Studio: international art (46.1909)

Ch in ese Pictu res

“PRIEST TAMO GOES HUNTING IN MON-
GOLIA: EVENING APPROACHES AND SNOW
BEGINS TO FALL” BY TANG-YIN (1522-1567)

This female face recalled the tender spirit of the
old Cologne Madonnas, these trailing gowns and
flattering ribbons and the bizarre grace of gesture
revealed the Botticellis and Crivellis of old China;
there were delicacies that smacked of Eyck and
Gozzoli, and there was the massiveness of Rubens
and Jordaens. In method also variations became
visible, although the general aspect attested the
prevalence of the draughtsman, the caligraphist.
Some of the sketches were handled with impres-
sionistic boldness, while some paintings, on the
other hand, were executed with pointillistic finesse.
Strange, indeed, to our feeling appeared the

Chinese Olympus with its demigods, its fauns and
bacchantes. Chinese artists did not mind repre-
senting their revels and debaucheries, but in this
collection there was no trace of nudity. Ever
present seemed a feature of delicacy and chaste-
ness. It was paramount in the exquisiteness of
the drawing, in the blue chosen by the artists,
where only burning red would have satisfied our
demands. Charming pictures of home life, in
which the woman, or rather the lady, plays a
superior part, scenes from the public life of the
people, with less of the Hogarth and more of the
Chodowiecki note, portraits, landscapes, animals,

“lady at the blossoming plum-tree on a spring

EVENING : THE MOON IS RISING.” BY YUN-CHEN

(about 1620)

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