On The Fine Brushworks Of Flowers And Birds By Yu Zhizhen

Yu Zhizhen (1915-1995), born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, was a painter of flowers and birds with fine brushes as well as an educationist of the fine arts, well known as one of the representatives of the modern history of Chinese painting. She was born in 1915 in Beijing into a family of traditional Chinese medical treatment. She devoted all her life to painting, studying, teaching and creating flowers and birds with fine brushes. As a student of Fei An and Zhang Daqian, she absorbed the best of her masters. Her paintings of flowers and birds with fine brushes, first based on the traditional features and techniques, came to have their own unique style. Her fine brushworks, full of life and vitality, are popular among the professional and the laymen alike. Among her fine brushworks of flowers and birds are small folded scrolls of folded paintings and large scrolls of close-to-the-eye ones, colorful and elegant. Her paintings of flowers, insects, fowls and birds are vivid in shaping and mixed with her personal feeling. In addition, she cultivated, for more than 50 years, one group after another of students of the fine arts, who later became either famous painters or excellent teachers. Thus she made great contributions to the education of the fine arts in China, to the designated artistic creations of flower and bird painting and to the academic construction of the fine arts. It is, therefore, of great practical value to make an in-depth and comprehensive study of the painting practice and teaching ideas of Yu Zhizhen. The present study is mainly concerned with the following three aspects:1) tracing the tradition she received from her teachers and her own artistic course; 2) exploring the artistic features of her fine brushworks of flowers and birds with emphasis on interpretations of her representative works; 3) discussing her teaching ideas and teaching style.