Hu Gu. Miscellaneous Painting Album

Author: Xu Gu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-12-01
Features: Xu Gu (1824–1996), originally named Zhu Xubai, styled Huairen, took the name Xu Gu after ordaining as a monk. He was also known as Ziyang Shanmin, Juhe, and had studios named Juefei An and Sanqi Feng Cao Tang. He was from Shixian, Anhui. In his youth, he resided in Yangzhou and served as a major general in the Qing army. During the Taiping Rebellion, he ordained as a monk on Mount Jiuhua in the third year of the Xianfeng era (1853). He traveled between Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai, "not bowing to Buddha's name" but finding joy in painting and calligraphy." He lived in places like Yisu An and Guandi Temple, earning a living by selling his paintings. He passed away in Shanghai's Xiaobeimen Guandi Temple in the twenty-second year of the Guangxu era (1896) at the age of seventy-three. His paintings excelled in portraits, flowers and plants, fruits and vegetables, and landscapes. His calligraphy and paintings had a significant influence on the late Qing Shanghai art scene, and he was later grouped with Ren Boren, Pu Zuo Ying, and Wu Changshuo as the "Four Masters of Shanghai."