Peonies
Fan Tchun-Pi
1963
- Year：1963
- Medium：Oil on canvas
- Dimensions：63.5 × 68.5 cm
Introduction
Fang Tchunpi was the first female Chinese artist of the 20th-century overseas generation to be admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the first Chinese female painter to have her work selected for the Paris Salon. She was celebrated as “an outstanding female painter of the East.” In her pursuit of blending Chinese and Western artistic styles, Fang created numerous floral works, including Peonies, which she painted during her years abroad. Her brushwork exhibits a clarity and composure, marked by a subtle, masterful control of tone and atmosphere. Using the medium of oil paint, she evokes the traditional Chinese concept of liubai (negative space), setting fiery red peonies against a pure white porcelain vase and background so that they blaze with brilliance, while the scattered petals speak of a lingering longing for the beauty of time past.
