Flowering Plum and Rock
Hu Yuan Chinese
Not on view
Hu Yuan, raised in the arts of painting, calligraphy, and poetry, was denied the income of his gentry birthright when Taiping rebels confiscated his property. He came to Shanghai to earn a living selling paintings.
Hu's literal taste is evident in this traditional subject of rock and plum. His inscription records that he first painted the strange and powerful rock by lanternlight on a cold night and then added a branch of winter plum, "the soul of the world." Hu's romantic intensity goes beyond the tradition of chaste nobility associated with this genre.
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