Mountain Vegetables
Zhang Daqian Chinese
Not on view
This painting features an assortment of humble vegetables randomly arrayed as if freshly harvested and laid out on a kitchen table. It conveys the simple pleasures of home cooking, for which Zhang Daqian was well known. The shapes and positioning of the vegetables reveal formal concerns that belie the apparent playfulness of the composition. It grows directly out of the tradition of depicting flowers and vegetables in freely applied ink washes and color without the use of outlines.
Zhang Daqian often painted different combinations of vegetables, but this painting stands out for its reliance on "splashed ink" washes that show no traces of the brush in the rendering of the vegetables' lush leaves.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.