Title: The Breath of Autumn
Artist: Wang Mansheng
Location: New London, Connecticut
Culture: Chinese
Medium: Print
Dimensions: N/a
Repository: Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection, Shain Library, Connecticut College, New London
Donated by Chu-Griffis Art Fund
Desciption:
Displayed in the middle of the Chu Room is this limited edition print of Wang Mensheng’s painting from his exhibition, Wang Mensheng: From Silk Road to Hudson River. The painting depicts a mountain with a hard to grasp scale resting on the banks of a river. The colors in this piece are deep earthy tones with the occasional bright orange balanced out by its complementary blue of the sky and water. We see the occasional tree on the right and amidst the top of the mountain with fog rolling in from the right. The lighting points us to believe that this was done with a fall late afternoon/early evening in mind as we have a dark sky but dramatic lighting on the rock surface.
Analysis:
In Mansheng Wang’s life he has traveled all over the silk road and world but finally has settled in the Hudson Valley. This region of New York is renowned for its beauty in the fall season with the big river, surrounding mountains, and absolutely stunning lighting that comes in from a sharp angle. There are obvious inspirations and pulls from a traditional style of painting, but executed in a different geographic setting. He experiments a lot with the interplay of dark and light within the piece, which makes it so evident that he is trying to express the Hudson Valley in autumn, as the name of the piece suggests.
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