Bamboo and bird

Artist Bio
Chao Shao-an (1905 – 1998), a native of Panyu, Guangdong province. He studied painting at the Gao Qifeng (1889 – 1933) Private College of Art. In 1930, he founded the Lingnan Art Studio in Guangzhou. In 1948, Chao settled in Hong Kong and re-established the Lingnan Art Studio to teach students. He excelled in painting landscapes, animals, flowers, insects and fish, and was particularly noted for painting cicadas. Chao is a representative painter of the second-generation artists of the Lingnan School. His works are widely exhibited in Hong Kong and overseas. He was awarded Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Hong Kong (1994).
Description
To paint bamboos with cinnabar yellow is a comparative rarity in Chao’s paintings. His usual practice is to paint bamboos with ink. The bamboo in this painting is a special variety which is yellow with variegated green, and Chao paints the trunks with a broad brush dipped in cinnabar yellow, light cinnabar and dark red, with malachite green added on for the variegated effect. The trunks are painted in swift strokes, resulting in “flying white” feibai strips that merged seamlessly with the strokes to give the bamboos texture. The rapidity with which the painting is completed gives it a strong sense of spontaneity.
—Collection of Hong Kong Heritage Museum
More information
Hong Kong Heritage Museum