The painting of Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain

On March 14th 2010, at the press conference of the two Conferences, namely the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, Premier Wen Jiabao told a journalist from Taiwan a story in response to his question. Premier Wen said that Huang Gongwang, a renowned penman in Yuan Dynasty accomplished the celebrated painting – Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain when he was 79 years old. Nevertheless, it was lost and found time and again for several centuries. At present, it’s believed that half of it is conserved at Hangzhou Museum while the other half, at Taibei Palace Museum. Premier Wen also expressed his hope to put together the two halves as the painting, just like people, can’t bear such separation.

The strong emotion that blood is thicker than water is illustrated by this story. Painters and other men of sight from Taiwan and the Mainland have made great efforts to fulfill their wish for the reunion of the two halves of the painting by Huang Gongwang. A great number of newspapers in Taiwan reported Premier Wen’s story and his sincere wish for the reunion of the painting as well as that of Taiwan and the Mainland.

Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain, one of the ten most famous paintings in China was the magnum opus of Huang Gongwang, who completed it for Monk Wuyong over six centuries ago. With Fuchun River at Zhejiang Province as the setting, it was full of variety, simple but elegant. In the late of Ming Dynasty, it was transferred to the collector Wu Hongyu, who was very fond of it and even hoped to burn it as a sacrificial item on his death bed. Fortunately, his niece saved if from being completely destroyed. Unfortunately, the fire severed the painting into one large half and a smaller half. The larger, longer half, titled “Master Wuyong Volume” is conserved at Taipei Palace Museum, while the smaller half, “Remnant Mountain,” is at Hangzhou Museum.

Background

Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain, 33cm wide and 636.9cm long, was accomplished by Huang Gong Wang from 1347 to 1350 in his later years. He was an ambitious master in calligraphy, music and poetry. In his youth, he made great achievements, but he was implicated and put into prison at middle-age. After his fifties, he retreated beside the Fuchun River and devoted himself to painting. When he became renowned, he had already reached his eighties. Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain, a volume of six papers, thoroughly reveals the magnificent view beside the banks of Fuchun River in early autumn. Zhang Geng highly extolled it in his Accurate Evaluation of Paintings.

Collectors

In Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain, villages, pavilions, fishing boats and hammocks scatter among the riverbanks and mountains. Dong Qichang admired it a lot and even stated that he pleasantly enjoyed himself when he appreciated it at Changan.

In 1350, Huang Gongwang presented the painting to Master Wu Yong, its first collector, initiating its winding tour for over six hundred years. Master Wu Yong once predicted that there must be someone who bore the wish to get it by force of by trickery. Unfortunately, at Ming Dynasty, the painting-lover, Shen Zhou was cheated through trickery by others who finally got the painting and then sold it at a high price, which Shen Zhou couldn’t afford. Thus, he copied a model of it to console himself. After that, the painting was transferred to Fan Shun, Tan Zhiyi, Dongqichang and Wu Zhengzhi.

During the days of Emperor Shunzhi of Qing Dynasty, the collector from Yixing, Wu Hongyu obtained it. Deeply addicted to it, he even carried it with another piece of calligraphy with himself, regardless of other precious collections during the “national chaos.”

Burned into Two Halves

In 1650 at Wu Mansion of Yixing, Wu Hongyu still stared at his treasure box at his deathbed. Then, understanding what he wanted to do, his family members brought forth his beloved painting from the box, Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain. He uttered with difficulty, “Burn it!” briefly before he ended his days. He was so fond of the painting that he entrusted his family to burn it as a sacrificial item. The precious painting, which had been passed down for three generations in Wu Mansion, was thrown into a fire. When it hung by a thread, Wu Jingan, Wu Hongyu’s niexe, darted from the crowd, caught it and saved it from burning down. To conceal the fact, she threw another painting into the fire.

Though it survived, Dwelling in Fuchun Mountain was burned into two halves. In 1652, Wu Jigu put the scorched parts together to surprisingly view one river, one mountain and one gully. Then, this part was titled “Remnant Moutain.” The other part was mounted to conceal the burning trace and named as “Master Wu Yong Volume”. As a result the precious painting was separated into two parts.