Coq

This striking work was painted in the early spring of 1950, a period marking both the dawn of a new era in China and the pinnacle of Xu Beihong’s artistic maturity, during his tenure as the first president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Executed with Xu’s characteristic synthesis of Western naturalism and Chinese brushwork, the rooster is depicted with dynamic precision. Its formidable posture, crimson comb, piercing gaze, and powerful claws convey a vigilant and heroic spirit, evoking the ancient idiom that “the rooster’s crow dispels the darkness and heralds the dawn.”
More than a simple avian subject, the rooster was one of Xu’s most potent symbolic motifs, representing courage, vigilance, and the awakening of the nation. The inscription Peace (Ping An) transforms the painting into a profound political and personal statement, expressing both a hopeful prayer for stability in a nascent state and a heartfelt wish for tranquility at the year’s end.