Sunset over the Plateaux of Southern Shaanxi

dated 1972

Not on view

In this painting, a mule train moves slowly along a mountain path through a cornfield that appears brilliant red in the glow of sunset. During the Cultural Revolution, the color red symbolized new China and recalled the stirring lines of the revolutionary song: "The East is Red, the sun rises; China has produced a Chairman Mao." In Shi Lu's ominous landscape, however, it is the light of the setting sun that illuminates the fields, which appear like a brushfire about to consume the travelers. The mountains, like thick black smoke, offer no sanctuary from this conflagration.

Artwork Details

近代石魯陝北夕照圖軸
Title: Sunset over the Plateaux of Southern Shaanxi
Artist: Shi Lu (Chinese, 1919–1982)
Date: dated 1972
Culture: China
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Image: 32 in. × 20 3/4 in. (81.3 × 52.7 cm)
Overall with mounting: 79 × 26 1/4 in. (200.7 × 66.7 cm)
Overall with knobs: 79 × 30 1/8 in. (200.7 × 76.5 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, in memory of La Ferne Hatfield Ellsworth, 1986
Object Number: 1986.267.350
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, Ni Zan Chinese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China — Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu
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Mountain Rain is Coming, Shi Lu Chinese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, China — Mountain Rain is Coming
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