Snake Catching A Frog
After the fall of the dynasty, Gao took the path of many reformers and pursued the "modern" and the "Western" in Japan. He studied at the Tokyo Academy of Fine Arts and traveled to India. When he returned to China in 1916, he inculcated students with his ideas of a "new national painting" using Western modeling techniques and departing from the traditional idealized subjects of Chinese painting.
This strikingly modern painting embodies an important feature of the Lingnan School in the surprising choice of subject matter.
Artwork Details
- 清/現代 高劍父 蛇吞蛙圖 軸
- Title: Snake Catching A Frog
- Artist: Gao Jianfu (Chinese, 1878–1951)
- Date: 20th century
- Culture: China
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on alum paper
- Dimensions: 20 1/8 x 26 1/4 in. (51.1 x 66.7 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, in memory of La Ferne Hatfield Ellsworth, 1986
- Object Number: 1986.267.188
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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