Selected Chinese Flower-and-Bird Paintings by Hua Yan

Author: (Qing) Huayan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: Huayan (1682-1756), styled Qiuyue, also known as Xinluo Mountain Man, Cloak-and-Sword Scholar, Bai Sha Taoist, and Gisu Jushi, was a native of Shanghang, Fujian. From a young age, he was deeply passionate about painting. Later, due to family poverty, he lost the opportunity to study and faced social neglect. Determined to rise above his circumstances, he left home and wandered, eventually settling in Hangzhou, where he associated with many scholars and literati, greatly broadening his horizons. At the age of 36, he traveled north to the capital, where he "made connections with influential officials and gained fame," but did not achieve success. According to Dai Xi's Xikuzhai Huaxu, "Huayue was amazed by his own paintings, but when he traveled to the capital, no one sought his work. One day, a seller of counterfeit paintings used his brushes, and upon seeing this, Huayue sighed and left the capital." In his middle and later years, he frequently traveled between Hangzhou and Yangzhou, earning a living by selling paintings. In Yangzhou, he met Jin, Gao Xiang, Li Xian, Zheng Banqiao, as well as the wealthy salt merchants Ma Ruyuan and Ma Rulu. Through mutual exchange, poetic and artistic collaboration, his painting skills were enriched in many aspects, making him one of the representative figures of the Yangzhou School of Painting.