The torrent-surging streams roar through the precipitous mountains on both sides, with white clouds floating above. Viewing the work of the late traditional Chinese painter Lu Yanshao (1909-93), one could be easily whisked away to his imaginative rapidly moving landscapes.
At the West Lake Art Gallery in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province, a grand exhibition on some of Lu's most eminent work is, once again, being hungrily devoured by the eyes and imagination of Lu's admirers.
The art show, commemorating one of the greatest Chinese artists in the 20th century, is sponsored by the provincial museum and supported by the provincial culture department.
Scheduled to run through to the end of the month, the show presents 80 paintings selected from his collection, each displaying a unique period of Lu's outstanding art career.
"Lu devoted his life to art and contributed a great deal to the course of Chinese traditional landscape painting," said Bao Xianlun, deputy-director of the provincial culture department. "We hope his exhibition will, once again, lead people back to his time to enjoy the magnificent art."
Born in suburban Shanghai, Lu showed a talent in painting at an early age.
When he was 19, Lu began studying Chinese traditional painting, and, for a long time, Lu indulged himself in copying various ancient artists' masterpieces.
"This special way to pay respect to the ancient artists and learn painting skills from them through copying not only made himself a distinguished master afterwards but also helped him teach numerous students, generation after generation,"said Zhang Jie, a graduate of the Chinese painting department of the China Academy of Arts.
Influenced by the various styles of the traditional Chinese landscape painting, Lu had an exquisite control of using ink and line drawing, art researchers said.
"The most unique artistic symbol of Lu lies in his special technique of connecting dots to a line,"said Kong Zhongqi, Chinese painting professor of Hangzhou-based China Academy of Arts.
In the 1930s and 40s, Lu stayed in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, churning out a great number of his best works.
During that period and years afterwards, Lu's works recorded his impression of the beautiful landscapes, especially the rivers in Sichuan.
Lu's deep interest of expressing the rapidness of the surging rivers formed his most unique personal style, which are called by his followers "floating clouds and flowing waters."
"It is really an interesting and exciting experience to enjoy his paintings, where you find the lines among dots, and vise versa, which have combined to produce a vivid image of the running waters and the passing mountains, full of power and grandeur," said Kong.
Lu moved to Hangzhou in 1980, where he taught at the China Academy of Arts until his death.
"My father stayed the last part of his life in Hangzhou. There, he always said he had been inspired by the beautiful landscape of the city, as well as its rich culture," said Lu Heng, Lu's son.
"Lu is the leading exponent of the 20th century artist who had not only carried forward the good traditions from the ancients, but had also created new styles and had contributed a great deal to the modern Chinese painting education," Kong said.
Bao added: "As the very first in our series of exhibitions on China's modern artists this year, we still have many other great artists' shows to come."
(China Daily March 6, 2002)
