Page 227 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

yet never obtrusive, his figures—like those of Canaletto—re- : Til* ;«•:!
duced to a kind of shorthand yet full of character, his composition
open and informal yet perfectly integrated; and when he used col-
our he did so with an exquisite freshness and restraint. It is not sur-
prising that he became so popular, not only with the literati of his
own time but also with modern connoisseurs. His debt to Huang
Kung-wang is subtly evoked both in the style of the album-leaf il-
lustrated here and in the subject, a self-portrait. Reluming Home
from the Land of the Immortals, with, as his companion, a crane who
might be the spirit of crazy old Huang himself. Above it Shen
Chou writes:
With crane and lute aboard, am homeward bound across the lake;
I
White clouds and red leaves are flying together.
My home lies in the very depths of the mountains.
Among the bamboo, the sound of reading, a tiny couch and a humble
2
gate.
Such album-leaves are full of a natural charm, and it is only when
we compare Shen Chou with Huang Kung-wang or Wu Chen
that we realise that something of their grandeur and breadth of vi-
sion is lost. But it was Shen Chou who transformed their lofty
style into a language which other, less gifted, painters could draw
248 Shen Chou {1427-1509). LanJuape
upon.
in the Manner of Ni Turn. Hinging scroll
dated equivalent to [ 484. Ink on paper.
Ming Dynasty.

149 Shen Chou, Returning Homefrom
the Land of the Immortals. Album-leaf
mounted as a handscroll. Ink and colour
on paper. Ming Dynasty.
207
Copy rig