當代 嚴善錞 寶石山擬古人意（一） 銅板版畫|Baoshi Hill in the Ancient Style, No. 1

Yan Shanchun

2018 · Album of sixteen copperplate etchings · Asian Art

Yan Shanchun was raised in Hangzhou, a historically important city that is home to West Lake, one of China’s most famous sites. These ghostly images are based in part on Yan’s memories of West Lake as a child and art student in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. They also engage with Chinese painting history. The artist named each leaf for a different old master painter whose style he evokes in each image, including Dong Qichang (1555–1636) and Gong Xian (1619–1689). Yan’s unusual copperplate printing process involves treating the plates with a mixture of sulfur and olive oil to create recesses for ink. The unpredictable results convey the sense of brush traces—a subtle nod to the ink painting tradition that has inspired Yan.

Artist

Yan Shanchun

Date

2018

Medium

Album of sixteen copperplate etchings

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Ting Chung Dick Chen, 2018