A highly lauded figure of 20th-century art history in China, Lin Fengmian dedicated his life to the development of an art practice in painting that, at its essence, could be compatible with either Chinese or Western art. He also reached outstanding achievements in art education. As the president of the National Hangzhou School of Art (present day ‘China Academy of Art’), he tirelessly introduced techniques and theories of Western art, becoming a key guide and pioneer of Chinese modern art. Amongst his followers were Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, and Shiy De-Jinn.

This work, “Lotus” shows how, after traditional Chinese landscape paintings, Lin Fengmian’s practice placed equal emphasis on both the light and colour of his scenes. It presents a refinement of a perspective drawn from Western painting, in which contrast between light and shadow creates the clearest impressions of space within the frame. Even if the lotuses in full bloom are scattered all over, they all conform to a certain order within their complex arrangement that makes them appear not as a mess, but as a simple composition in which the blooming lotuses assume a serene yet poised-to-leap subject position.

Let life be beautiful like summer flower, Tagore, Stray Birds — for even in a silent, indifferent world, one can still avoid catching the sick of the mundane and let oneself stay infatuated by a creative practice. Although Lin Fengmian had been publicly denounced and once blacklisted as an artist during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, his later accomplishments not only helped to open the door for modern Chinese art, it did so to such a highly structured degree that it would be a challenge to cover over the brilliant sincerity of Lin’s art practice. Borrowing from the lotus, Lin Fengmian rose out of the mud unsullied, strong-willed, bent on freedom and openness, practicing what one preaches, and persevering along the painter’s road.