Beschreibung:

JIANG ZHAOHE 1904-1985 The Poet Du Fu Reciting a Poem Inscription: The inscription is a seven-syllable line of a poem by Du Fu (712-770). Reading: By himself / giving the finishing touch to a poem. Dated: Summer 1981 Signed: Zhaohe Seal 1: Zhaohe Seal 2: "Seventy is enough" 79 x 49 cm PROVENANCE: Purchased from the artist by Primrose Gigliesi-Friend (Ji Limei), Beijing 1980 for Professor (Docent) Lars Berglund. Then owned by Mr Sture Larsson. EXHIBITED: Malmö Museum, Malmö, Sweden. Konstmuseum Pictura, Lund University, Sweden. Röhsska Konstslöjdmuseet, Gothenburg, Sweden. Etnografiska Museet, Stockholm. Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm. PUBLISHED: Berglund, Lars, Den befriade penseln (Liberated Brushes), Liber Förlag, Stockholm 1985. Masters from China/Mästare från Kina, exhibition catalogue, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm 1989. NOTE: Jiang Zhaohe's imaginary portrait of Du Fu is a spiritual rendering quite in line with the best in Chinese tradition. The great poet is wandering in a landscape giving the finishing touch to a poem. The landscape is only indicated by a few bamboo stems - the rest of the surface is a compressed void which enhance the pureness of the figure, riveting ones gaze upon the poets noble, ethereal face. Du Fu is wandering around with his arms on his back, mumbling by himself, glanzing dreamlike at a far distance. He is in a moment of poetic creation. The poet's dress is built up by varied brushstrokes which harmonize very well with the naturalistic, Western approach to the design of the head. The volume of the face is mainly rendered with chiaroscuro effects in colour while the rest of the figure's form and volume is entirely built up by varied, sensitive brushstrokes.