Paths and Cliffs Beautiful under Clouds

Hua Yan was one of the most versatile and technically accomplished painters of the so-called Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. This group of painters frequented the salons of rich merchants in the prosperous Jiangnan area near modern-day Shanghai. While these artists publicly disclaimed any professional involvement with the art market, painting was their livelihood. Hua Yan was fortunate enough to have his own patron, a wealthy businessman named Yuan Guotang.

Hua was skilled in an extraordinary range of subjects and traditional Chinese painting styles. He brushed this scroll in an eclectic combination of historical styles from the Song dynasty (960–1279), and his specific references to compositional forms and painting strokes would have been clear to his peers and the merchant patrons who collected this kind of work.

Hua’s use of mineral blue and green pigments also constitutes a powerful evocation of the past. The blue-green painting manner was associated with the mythic realm of the immortals, and it came to be identified by the scholar class with worlds of escape or respite from mundane routine, especially pressures from government office: It takes on a particular poignancy for Hua Yan, who unsuccessfully aspired for a career as an official at the Qing court.