Recent exhibitions of some of the best contemporary art from within and outside China, reminded me again of travels in China in the distant past. The influence of the long cultural history not to be underestimated both in technique and subject, in complex and compelling contemporary art.
Some recollections from notebooks and photographs of my third visit to China in September 1993. Another three week journey with my Chinese brush painting group. Set off from Sydney with an overnight stopover in Singapore. Next day flight to Guangzhou then connecting flight to Guilin for three nights. First day cruise along the Li River to Yangshou. Spectacular Karst topography. Accompanied by Professor Li from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing who we had met on the trip the previous year. Professor Li conducted painting demonstrations throughout the entire three weeks of the trip. After dinner a cultural show and then watching cormorant fishing at night. Next day tour of the Reed Flute Caves, Diecai Hill, Elephant Trunk Hill. Drawing in the morning in a rural village rudely interrupted by a curious passing buffalo on its way home from working in the fields, like a scene from many traditional Chinese paintings, a young man and his buffalo by a river. Next day drawing in Five Star Park. Afternoon flight to Shanghai. Arrived mid-afternoon, gridlock, nearly two hours on a bus to travel from the airport to the hotel. Evening spent strolling along The Bund, back then there was no development on the other side of the river, not one skyscraper, unrecognisable today. Next day soft seat train to Hangzhou for two nights, visit to a silk factory, followed by drawing in the park in the afternoon. Next day early morning walk to the causeway, West Lake cruise, visit to a Buddhist Temple, sketching in a bamboo forest in a thunderstorm in the afternoon, opera in the evening. Next day bus to Yoalin Caves then onto Jiande, central China, and a town tour by bicycle cabs. Walk after dinner through the markets. Out of the way, off the tourist grid, we instantly attracted attention, told best not to go out by ourselves at night, but it was too tempting, some of us ventured out under the cover of darkness. Again as in previous travels, it’s the everyday encounters that are often the most memorable experiences. We walked through the markets thinking we blended in, but not so. Wondering why there was a crowd gathered around a woman cooking in a wok, I wandered over and looked on, then realised she was deep frying bats, an exclamation, I stepped back my face illuminated by the one light bulb, the woman let out a blood curdling scream, thought she had seen a ghost. A man eating noodles close by fell off his stool in a fit of hysterical laughter. Once recovered, wandered on, some of the shop windows featured live snakes, frogs, birds, fluffy bantam chickens, but realised they were food stores with fresh produce in the windows, everything edible in this part of the world. Menus not unlike French cuisine including frog legs and snails and other crustaceans. Spent the evening in a karaoke bar listening to Madonna! Next day cruise from Jiande across Qiandao Hu (Thousand Isles Lake) to Shendo, then bus to Huangshan. Stayed overnight in a hotel in the Hot Springs area at the foot of the mountains. Next day cable car to the mountains ‘majestic peaks, grotesque rocks, gnarled centuries-old pine trees, sea of clouds’. Sketching in the afternoon at a lookout waiting for the clouds to part, when they did spectacular views across the peaks. Stayed overnight, up early to watch the sunrise, followed by a two hour walk, then a three hour walk after breakfast to Tian Du Feng (Celestial Capital Peak) one of the three main peaks, then afternoon cable car back to Huangshan city guest house. Next day walk to Nine Dragon waterfall in the morning, in the afternoon walking to other waterfalls followed by painting demonstration that evening. Next day bus to Tunxi, afternoon visit to the museum. After dinner evening walk through the heritage streets. Next day visit to an ink-stick making factory followed by sketching in the village. Evening flight to Beijing. As this was my third visit to Beijing I decided to forego a day trip to the Great Wall and to the Forbidden City, this time I had more time to roam and get to know city life a bit more closely, including a return visit to the National Art Gallery. Over the next several days attended painting classes – plum blossom, bamboo, and wisteria, and an evening lecture on the history of Chinese art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Also had time for the opera, visit to silk stores, a return visit to Liulichan Street, lined with art shops with vast range of options for buying must have art materials, bookstores, and then the best ever Peking Duck banquet. At the end of the week afternoon flight to Singapore. Next day full day in Singapore to take in some sites, including lunch at the classic Raffles Hotel, before night flight back to Sydney. Again savouring the experience, a bit further along the immense learning curve, gaining an appreciation of art thousands of years in the making.
Places
Guilin
Shanghai
Hangzhou
Jiande
Huangshan
Tunxi
Beijing
Art References
Exhibitions references
Ink Remix: Contemporary art from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Canberra Museum and Art Gallery, Canberra, August 2015
The Dark Matters, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, May 2017
Ritual Spirit, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, October 2017
Sun Xun, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, July 2018
The Sleeper Awakes, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, July 2018
Supernatural, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, January 2019
HOT BLOOD, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, April 2019
Other references
The Insiders Guide to China, Derek Maitland, 1989
The Development of Chinese Painting by James Cahill
Series of 29 lectures – UC Berkley
The Compelling Image – Nature and Style in Seventeenth Century Chinese Painting, James Cahill, The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, 1979
Hills Beyond a River – Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368, James Cahill, 1976
Parting at the Shore – Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty 1368-1580, James Cahill, 1978
The Distant Mountains – Chinese Paintings of the Late Ming Dynasty 1570-1644, James Cahill, 1982
Chinese Watercolours, Josef Hejzlar, 1978
Chinese Art, Mary Tregear, 1980
The Arts of China, Michael Sullivan, 1986 (3rd edition)
The Archaeology of Ancient China, Kwang-Chih Chang 1986 (4th edition)
The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, 1679-1701. Chieh Tzu Yuan Hua Chuan 1679-1701 (Translated Mai Mai Sze 1956)
Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, 1350 Yuan dynasty, essay by Hung Sheng
Brushstrokes: Styles and Techniques of Chinese Painting from the Asian Art Museum Education Department Asian Art Museum – Chong Moon Lee Centre for Asian Art and Culture (1995)
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