Selected Works of Qian Hui'an in Freehand Brushwork

Author: Qian Hui'an
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Character painting was the mainstream of Chinese painting before the Song Dynasty. After the Yuan Dynasty, landscape and flower-and-bird painting flourished, and character painting became relatively less prominent. In the mid-Ming Dynasty, a great master of character painting, Qiu Shizhou, emerged and joined the "Four Masters of Wumen," standing shoulder to shoulder with landscape painting masters like Shen Zhou, Tang Yin, and Wen Zhengming. In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, another master, Chen Hongshou, emerged. His character paintings were unique, rustic, and profound, opening a rare and exotic flower in an era where landscape painting held absolute dominance and shining light on later generations. Qian Hui'an was a painter who enjoyed citing classical references. His stylistic features clearly reflected the late Xiaotang style. In theory, his inscriptions on paintings should include phrases like "inspired by Zhou Shangguan" or "imitating Zhuzhuang," but strangely enough, he had imitated Gai Yuhu, Hua Xinluo, Huang Ningpiao, Qiu Shizhou, Wen An'guo, Lü Zhen, Tang Bohu, Ding Yunpeng, Cui Qingyin, Chen Baiyang, Jin Dongxin, but never Zhou Shangguan, which remains a mystery. Additionally, his inscriptions did not mention Chen Hongshou, which suggests that he had no connection to the Zhe School of character painting.