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Lot Essay
Poetry in Painting: Evoking Song Dynasty Aesthetics under Pu Ru’s Brush
After returning to Beijing from his seclusion in the Western Hills, Pu Ru held his first exhibition in 1930 in a waterside pavilion at Zhongshan Park. Crowds and leading cultural figures in Beijing gathered to view his works. They agreed that Pu Ru revived the Northern School of landscape painting from three centuries of slumber and recognized him as a leading figure in this renewal movement. Pu Ru learned to paint not with a teacher but by imitating Song and Yuan Dynasty masterpieces from his family collection in the Imperial court. His great success coincided with the reform era in the late Qing dynasty and early Republican period. As his paintings revitalized the landscape painting genre, which the Four Wangs dominated since the 1600s, his art brought hope for change and reform to the art world.
Pu Ru’s twelve-leaf landscape album is his early landscape masterpiece painted in the Northern style. The Song Dynasty influence is evident in the composition and the evocation of poetic conceptions in this work. For example, “Temple Hidden in Pine Trees” uses few strokes to portray the lofty peaks of the distant mountains. The outline and layout of the trees in the misty clouds highlight the temple in the centre, reflecting Pu Ru’s careful arrangements. Each brushstroke is just right, with the nearby rocks dotted with moss and the rippling waves delineated with thin lines.
Another example is the “Moon Dawning on the Forest.” A moon glows faintly above the treetops; an arched bridge in the centre of the work connects the shores, with a few thatched cottages scattered along the right side of the bridge. Pu Ru’s fascinating strokes bring the four tiny but lively donkeys under the roofs to life. “Water Chestnut Floating on Pond” depicts a scholar on an arched bridge underneath a plum tree. The tree’s gnarled roots and blossoming branches above the bridge contrast with the flowing water under the bridge as the scholar stands still with his staff and contemplates this poetic scenery.
Pu Ru always perceived himself as a scholar and a poet who only painted and wrote calligraphy. However, his skillful classical brush and ink techniques effectively evoke the tranquil and poetic scenes from the Jin and Tang dynasties, just like the old saying goes, “There is poetry in painting.” These twelve elaborate paintings offer a glimpse of Pu Ru’s imaginary world.
After returning to Beijing from his seclusion in the Western Hills, Pu Ru held his first exhibition in 1930 in a waterside pavilion at Zhongshan Park. Crowds and leading cultural figures in Beijing gathered to view his works. They agreed that Pu Ru revived the Northern School of landscape painting from three centuries of slumber and recognized him as a leading figure in this renewal movement. Pu Ru learned to paint not with a teacher but by imitating Song and Yuan Dynasty masterpieces from his family collection in the Imperial court. His great success coincided with the reform era in the late Qing dynasty and early Republican period. As his paintings revitalized the landscape painting genre, which the Four Wangs dominated since the 1600s, his art brought hope for change and reform to the art world.
Pu Ru’s twelve-leaf landscape album is his early landscape masterpiece painted in the Northern style. The Song Dynasty influence is evident in the composition and the evocation of poetic conceptions in this work. For example, “Temple Hidden in Pine Trees” uses few strokes to portray the lofty peaks of the distant mountains. The outline and layout of the trees in the misty clouds highlight the temple in the centre, reflecting Pu Ru’s careful arrangements. Each brushstroke is just right, with the nearby rocks dotted with moss and the rippling waves delineated with thin lines.
Another example is the “Moon Dawning on the Forest.” A moon glows faintly above the treetops; an arched bridge in the centre of the work connects the shores, with a few thatched cottages scattered along the right side of the bridge. Pu Ru’s fascinating strokes bring the four tiny but lively donkeys under the roofs to life. “Water Chestnut Floating on Pond” depicts a scholar on an arched bridge underneath a plum tree. The tree’s gnarled roots and blossoming branches above the bridge contrast with the flowing water under the bridge as the scholar stands still with his staff and contemplates this poetic scenery.
Pu Ru always perceived himself as a scholar and a poet who only painted and wrote calligraphy. However, his skillful classical brush and ink techniques effectively evoke the tranquil and poetic scenes from the Jin and Tang dynasties, just like the old saying goes, “There is poetry in painting.” These twelve elaborate paintings offer a glimpse of Pu Ru’s imaginary world.