Liu Kuiling Paintings Collection (1)

Author: Zhang Anyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1989-12-01
Features: Mr. Liu Kui Ling spent most of his life in the old China. Although born into a wealthy family, due to changes in family circumstances and hardships in life, he lived a vagrant life, enduring many tribulations. From the age of 35 until the liberation in 1949, over forty long years, he relied on selling paintings to make a living. Mr. Liu Kui Ling remained upright and honest throughout his life, treating others with kindness and being cautious in his dealings. He was diligent and relentless in his pursuit of art.
In terms of painting, what are the main characteristics of Mr. Liu Kui Ling? First, he inherited the traditional techniques of meticulous brushwork in bird-and-flower painting from the Song and Yuan dynasties. At the same time, he absorbed some beneficial elements from Western painting techniques, blending East and West into a unique style. His feathers and wildlife paintings formed a new school of art in technique. His works not only feature accurate and lifelike depictions but also possess a rich spiritual essence and vitality, appealing to both the refined and the common. His expressive methods involve diverse brushwork and subtle coloring, which define his distinctive painting style.
In his artistic creation, Mr. Liu Kui Ling pursued meticulous realism, not by merely copying nature, but by observing life repeatedly, discerning the finest details, studying and analyzing, capturing the subtleties of "the essence of things" and exploring the "principles of things," thereby portraying their spirit. With keen perception and abundant artistic imagination, he employed skilled realistic techniques to depict the subjects he wanted to express, pouring his thoughts and interests into his works. Through his observations of life, he mastered the growth patterns of flowers and trees, the changes in weather—rain, dew, wind, and sunshine—and the habits of birds and animals, including their flying, chirping, eating, and resting behaviors.