Video: The Natural and the Sublime

Video: Still life and landscape paintings are timeless subjects in the art histories of both the East and the West. Not only do they convey the sublime beauty of nature but they also reflect the perspective of the individual artist and their interpretation of their surroundings. While artists in the West pursue a scientific categorisation of their subjects, many artists in the East employ symbolic and metaphoric meanings in their approach toward still life and landscape painting. It is through portrayal of even commonplace subjects that these Eastern artists succeed in leaving behind the ordinary and redirect the audience to a world of universal and sublime aesthetics. Shining a mirror on their own times, still life and landscape paintings by Xu Beihong, Sanyu, He Duoling, Yee Bon, Liao Chi-Ch'un, Zhan Wang, Georgette Chen, and Lee Man Fong, featured here, provide an opportunity to delight in the exquisite beauty of timeless subjects, using varying techniques and expressions, the works encompass eight decades from the 1930s to the 2000s.