Lot 3839: CALLIGRAPHER HUAISU

MA XINLE (BORN 1963) CALLIGRAPHER HUAISU Scroll, mounted for framing, ink and color on paper Inscribed and signed by the artist, with one seal Dated summer, yiyou year (2005) 53 1/4 x 26 3/4 in. (135.2 x 67.9 cm.)

135.2 x 67.9 cm.

Born in Xi’an, Ma Xinle received extensive artistic training beginning at a young age. In China he received a Master’s degree in Chinese traditional paintings from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts and studied with such modern masters as Cheng Shifa (1921-2007), Liu Wenxi (born 1933), and Huang Zhou (1925-1997), who exerted the strongest influence on the young artist. After he moved to the United States, Ma Xinle also studied connoisseurship with the artist-collector C.C. Wang (Wang Jiqian, 1907-2003). A very versatile artist, he also received an MFA in oil painting from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Ma Xinle has exhibited in China, Europe, Canada, and the United States, including in such museums as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Shanghai Art Museum, China National Chinese Painting Academy, and the Xi’an Fine Art Museum. He is also active as a teacher, art advisor, and cultural representative at such organizations as the Beijing Huang Zhou Art Foundation, the US Chinese Painting Collectors Association, and the Chinese Artists Association. CALLIGRAPHER HUAISU Ma Xinle writes: “Because I was born in Xi’an, the capital of the Tang dynasty, I have been greatly influenced by Tang art and culture, especially the Tang calligraphers, poets, and painters. This portrait of the master calligrapher-monk Huaisu (703-after 799) uses powerful and unconstrained lines along with rich ink tones and splashed-ink technique to capture the joyous moment when Huaisu, while drunk, completed a great work of calligraphy. He was so thrilled that he jumped for joy with his paint brush in one hand and ink container in the other, while his gourd jangled at his waist.”