Chinese Painting on Location: The Art of Lin Haizhong

The contemporary ink paintings by Lin Haizhong are a unique effort to imagine the changing Chinese landscape through a personal vision and an appeal to the past—to preserve the historic landscape and create a modern Chinese environment with a traditional foundation. Central to Lin Haizhong's practice of art is a contemporary version of the social setting within which much classical Chinese painting was created.  He uses the traditional term yaji (elegant gathering) to evoke the ancient social gatherings that provided opportunities to be in the company of friends while creating art ranging from paintings and calligraphy to poetry and music.

Lin Haizhong specializes in a style of Chinese ink painting known as shanshuihua (literally ‘mountain water painting’) that is often translated as ‘landscape painting,’ although the idyllic scenes typically reflect the painter’s inspiration rather than being accurate depictions of specific places. They reflect a fusion of personal styles with traditional techniques that have been developed over centuries.

To provide greater context for the artwork, the exhibition included an installation to evoke a modern literati studio featuring images, video and objects from Lin Haizhong’s painting studio in Hangzhou, China. The opening of the exhibition featured Du Rusong, the eminent dizi (bamboo flute) musician and composer; recordings of his music played during the entire exhibition. He composed the poem that inspired Lin Haizhong’s monumental ten scroll painting, Grandview of Qiantang. 

In the calligraphic inscription for the painting, Lin Haizhong describes the circumstances of its creation.

"Du Rusong is a flutist. One day he visited me and shared this traditional poem he composed:

'Life in Qiantang, leisurely and carefree, content to be near nature;

looking at the mountains, listening to the sound of a spring or ocean waves.

With nothing else to do, I play my flute all day long;

Till the moon appears, parting the clouds, making me chuckle.'

I said to him, ‘This is an elegant poem! Just to add to the fun of your music, I want to make a painting describing the leisurely and carefree life in Qiantang.'"

Qiantang Daguan, 2007 (translated from the Chinese)