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Lot Essay
A temple sits in a lush bamboo grove
Its evening bell tolling in the distance
A woven reed hat catches the late sunlight
Returning in solitude to the far blue mountains
-Liu Zhangqing,Seeing Off Monk Ling Che
A fisherman in Zha Xi Bay
Plies his grasshopper boat east and west
Snow on the river, wind sweeps the banks
He laughs at his shabby lotus-leaf clothes
Why sigh over being poor
-Zhang Zhihe,Fishing Song No. 3
Ran In Ting, born at the outset of the 20th century, was an outstanding watercolourist. In his early years he studied with Japanese master Kinichiro Ishikawa, developing a rather simple and straightforward technique, but later successfully established a unique style with the addition of brushwork borrowed from traditional Chinese ink-wash painting. In his late period, he matured so much in the use of those techniques that they became a personal artistic vocabulary. Ran's art possesses a unique feeling for the beauty of nature: he derives his subjects from nature, but responds with his own soulful feelings to portray beautiful scenes with unmatched freedom and spontaneity. Ran In Ting was a rare artist who fused the techniques of watercolour with the brushwork of ink-wash painting.
Creating Watercolors Like Ink-Wash Paintings
Viewing a work by Ran In Ting is something like viewing the scenes of life that surround you: for his subjects, Ran gave priority to the scenery and human activities found in everyday life, producing studies of scenic beauty in which human life is always central. The techniques of the British watercolor painters were the foundation of Ran's style, but with the further addition of ink-wash brush techniques, his depictions of trees and branches, mountain ridges, and human subjects emerged in bold and unrestrained brushwork. His brush techniques often included 'chapped' or 'landscape texture' strokes (jun ca) ) borrowed from ink-wash painting. Those techniques allow natural expressiveness without further modification or embellishment, and Ran's use of them shows a genuine grasp of the natural, flowing qualities that inform the aesthetics of the East. Late Bell at the Mountain Temple (Lot 586) is a representative Ran In Ting work: a broad evening sky looms over the mountain path near the temple, and we hear faintly in the distance the lingering sound of each stroke of its bell; a glimmer of the setting sun touches the west as the figures in the distance move further in its direction. Ran captures the poetic image: ' A temple sits in a lush bamboo grove/Its evening bell tolling in the distance/A woven reed hat catches the late sunlight/Returning in solitude to the far blue mountains...' The poem evokes a painting, and the painting conveys a poem, making very clear Ran In Ting's definite literary leanings. In Fishing Song by the Pines (Lot 586), Ran likewise depicts an idyllic evening scene near a fishing village. In the bend of the river, the fisherman's small boat skitters back and forth. White froth caps the waves like snow as evening breezes reach the banks, and even in shabby clothes he knows contentment and satisfaction.
Its evening bell tolling in the distance
A woven reed hat catches the late sunlight
Returning in solitude to the far blue mountains
-Liu Zhangqing,Seeing Off Monk Ling Che
A fisherman in Zha Xi Bay
Plies his grasshopper boat east and west
Snow on the river, wind sweeps the banks
He laughs at his shabby lotus-leaf clothes
Why sigh over being poor
-Zhang Zhihe,Fishing Song No. 3
Ran In Ting, born at the outset of the 20th century, was an outstanding watercolourist. In his early years he studied with Japanese master Kinichiro Ishikawa, developing a rather simple and straightforward technique, but later successfully established a unique style with the addition of brushwork borrowed from traditional Chinese ink-wash painting. In his late period, he matured so much in the use of those techniques that they became a personal artistic vocabulary. Ran's art possesses a unique feeling for the beauty of nature: he derives his subjects from nature, but responds with his own soulful feelings to portray beautiful scenes with unmatched freedom and spontaneity. Ran In Ting was a rare artist who fused the techniques of watercolour with the brushwork of ink-wash painting.
Creating Watercolors Like Ink-Wash Paintings
Viewing a work by Ran In Ting is something like viewing the scenes of life that surround you: for his subjects, Ran gave priority to the scenery and human activities found in everyday life, producing studies of scenic beauty in which human life is always central. The techniques of the British watercolor painters were the foundation of Ran's style, but with the further addition of ink-wash brush techniques, his depictions of trees and branches, mountain ridges, and human subjects emerged in bold and unrestrained brushwork. His brush techniques often included 'chapped' or 'landscape texture' strokes (jun ca) ) borrowed from ink-wash painting. Those techniques allow natural expressiveness without further modification or embellishment, and Ran's use of them shows a genuine grasp of the natural, flowing qualities that inform the aesthetics of the East. Late Bell at the Mountain Temple (Lot 586) is a representative Ran In Ting work: a broad evening sky looms over the mountain path near the temple, and we hear faintly in the distance the lingering sound of each stroke of its bell; a glimmer of the setting sun touches the west as the figures in the distance move further in its direction. Ran captures the poetic image: ' A temple sits in a lush bamboo grove/Its evening bell tolling in the distance/A woven reed hat catches the late sunlight/Returning in solitude to the far blue mountains...' The poem evokes a painting, and the painting conveys a poem, making very clear Ran In Ting's definite literary leanings. In Fishing Song by the Pines (Lot 586), Ran likewise depicts an idyllic evening scene near a fishing village. In the bend of the river, the fisherman's small boat skitters back and forth. White froth caps the waves like snow as evening breezes reach the banks, and even in shabby clothes he knows contentment and satisfaction.