The white goats in this colorful Chinese folk painting climb a blue/green hill tinged with red by the huge setting sun. Gouache on paper, this piece from Huxian County in Shaanxi Province is unsigned, as was generally the case for art from China’s peasant painting communities. The Huxian painting community was established in 1958, and from there the movement spread across China, growing to 51 such rural groups by 1989.(For an overview of paintings from many such communities, see “The Best in Mod... Click for details
Filial respect, a cornerstone of Chinese culture, is portrayed in this woodblock print from the Huxian painting community in Shaanxi Province. Although sometimes attributed solely to Confucian thought, filial piety has been of paramount importance within all belief systems in China and throughout most other Asian countries as well. There is charm and nostalgia in this glimpse back into China's not very distant past. The woodcut was produced in a rural painting cooperative that was one of about f... Click for details
A Chinese folk painting from a remote village in the mountains of Yijun County, Shaanxi Province, shows a mythical beast with feathery fangs and a pinwheel on his rump. Paintings from this isolated community above the tree line, drawing on centuries-old embroidery and papercut patterns used by the women of the village, often featured extraordinary creatures in fantasy-like settings. The work of Yijun's peasant painters is included in "The Best of Modern Chinese Folk Painting," published by Fore... Click for details
This charming Chinese folk painting of embroidered felt liners for shoes comes from a rural area in the north of Shaanxi Province. It was painted by a peasant woman who used for her subject the embroidery she was doing for her children, and so merges the centuries-old folk tradition of needlework with the later artistic expression of paint on paper. The Luochuan painting community was among more than 50 such groups that began emerging in China in the late 1950s. (See "The Best of Modern Chinese ... Click for details
In a folk painting from a rural painting community in Huxian County, Shaanxi Province, a herd of fluffy longhorn sheep are brought down a mountain path by a young boy and girl. The painter, in an inspired flight of fancy, adorned the sides of the sheep with colorful circular designs of pinwheels, flowers and stars. Gouache on paper, the piece is unsigned as was generally the case for art from China's peasant painting communities. Huxian was the site of the first such community, established in 19... Click for details
A colorful and joyous folk painting from rural Huxian County in Shaanxi Province, China, shows seven young girls carrying baskets overflowing with pomegranates through an orchard. The girls, accompanied by birds, weave among low, fruit-laden trees. Done in gouache on paper, the charming, simple scene is a peasant painter's interpretation of a bountiful harvest day, and employs a once-favorite rural symbol, the multi-seeded pomegranate that represented the hope for numerous offspring. Huxian (Huh... Click for details
A Chinese folk painting from a rural community in Shaanxi Province celebrates the beauty of pink lotus plants blooming in a pond. The lotus, emblem of purity and perfection, is highly regarded in China, where every part of the plant has a use--as food, medicine or cosmetics. Chinese artists often depicted the lotus along with ducks, as in this painting where the lotus plants are oversized in relation to the black ducks swimming in a stream through the stems. Two seals at the top left of the pain... Click for details
In a folk painting from Huxian County, Shaanxi Province, two charming little girls are seen from the back as they walk to school. One of them appears to be whispering a secret to her friend. Gouache on paper, the painting is unsigned, as is typical for such folk pieces. Huxian (Huhsien) was China's first peasant painting community, established in 1958 in a rural region about an hour's drive outside the city of Xian. From Huxian the peasant painting movement spread across China and by 1989 there ... Click for details
Rare and attractive horizontal Mien Yao Hilltribe scroll "Dragon Bridge", circa 1890, Southern China, painted on rice paper or mullberry paper. Condition: good with little fading of some details due climatic conditions and age. Size: L. 365cm x H. 17cm. Very difficult to find and a real collector's item!
For further information/history on Lantien & Mien Yao Paintings please refer to "Yao Ceremonial Paintings" by Jacques Lemoine, Publisher: White Lotus, Bangkok.
