Cui Bai

Cui Bái (Ch崔 白; CuI Bó; Wade- Giles: Ts'ui Po ) was a painter of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Life

About his life relatively little is known. In Fengyang ( Anhui Province ) was born, Emperor Song Shenzong brought him mid-11th century to the court of Kaifeng. There CUI operated primarily as plant and animal painter. He is generally described as a brilliant but eccentric and clumsy in everyday life man. His contemporaries, he was impressed by the fact that he used to paint directly with the brush on silk his creations without any preliminary study, and even was able to draw without a ruler long straights.

Hare and magpies

Cui's fame rests on only one got him zuzuschreibendes with security image. Hare and two magpies of 1061 It shows two birds in winter - barren landscape, the einschwätzen to an astonished, perhaps disturbed while cleaning rabbits and possibly mock him. The animals are presented with a rare anatomical precision. Even the virtuoso use of various painting techniques is universally admired: Dry, rough ink stripes give the tree its bitter gnarled, whereas wide wet mold the earth. Even the wintry mood of the sky based on the skilful placement delicate matte ink surfaces.

The tension between the actors, the pair of birds and rabbits, leading to an unusual for the Chinese painting vitality and dynamism, which is enhanced by the diagonal image segmentation. The serenity of the rabbit is considered by some interpreters as an allegory to the people or even the state, which has found a state of peace beyond the challenge of the world. This is supported by the pun contained in the title of the work. The sign for "Magpie " is phonetically pronounced the same way with a character that means " happiness." So the title can also be read as " The Hare and the double happiness ".

The image is regarded as an exemplary expression of the natural feeling of the Northern Song masters and is counted among the greatest works of Chinese painting.

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