Ink Painting

1985

Length:90.7 x Width:57.4 (cm)

Huang Chun-Pi (1898-1991, Guangzhou, Guangdong), also known by the sobriquet Chun-Weng, graduated from the Fine Arts Department at Guangdong Public School. He taught at the Guangzhou Municipal College of Fine Arts and at National Central University (now Nanjing University). After relocating to Taiwan in 1949, he joined the faculty of National Taiwan Normal University, where he nurtured generations of students and left a profound influence on Taiwan’s ink painting community. Together with Pu Hsin-Yu (1896-1963) and Chang Dai-Chien (1899-1983), he became known as one of the “Three Masters Who Came Across the Sea.” Trained under Li Yao-Ping (1880-1938), Huang studied both Chinese and Western painting techniques, while also devoting himself to studying the works of past masters and observing nature directly. Through extensive practice in copying and painting from life, he developed innovative techniques and established a distinctive personal style.
Renowned for his landscapes depicting cascading waterfalls and drifting clouds, Huang was equally accomplished in subjects such as figures, flowers, fruits, insects, birds, and animals. Bamboo and Bird was painted live during an exhibition at the Taichung Cultural Center. Executed in a freehand style with succinct brushwork, the composition centers on an angular rock formation rising diagonally from left to right, upon which a black myna bird stands, turning its head to glance behind. Clusters of slender bamboo flank the rock on either side. Using only black ink, Huang captures the bird’s form and plumage through variations in ink density and moisture, textures the rock with layered brushstrokes, and renders the bamboo stalks upright and firm, their leaves twisting and swaying. The alternating shades of the leaves gradually fade into the distance, creating a sense of spatial depth and adding vitality to the scene.

Accession number:20170300067