Spring Fantasia
Photograph
Spring Fantasia
1945
Gelatin silver print
Image: 28.5 x 23.5 cm
Mount: 45.5 x 36.7 cm
Gift of Mary Ann Giglio, 2008
2008.0329.0002
Inscriptions recto: [stamp with Chinese character]
verso (printed label):
Spring Fantasia (1945) / [text in Chinese characters] / This is an interpretation of a poem by the famous "Sung" poet, Liu Yung. The poem tells of a lovers' parting. They spent a night together on the boat with wine and with tears. They bade farewell to each other just before the dawn came. The lover was left with a cold and cruel morning wind and disfigured moon. His sorrow was only shared by the willow which stood on the bank all by itself, with thousands of "strings of love", yet not one of them could tie up the beloved for him.
I have in this picture endeavored to bring out the characteristics of the traditional Chinese Painting. The first of the "Six Cannons", as we know, concerns the Treatment, that a good composition is expected to have 4 essential qualities: namely, atmosphere, rhythm, line and movement. Subject matter is of secondary importance. In the case of shui mo hwa, the artist uses nothing but black ink on white paper; by means of thick and thin strokes, heavy and light touches of the brush, he manages to record his concepts of the beauty of nature. Yes, he paints, and with no colours. For had not a great critic said that "the black ink can be divided into five colours"? And more than five colours are there, if you know how to treat the different gradations and tones. The great critic has not only told us the inevitable truth, but a great secret that is shared by Shui mo hwa and Photography in monochrome. / [list of 13 exhibitions where this photograph was "accepted and hung"]
verso (printed label):
Spring Fantasia (1945) / [text in Chinese characters] / This is an interpretation of a poem by the famous "Sung" poet, Liu Yung. The poem tells of a lovers' parting. They spent a night together on the boat with wine and with tears. They bade farewell to each other just before the dawn came. The lover was left with a cold and cruel morning wind and disfigured moon. His sorrow was only shared by the willow which stood on the bank all by itself, with thousands of "strings of love", yet not one of them could tie up the beloved for him.
I have in this picture endeavored to bring out the characteristics of the traditional Chinese Painting. The first of the "Six Cannons", as we know, concerns the Treatment, that a good composition is expected to have 4 essential qualities: namely, atmosphere, rhythm, line and movement. Subject matter is of secondary importance. In the case of shui mo hwa, the artist uses nothing but black ink on white paper; by means of thick and thin strokes, heavy and light touches of the brush, he manages to record his concepts of the beauty of nature. Yes, he paints, and with no colours. For had not a great critic said that "the black ink can be divided into five colours"? And more than five colours are there, if you know how to treat the different gradations and tones. The great critic has not only told us the inevitable truth, but a great secret that is shared by Shui mo hwa and Photography in monochrome. / [list of 13 exhibitions where this photograph was "accepted and hung"]
