Chinese Lyrical Landscapes

Chinese Lyrical Landscapes 
By artist Mu Jiashan

You live in the upper reaches of the Yangtse River while I’m in the Low River

This exhibition is the first by the World Bank to focus solely on the work of a Chinese artist.  Chinese Lyrical Landscapes features 54 ink and watercolor paintings by Mu Jaishan that show the grace and elegance of his brushstrokes along with the brilliancy and the inventiveness of his vision.  This exhibition is organized in partnership with the Office of the Executive Director for the Peoples' Republic of China and the Vice Presidency for East Asia and the Pacific.

In keeping with the spirit of the Bank’s goal of offering opportunity to all sectors of society, the World Bank Art Program typically focuses on promoting emerging artists.  Nonetheless, exceptionally influential established artists have also been featured in exhibitions if their work was pivotal or representative of an important artistic movement in their country. 

Water from Sky

With this in mind, we are honored to pay special tribute to Mu Jiashan (Quing Kou Shan Ren), the internationally renowned master painter and calligrapher.  Mu Jiashan’s work is inspired in part by the Chinese literati painting tradition, an ancient style of painting historically practiced by members of the elite as a means of self-expression, through which they sought to transcend representation of the subject and capture instead the subject’s ch’i, or life force.  Literati painters specialized in plain ink paintings.  Central to the literati aesthetic was the artist’s control of his brush.  Brush strokes were seen as direct expressions of the painter’s spirit, and they were intrinsically admired more than the realistic depiction of the subject or the artist’s compositional skills.

The combination of unrefined, often nearly childlike imagery and virtuoso calligraphy in Mu Jiashan’s ink and watercolor paintings is his tribute to the literati school. The artist singles out three periods in his creative career: the New Literati period (before 1985), the Contemporary Chinese Water-Ink Paintings period (from 1985 to 1995), and International Color-Ink Paintings period (from 1995 to the present). The first period covers Mu Jiashan’s early work prior to his completing his fine arts degree; the second period spans over the years of his formal education and work in China; and the third period coincides with his move to the United States and his reflection on Western culture and its artistic traditions.

Red Rocks

Works presented in this exhibition were created during the artist’s International Color-Ink period. The moods of the works vary from the loneliness and nostalgia experienced by him during his early years in America to peaceful contemplation and confidence in his success in a new country and culture.   The color palette of Mu’s paintings is often dominated by subdued shades of green, blue or red with voids of white used as contrasting background or foreground color.   While the majority of his works on paper are executed in the traditional Chinese manner, the artist has recently begun introducing Western materials and techniques in his works.

Enjoy!