Mantises Fighting on Bamboo

In his youth, Wang Xuetao studied with two masters, Qi Baishi (1864–1957) and Wang Yun (1887–1934). While he maintained a long friendship with Qi, Wang Yun's emphasis on gathering visual memories had a more profound impact on his art. In this painting, the lively poses of the mantises, the complexity of their forms, and the vivid suggestion of movement, which could not have been captured
through sketching alone, reflect the artist's recreation from memory of a dramatic confrontation that he observed in his garden.

The mantis is the only common species of insect that can stand upright on its two hind legs, bend its waist forward and backward, and turn its head 180 degrees. Such anthropomorphic traits are essential to Wang's representation of insects. This scene, for example, readily brings to mind a fistfight. Confounding realism, however, Wang endows these green mantises with red eyes. His subjective use of color spices the otherwise cool palette of the picture and creates a visual resonance between the central image and the seals on either side.