Camellia, Narcissus, and Plum Blossoms

Object Details

• Artist

  Huang Binhong (1865-1955)

• Label

  Huang Binhong was a major twentieth-century painter as well as a scholar of Chinese painting history. Huang based his art upon the study of ancient traditions, but also imbued his works with a level of bold spontaneity that influenced younger painters and helped to launch new directions in Chinese landscape painting.

  In his early career, Huang often copied and reinterpreted early masterpieces as a method to study the technical craft of painting. In midcareer, he began to travel frequently and sketch scenery, learning to combine in his paintings direct observations of nature with models from the past. Ultimately Huang developed a style with strong, blunt brushwork, wet ink, and subtle color tonalities.

  That effect is clear in this scroll, which Huang Binhong painted when he was eighty-seven or as he wrote in his inscription, during his "eighty-eighth year as an old man," bashiba sou. The painting is dated to the early spring, and the combination of flowers is a traditional arrangement for the Chinese New Year. This celebration usually corresponds with the month of February in the Western calendar and is a time for celebrating the renewal of spring.

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  Plum Blossoms, Chrysanthemums, and Bamboo (July 30 to December 4, 2011)

  The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)

  Innovation within Tradition: The Painting of Huang Pin-hung (October 21, 1989 to March 15, 1990)

  Pavilions and Immortal Mountains: Chinese Decorative Art and Paintings (September 28, 1987 to February 28, 1988)

• Origin

  Xixian, Anhui province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Arthur M. Sackler

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1950s

• Name

  Huang, Binhong

• Place

  Xixian, China, Anhui province

• Topic

  Art, Camellia, Chinese Art, Narcissus, Modern period (1912 - present), Plum blossom

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings