Li Kuchan's Freehand Flower And Bird Brush Ink Language Research

Li Kuchan is a master of freehand paintings of birds and flowers in Chinesecontemporary and modern history.His paintings have been characterized by;calligraphic techniques into painting,profound,stable and magnificentstrokes,and impassioned,forceful and noble style.The formation of suchan ink and pen language is inextricably linked with his experience.In thispaper,based on the works of Li Kuchan,his quotations,his literature andresearch articles of other experts and scholars related to his paintings,his linguistic features and artistic achievements manifested in his freehandpaintings of birds and flowers are analyzed and interpreted.After studying the western paintings in his early years,Li Kuchan formallyacknowledge Mr.Qi Baishi as his master in traditional Chinese paintings.But his study was not restricted to Qi-style painting.He had also deeplyworshiped other famous artists such as Qingteng,Bada Shanren andWuChangshuo.Under their influence,he had formed his unique brush-ink languagefull of intrinsic spirit.In this paper,a preliminary study is conductedfocusing on the embodiment of Li Kuchan’s "brush-ink" language in hisfreehand bird-and-flower paintings.Moreover,based on his life experiencesand artistic pursuits,the reasons for his profound and stable strokes,impassioned and forceful painting style and transformation from naturalthings to his brush-ink images are elaborated.By virtue of comparingpainting characteristics between Qi Baishi,Pan Tianshou and him,hisfeatures and artistic style are further expounded.Li Kuchan,as a patrioticartist,had persisted in his love and pursuit of paintings in the tumultuousyears although he experienced his life ups and downs.The purpose of thisstudy is to explore how his unusual experiences and art history affect theformation of his pen and link languages.In addition,the authors attemptto analyze his guiding significance in emphasizing the brush-ink spirit andfreehand spirit in today’s painting circles.