YU FEI'AN | Spring Insects by the Willows

signed FEI'AN, inscribed, and with three seals of the artistINSCRIPTION:When taking a stroll along Taiye Pond, I came up with this painting. My friend said it resembled Qian Shunju’s (1239-1299) work. I dare not be so self-assured. Spontaneously I inscribed here. Fei’an.

EXHIBITED & ILLUSTRATED
Hong Kong, Sotheby’s, Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy from 20^th Century Masters: The Goldbell Collection, October 2-6, 2015, and illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, pl.6

Yu Fei’an spent most of his life in Beijing and did not travel extensively, and hence most subject matters he painted were derived from the city and its environs. The inscriptions on his paintings often refer to specific places in the capital. The present work depicts a willow over one of the Taiye Pools – the three lakes of Beihai, Zhonghai, and Nanhai beyond the west gate of the Forbidden City. Omitting the tree trunk, Yu focused on the languid extension of the branches and rendered the subtle textures of the leaves in light ink, which created a palpable sense of space and distance. We find a number of small insects in the scene – bees, a snail, a grasshopper, and a pair of cicadas. Lifelike and depicted in varying subtle tonalities, the insects evoke the understated bird-and-flower paintings by Qian Xuan (Shunju) of the Yuan dynasty. Indeed, Yu mentions in his inscription that a friend thought this painting resembled a work by Qian, although he modestly claims not to believe this himself.