Teacher Packet: Chinese Brushpainting (.pdf) - Asian Art Museum ...

Slide 9
Brushstrokes: Styles and Techniques of Chinese Painting
Detail of slide 8: Landscape, Cha Shibiao
In this detail of the landscape, we can see Cha Shibiao's brushwork more clearly. The foreground
rocks and embankment edge are defined with severed or twisted band lines. The brush is held
vertically with the tip drawing the horizontal line and then is turned at the corner so the vertical
or diagonal lines are painted with the side of the brush. These eroded rock shapes are then given
their feeling of solidity and form with light ink washes, dry brush texturing, and dark and light
horizontal dian or dots.
Also in this detail we can clearly see the solitary man with his bramble staff, who pauses in his walk to
turn and look up at the southern sky, as Cha describes in the inscription:
The humble lodge sheltered between bamboo and pine,
Bamboo brush, the sound of pines, my companions in idleness.
Seeking a new verse as the sun sets by the stream's bend,
With a staff of bramble I turn my head to see the southern mountains.
The narrow young pines and leafy bamboo can be seen by the houses; an old pine, a large bare willow,
and another tree with few leaves grow out of the hillock in the foreground. Traditional patterns for
foliage are freely interpreted and loosely painted.
11 Asian Art Museum