Poetry and painting served dual purposes for China's traditional literati. They were tools for yanzhi (言志, conveying ideals through subtle language) and forms of lyrical expression that envisioned utopian realms like the Peach Blossom Spring. As Confucius stated, "The wise delight in water; the benevolent in mountains." Through landscapes in art and verse, scholars transcended literal representation to create symbolic imagery reflecting the junzi's (君子, exemplary person) virtues. By employing rhetorical techniques such as bixing (比兴, symbolic analogy), they cultivated shared cultural values and emotional connections with audiences.
The awakening of Chinese landscape aesthetics, according to Zong Baihua, emerged among the yishi (逸士, hermit-scholars) of the Wei-Jin period. The poet Xie Lingyun exemplified the literati's deep affinity for landscapes. In the historical framework of Chinese landscape painting, Zong Bing's Shanshuihua Xu （《山水画序》, "Preface to Landscape Painting"）established its theoretical foundations, while Guo Xi's Linquan Gaozhi （《林泉高致》, Lofty Ambitions of Forests and Streams）remains a canonical text for landscape interpretation and artistic praxis. As a master of landscape painting, Guo Xi's articulation of landscapes' significance to the junzi provides critical insight:
"Why do exemplary individuals cherish landscapes? Their essence lies in nurturing purity through rural retreats [丘园养素], finding uninhibited joy amidst springs and rocks [泉石啸傲], and attaining fulfillment through reclusive lives as fishermen or woodcutters [渔樵隐逸]... When skilled hands vividly recreate these scenes... the radiant interplay of mountain hues and watery reflections dazzles the eye. Does this not delight the spirit and resonate with our deepest yearnings? Herein lies the fundamental value of landscape painting."
Within literati culture, shan-shui painting (山水画) fundamentally diverged from Western "landscape art" as both an artistic discipline and creative act. Its praxis rejected naturalistic representation, instead serving as a vessel for spiritual-philosophical contemplation. As an enduring scholarly tradition paralleling classical poetics, shan-shui remained central to literati self-cultivation through the twentieth century—with mastery of poetry and painting continuing to define intellectual refinement, as codified in elite aesthetic canons.
He Xiangning (1878-1972) and Chen Shuren (1884-1948) both undertook formal artistic training in Japan during a transformative era in its art history, marked by the synthesis of Japanese and Western traditions (日洋融合 ，ri-yang ronghe). Against a backdrop of conflicting aesthetic ideologies, this exhibition investigates how these two artists navigated their choice of artistic paradigms—a core question driving our curatorial exploration. By examining their landscape (山水，shan-shui ) works, we trace their stylistic and thematic innovations in redefining modernity within the classical landscape tradition. He Xiangning, notably as one of the few female artists of her time, infused her landscapes with monumentality and expansive grandeur, while Chen Shuren’s lifelong dedication to poetry and painting culminated in compositions blending gentle lyricism with understated solemnity.
As visionary artist-intellectuals deeply engaged in social activism, both figures embedded their work within the framework of "revolution"—a term encompassing both political transformation and aesthetic rebellion. Their distinct artistic vocabularies reflect divergent interpretations of the "New Ink Landscape Painting", which fused classical conventions with naturalistic observation and Western-inspired light effects. Their achievements resist categorization within standard art historical narratives; instead, they demand analysis through their moral convictions and the socio-political currents of modern China. Their landscapes articulate coded metaphors of reclusion, wandering, homeland nostalgia, and national consciousness. Furthermore, their significant contributions to overseas Chinese affairs enrich this interdisciplinary reappraisal. In collaboration with Guangzhou Museum of Art and Guangdong Museum, this thematic exhibition repositions their artistic legacies and revolutionary ethos, advancing scholarship on the interplay between modernist experimentation, personal ethics, and collective historical struggles.
