Tradition Renewed: Four Masters and the Possibilities of Ink Art

Description

As the “Then” chapter of Alisan Fine Arts’ “Then and Now, 45th-anniversary programme,  Tradition Renewed examines how four contemporary literati masters from mainland China have transformed Chinese ink painting since the 1980s. The exhibition frames these artists as modern painter-scholars who extend the literati tradition across landscape, figure painting and the expressive potential of ink, while setting up a cross-generational dialogue with the “Now” chapter, Revisiting the Jade Terrace. Hosted at Alisan Atelier this September, this sister chapter will explore the work of four contemporary women artists and the evolving landscape of Chinese ink practice today.

Highlights of Tradition Renewed trace diverse paths of renewal: Chen Jialing’s serene, colour-modulated lotus and bird-and-flower works, as in “Homely”; Jiang Baolin’s dense, layered landscapes and iconic abstract baimiao line drawings, shown in paintings like “Silence”; Lu Fusheng’s philosophically charged landscapes, such as “Sunset”, that fuse human-like mountain forms with his earlier figure studies; and Peng Xiancheng’s lyrical, atmospheric depictions of Tang dynasty figures and horses, exemplified in works like “Horse Herder.”

Chen is a leading Haipai Shanghai School figure, who blends traditional Chinese elements with Western influences. Known for his distinctive lotus paintings, his works are in various art institutions such as M+, the National Art Museum of China and the Cernuschi Museum. Born in 1942, Jiang was trained under legendary painters Pan Tianshou, Lu Yanshao and Li Keran. Composing his works through layered ink and colour, with interwoven dots and lines creating a dense surface, he is celebrated for rhythmic baimiao (line-drawing) abstractions and award-winning landscapes held by institutions including the Great Hall of the People and Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

Lu, meanwhile, is a scholar-artist and theorist, introduced influential “Sphere” and “Quadrant” theories. Having lectured at various institutions such as University of Kansas and an art consultant for Museum Villa Stuck’s Shanghai Modern, his works are also featured internationally, including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and Hong Kong Museum of Art. Self-taught and Silk Road-influenced, spanning from Dunhuang to Xinjiang, Peng is renowned for Tang subjects collected by the British Museum and National Art Museum of China.