Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Michael Sullivan’s (1916-2013) journey in Chinese art started in west China during the Second World War (1939-1945), where he became friends with many Chinese artists. However, Michael never met the artist of this painting, Fu Baoshi (1904-1965). Their connections were through a mutual friend Geoffrey Hedley (died 1958), who was a British Council official and had contacts with many artists in China during the 1940s. Hedley bequeathed his collection of Chinese art, including this painting, to Khoan (1919-2003) and Michael Sullivan.

Fu Baoshi occupies a unique place in modern Chinese art as a traditional painter because, although he studied both Western and Japanese art in Tokyo (1933-1935), he always remained a Chinese artist. The subjects of his paintings were almost always figures, landscapes, and figures in landscapes. His slender, elongated figures recall the style of the Six Dynasties (AD 220- AD 589), while the monumental scale of his landscapes recalls the Northern Song (AD 960-1127) masters. The inscription is a poem by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) author Wu Meicun (1609-1671), about his friend, Shao Mi (c.1592-after 1642), the ‘eccentric painter’. Baoshi adds ‘Meicun has portrayed me.’