Camellia, Plum Blossoms and Rock

Artist Bio
A native of Zhuji in Zhejiang province who was at one time a monk and who in his later years earned his living as a professional painter in Hangzhou and Shaoxing, Chen Hongshou, style name Zhanghou, alias Laolian, received direct tutelage in painting from Lan Ying and emulated Xu Wei’s style. His figure paintings are characterised by exaggerated and archaistic forms, while the forms and colours of his landscapes and bird-and-flower paintings are also rich in decorative flavours. Chen exerted a great influence on later generations such as the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Ren Xiong, Ren Yi and others.
Description
The fine, smooth and even brush lines in this painting are characteristic of Chen’s late style. Demonstrating his sophisticated execution of lines by marking out the plum blossoms and camellia in a meticulous and elegant manner, Chen also deliberately scatters moss dots over the tree and rock as decorative elements to accentuate the images of his subjects. The distorted structure of the trunk and branches, twisting exaggeratedly, is a distinctive feature in works by Chen’s contemporaries.
—Xubaizhai Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art
More information
Hong Kong Museum of Art