Conversation in Autumn

1732

Hua Yan

Hua Yan (Chinese, 1682–c. 1765)

Chinese Art

Conversation in Autumn, 1732. Hua Yan (Chinese, 1682–c. 1765). Hanging scroll, ink and light color on paper; overall: 218.5 x 71.7 cm (86 x 28 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1954.263 A barren tree on the lower left has a hole in its lower trunk through which is visible a young servant carrying food to the gentlemen in the cottage.

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Hua Yan
Classification: Painting
Formatted Medium: hanging scroll, ink and light color on paper
Medium: hanging, scroll, ink, light, color, paper
Dimensions: Overall: 218.5 x 71.7 cm (86 x 28 1/4 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: Artist's inscription, signature, and 2 seals: On a winter day in the renzi year [1732], while leisurely sitting in my mountain pavilion, I happened to have imitated the brush style of Yuan masters on the two verses: "A guest came from the dusty world for a visit; in the small cottage we talked about the sound of autumn." Xin luo shan ren 新羅山人 [seals] Hua Yan 華喦; Qiuyue 秋岳. Remark: "The Sound of Autumn" is the title of a famous rhymed prose by the great Song scholar, Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072). Inscription: 1 colophon and 2 seals of Zhang Tingji 張廷濟 (1768-1848): Old Hua [Yan], in this painting, was able to evoke the mood of desolation in nature and match the poetry elegantly. If Fangweng [Lu You 陸游 (1125-1210)] saw this, he would inscribe the painting with two words "idyllic world 詩境." Inscription: 新羅山人為吾鄉老輩，擅長寫生。羅致羽族，翫其飛鳴飲啄。故所作別有生趣。山水不多。作客冬在西泠，見所白雲松舎圖。空靈曠逸，得未曾有，至今憶之。兹幅以蒼秀勝，荒寒之中，復饒逸趣。如坐我鵠灣、龍瀃間矣。 Translation: 1 colophon, dated 1825, and 2 seals of Chen Wenshu 陳文述 (1771-1842): Xinluo the Mountain Man was of an older generation in my native place. He is skilled in drawing from life, having encompassed all the feathered creatures and studied their [habits] in flight, calling, drinking and pecking. Consequently, his paintings in this genre are noted for lively exuberance. His landscapes are rarer. When I was a winter visitor in Xileng, I chanced to see his White Clouds over Pine Lodge. In its emptiness, its spiritual essence, its vastness and its untrammeled flavor, it is without peer. Even today, I could remember it distinctly. The painting here is known for its aged elegance. In the chilling wilderness, it is fraught with an untrammeled spirit. [With these two paintings,] it is as if I were sitting between the Snowgoose Bay and the Dragon Pool. My good nephew P'iao-sheng obtained the painting from Yufeng and showed it to me. So I write a few lines here to commemorate this "ink-relationship." In the yiyou year of Daoguang [1825], at the end of the autumn, the lay-Buddhist Yi dao ju shi, Wenshu wrote this at the cottage of Xiang shan hua yin (Meditation in Fragrance and Reclusion among Flowers). Remark: The catalogue Silent Poetry only gives a transcription of the first part of the inscription. Inscription: 1 colophon and 1 seal of Zhu Angzhi 朱昂之 (1764–1841): The highest achievement in the art of painting is to penetrate deeply into the chamber of old masters, but at the same time transcend the bounds of conventional rules. This painting of Xinluo is derived from [the style of] Baishi (Shen Zhou 沈周, 1427-1509) and Baoshan (Lu Zhi 陸治, 1496-1576) with splashed-ink technique of Wang Qia 王洽 (Wang Mo 王默, ?-805), in addition to his own innovative ideas. Hence the distinctive style. Truly, he is one of those who passed through the net of the Six Canons [of Xie He 謝赫, 479-502]; treasure it. Inscription: 2 seals of Ye Tingguan 葉廷琯 (b. 1791); 1 seal unidentified.
Departments: Chinese Art
Accession Number: 1954.263
Credit Line: John L. Severance Fund
Exhibitions: Master of Landscape: East and West, Fantastics and Eccentrics in Chinese Painting, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, Mountains, Rocks, and Water: Landscape Painting in Asia, Ji Yunfei: Last Days of Village Wen, Chinese Landscape Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5-December 26, 1954)., Masters of Landscape. Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY (September 15-October 13, 1963); The Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (November 1-December 1, 1963)., Fantastics and Eccentrics. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY, (March 23-May 28, 1967); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA (June 20-August 13, 1967); and M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA (September 15-November 5, 1967)., Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 29, 2003-March 15, 2004).
Rights Statement: CC0