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Mountain Spirit
Fu Baoshi Chinese
Not on view
This painting was inspired by a shamanistic song from the ancient literary work Nine Songs, attributed to Qu Yuan (343–278 B.C.). It describes a mountain spirit “driving tawny leopards and striped lynxes” who takes a perilous path to meet a lover but is late for the tryst. The poem describes the scene:
The thunder rumbles; rain darkens the sky:
The monkeys chatter; apes scream in the night:
The wind murmurs sadly and the trees rustle.
I think of my lady and stand alone in sadness.
—Trans. Joseph Minford and Joseph S. M. Lau
Fu inscribed the full text of the song along the right side of the painting. On the left he states, “Of all the versions I have painted, this one is relatively satisfactory.”
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