My Copies after Huang Binhong
The Essence of Chinese Painting (VI)
Studying the old masters has traditionally played an important role in learning Chinese painting. During my own studies, I spent considerable time copying works by Huang Binhong (黄宾虹), trying to understand not only his brushwork and use of ink, but also the vitality and rhythm behind his paintings.
The process can be compared to studying classical music: technical exercises and the close study of earlier masters gradually help us understand how a work is constructed. Yet copying does not mean mechanically reproducing a painting line by line. The aim is to understand the brushwork, structure and spirit of the original and then recreate these qualities through one’s own hand.
Each pair below places a work by Huang Binhong beside my study of it.
In the first pair, the open water holds the two boats between a wooded foreground and the distant hills. The placement of these few marks matters as much as the darker passages around them.
The second pair is more densely built. A long building and bridge run beneath the mountains, while the foreground tree interrupts their horizontal lines. Pale peaks remain visible behind the darker brushwork.
In the third pair, vertical rock formations dominate. The bridge at the lower left and the small walking figure at the lower right give a sense of scale. The outlines remain recognisable in the copy, while the weight and spacing of the ink change.
My Studies after Huang Binhong
The short video below brings together several of my studies after Huang Binhong.
Huang Binhong: A Master of Chinese Ink Wash Painting
Huang Binhong 黄宾虹 (1865–1955) was a Chinese painter and art scholar whose landscapes grew out of the literati tradition. His study of earlier masters became the basis for a highly individual handling of brush and ink. The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes his freer brushwork from the late 1930s onwards as approaching abstraction.[1]
Layered strokes and washes give his landscapes their density, but the character of the brushline remains important. The Smithsonian’s discussion of Solitary Hermitage emphasises his energetic brushwork and the tactile quality of his accumulated ink.[2] In the comparisons above, dry, broken marks appear beside softer washes, and the unpainted paper keeps the mountain forms apart.
For me, studying and copying his work became a way to understand how a tradition can provide the basis for finding one’s own artistic language. The composition may be close to the model, yet the brush still has to move through another hand.
My engagement with Chinese painting grew out of years of study in China, including studies at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and academic research on Chinese freehand painting (xieyi, 写意). The experience of studying earlier masters such as Huang Binhong continues to inform my own approach to brushwork, ink and contemporary painting.
Footnotes
[1] The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Huang Binhong, Landscape, late 1940s. Biographical dates and discussion of his freer brushwork. ↩
[2] Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Huang Binhong, Solitary Hermitage. Literati painting, expressive brushwork and layered ink. These museum works provide context; they are not identifications of the three models reproduced above. ↩
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