Sichuan Landscape
During World War II Lu Yanshao painted in the mountains of Sichuan. In this rare work from the end of the Cultural Revolution he re-created from memory the dramatic scenery that he encountered there as he recounts in his inscription:
The southwest is especially famous for the beauty of its caves and valleys. This is not because it is described as such, because of its "reputation." One day, when I was living in Sichuan in the mountains across a river, I came upon a huge and mysterious cave, with waterfalls gushing forth from the rocks, in the midst of a beautiful and serene setting. Even after more than thirty years I have not forgotten it. I have now painted it to share with those who might enjoy it.
(Wen Fong, trans., Between Two Cultures: Late-Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Chinese Paintings from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art [New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001], p. 253)
The southwest is especially famous for the beauty of its caves and valleys. This is not because it is described as such, because of its "reputation." One day, when I was living in Sichuan in the mountains across a river, I came upon a huge and mysterious cave, with waterfalls gushing forth from the rocks, in the midst of a beautiful and serene setting. Even after more than thirty years I have not forgotten it. I have now painted it to share with those who might enjoy it.
(Wen Fong, trans., Between Two Cultures: Late-Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Chinese Paintings from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art [New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001], p. 253)
Artwork Details
- 近代 陸儼少 叢莽幽洞圖 冊頁
- Title: Sichuan Landscape
- Artist: Lu Yanshao (Chinese, 1909–1993)
- Date: dated 1975
- Culture: China
- Medium: Album leaf; ink and color on Japanese paper
- Dimensions: 11 1/4 x 16 in. (28.6 x 40.6 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, in memory of La Ferne Hatfield Ellsworth, 1986
- Object Number: 1986.267.396
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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