Snow: Poetic Thoughts of Mao Zedong

Fu Baoshi Chinese
dated 1959
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Here, Fu rendered a panorama of a snowy landscape in an impressionistic manner. Mountains and rivers are conveyed with swift, scribbling strokes over blank areas of shimmering white—all full of vital energy. Mao Zedong stands on a mountaintop, taking in the vista, as a soldier behind him carries a revolutionary flag—a modern, radical twist on the old pictorial convention of a recluse seeking solace in nature with an attendant who follows him carrying a qin, or zither. This fantastic snowy scene anticipates the famous work Such Is the Beauty of Our Rivers and Mountains, which is based on the same poem.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Snow: Poetic Thoughts of Mao Zedong
  • Artist: Fu Baoshi (Chinese, 1904–1965)
  • Date: dated 1959
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Album leaf; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 13 3/4 x 19 11/16 in. (35 x 50 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Lent by Nanjing Museum
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art