Children Studying
Feng Zikai Chinese
Not on view
Feng Zikai's intellectual development was fostered under the tutelage of the influential Buddhist scholar and painter Li Shutong (Hongyi). Later Feng studied in Japan, learning Western drawing and music. when he returned to China he answered the call for an art responsive to the needs of a broadly defined national culture, not with politically rhetorical pictures but with moving, humane depictions of common people in real situations, using a style based on woodblock illustration.
In what might be called a "20th century painting of scholars", he depicts a group of children studying, thereby stating simply the prevailing hopes for education and literacy. In his inscription, he notes a universal truth:
Homework is done better
In the fresh air.
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