The “Artistic Transmission – Art Exhibition of Fu Baoshi & Fu Yiyao,” curated by Dr. Ye Guoxin of the Mo Hai Lou, will grandly open at the First Exhibition Hall of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall from October 19 to November 6 this year. A seminar featuring Ms. Fu Yiyao and the appraisal expert Dr. Ye Guoxin is planned for November 2 at 3 PM. The dialogue between the appraisal expert and the daughter of a renowned artist is bound to be a precious and exciting exchange. Curator Ye Guoxin states that this exhibition brings not only several classic works by Ms. Fu Yiyao but also multiple authentic pieces by Mr. Fu Baoshi. This exhibition emphasizes the unique artistic spirit and bloodline inheritance between the Fu father and daughter, while also hoping to allow visitors to feel the profound cultural heritage.
Fu Baoshi: A Master of Ancient and Modern
Fu Baoshi (1904–1965) was a renowned modern Chinese painter, seal carver, art historian, theorist, and educator. He had profound achievements and skills in painting, calligraphy, and seal carving, with deep involvement in the history of Chinese art, authoring multiple important works on Chinese painting history, which had a far-reaching impact on the development of modern Chinese art. Due to his deep research into art history, Fu Baoshi’s painting influences were quite broad. Apart from being significantly influenced by Shitao, he drew from Song and Yuan painting, including figures such as the Mi father and son, Ma Xia, Wang Meng, and even Ming and Qing masters like Mei Qing, Xiao Yuncang, and Gong Xian.
Fu Baoshi excelled in both landscape and figure painting, achieving high accomplishments in both. His artistic realm in landscape painting and the techniques he created are unparalleled in modern Chinese landscape painting. His brushwork for rocks employed the scatter stroke technique painted on wet paper, creating a unique and soft ambiance. In his figure creations, he drew heavily on classical texts. Themes such as Xiang Jun and Shan Gui are filled with reminiscences of classical literary romance, yet his creations are not mere repetitions of poetry or illustrations of meanings. Instead, they represent the author’s reinterpretation of ancient poetry and idioms, imbued with his own emotional experiences. Especially notable is his depiction of the gaze in his figures, which is particularly exceptional.
Fu Baoshi’s painting inherited the innovations of Shitao’s landscape painting, breaking away from the traditional ink painting’s reliance on previous artists’ works, blending classical elements with observations of nature, and escaping the constraints of conventional frameworks, leading to a realm of free and uninhibited expression. Fu Baoshi’s existence can be seen as embodying the transformation of traditional landscape painting from the old to the new, allowing ink painting to create a new paradigm.
Fu Yiyao: The Heir of the Artistic Legacy
Fu Yiyao (1947–) is the daughter of the great modern painter Fu Baoshi and has interacted with figures in the art world such as Zhang Daqian, Guo Moruo, Lin Sanzhi, and Lin Fengmian. She studied abroad in Japan in 1979, learning under Hirayama Ikuo and Shiozaki Hiroshi, and was further taught by Aoyama Sanyu. Her art is internationally renowned and she maintains a good relationship with the Japanese imperial family. She has exhibited at the United Nations and holds a prestigious position in the Japanese art world. She has received Japan’s highest art award, the Rinya Art Award, being the only foreign artist to receive this honor, and has been featured in major programs on NHK, such as “National Treasures Selection” and “Sunday Art Museum,” achieving high viewership ratings. She has published numerous books, including “I Have a Good Teacher,” “My Father Fu Baoshi,” “My Years in the East,” “Collection of Fu Yiyao’s Paintings,” “Twelve Festivals in Color,” and “Collection of Fu Yiyao’s Ink Paintings” (published by Kodansha in Japan).
Fu Yiyao mainly focuses on themes of temple wall murals, Japanese folk festivals, poetic paintings, and traditional landscapes. Her works are collected by many shrines and sacred places in Japan, including the National Treasure Hall of the World Heritage Site Hiei Mountain Enryaku-ji, Kyoto’s Sanjusangendo, Ohara Sanzen-in, Yokohama’s Enman-ji, and Nagano’s Ryudo-in. Her representative works include “The Spread of Buddhism to the East,” “Hiei Mountain Enryaku-ji,” “Tendai Mountain Guoqing Temple,” “Sanzen-in Four Seasons,” “Suwa Taisha Onbashira Festival,” and “Zhang Qian’s Embassy to the Western Regions.” Known for her large-scale works, her style is grand and atmospheric, rich in emotion yet delicate and composed, embodying Zen qualities. She is an outstanding ink painter capable of seamlessly blending boldness with subtlety, expressiveness with restraint.
“Rich in the Valleys of the Heart, Skilled in the Brushwork of the Ancients.”
The “Artistic Transmission – Art Exhibition of Fu Baoshi & Fu Yiyao” alludes to multiple layers of “transmission” – the “transmission” of Fu Baoshi’s teachings to Fu Yiyao, the deep familial bonds of blood, and the aesthetic pursuits shared among literati. “Rich in the valleys of the heart, skilled in the brushwork of the ancients” is a lifelong maxim of Fu Baoshi and serves as enlightening advice from a predecessor to his descendants. More than specific techniques, the father’s influence on Fu Yiyao lies in the aesthetic cultivation and spiritual refinement. Fu Baoshi often encouraged Fu Yiyao to “strive for self-improvement,” a simple phrase encompassing his profound understanding of aesthetics. “Strive for self-improvement” signifies more than relentless effort; it embodies the manifestation of “independence” in visual representation, relying on one’s own perceptions of the world, merging the valleys of the heart with the brushwork of the ancients. In Fu Yiyao’s creations, one can see the concrete realization of her father’s aesthetic philosophy, and Dr. Ye hopes this “Fu inheritance” will continue to flourish and be passed on endlessly.
