Master Fan Paintings: Xu Huiquan's Fine Portraits on Fans

Author: Xu Huiquan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Fan painting is not a full banquet but rather a selection of two or three dishes, a casual sip. If a long novel is condensed into an etymology summary, it is merely a thread of (plot development) and by no means a short story. The same principle applies to fan painting—it is not a miniature of a large-scale work. Xu Huiquan's works clearly illustrate this point. Huiquan's fan paintings consist of two major themes: scholars and women. The women in Huiquan's fan paintings are mostly young, maidenly girls. A few have experienced romance or have a beloved in mind, shaking their closed fans and tilting their heads, lost in thought. More often, they are unmarried girls, engaging in activities like dressing up, seeking shade, reading, playing the qin, flute, or admiring flowers in their chambers or gardens. Their grooming is for their own pleasure, their music is for their own ears, and their hazy reading of "Dream of the Red Chamber" or "The Story of the Western Chamber" is followed by gazing at a pond of lotuses—perhaps a pretense of melancholy for the sake of poetry. Both noble ladies and ordinary beauties revel in their own worlds with great delight. A mature and sincere artist is one who uses the art form they master to express their inner thoughts. This is both a sincere portrayal of the characters on the page and a heartfelt connection with the readers, making them confident, magnanimous, and authentic. Take Xu Huiquan, for example. This collection of fan paintings serves as both evidence and the best illustration of this principle.