Bamboo in Snow
Hong Fan (Chinese, active late 1700s–early 1800s)
1818
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting only: 164.5 x 87.6 cm (64 3/4 x 34 1/2 in.); Overall with knobs: 288 x 121.7 cm (113 3/8 x 47 15/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Hong Fan’s bamboo stalks amidst rocky boulders bend gently forward. Light washes of ink suggest a misty, wintry atmosphere. Fan was inspired in style and concept by the poet, calligrapher and painter, Su Shi (1037-1101) who considered bamboo an ideal subject to express the calligraphic qualities of brushwork. Bamboo that bends, but does not break under the heavy snow, was also an image for the upright scholar who withstands adverse times.
