Ink Flowers, Album Leaves
Li Fangying
Qing Dynasty
- MEDIUM:Ink on paper
- FORMATS:Album of 8 leaves
- DIMENSIONS:Height 26 cm; Width 35.5 cm
Introduction
This album was painted in the autumn of the seventh year of Qianlong’s reign (1742), when Li Fangying was forty-six. Having lost both his parents, he resigned from office to return home and observe mourning, a period during which his painting style began to take shape. The album comprises eight paintings, four of which depict plum blossoms, each with a unique, bold composition favoring simplicity and sparseness. The plum branches are slender, twisted, and angled, outlined in light ink with darker ink applied to the blossoms’ stamens, evoking the subtle charm of ink wash. The remaining four paintings feature peonies, chrysanthemums, and bamboo, composed with straightforward layouts, vigorous brushwork, and rich ink tones. Despite the vicissitudes of his life and career setbacks, Li Fangying consistently demonstrated a broad-minded and resilient attitude through his paintings.
Qing scholar Zhang Weijia inscribed a colophon: “His brushwork is free from convention, reflecting his innermost thoughts; wherever his wrist moves, a vigorous and unrestrained energy dances across the paper.”
