The pine trees rocks theme, long loved by Chinese painters, gets a fine airing in this landscape scroll painting. Silk takes the ink with a particular softness, and this piece uses it well. As a piece of ink wash painting, it reads clearly from across the room and keeps giving on closer inspection.
The discipline of wash painting shows in every controlled gradation. The pine trees adds a quiet accent, handled in the old manner of the brush. Water plunges from the heights, rendered in thin, vertical strokes. The mountains march to the horizon, a classical panorama. Soft veils of mist knit the separate elements into one breathing scene. Clustered rocks create a foreground the eye can rest on before traveling up.
Hung in a study or living room, this timeless asian wall art changes the room's temperature without raising its voice. The scroll format itself is part of the pleasure: art that unrolls like a story. Unroll, hang, step back: the room does the rest.
