[ART WORK] Snowy Mountains (千山飛雪圖) by Cui Ruzhuo (崔如琢)

a Whole View of Snowy Mountains



Mr Cui Ruzhuo & his Painting



Chinese painting may not be so wildly accepted, and few artists can earn a global fame. Usually, a piece of Chinese painting will not be auctioned for a surprising price if the artist is alive, but a recent painting broke the record. Snowy Mountains, painted by Cui Ruzhuo in 2005, was auctioned for HKD 13,000,000 (AUD 1,789,307) by the Christie’s in 2006.

Since Snowy Mountains is not a piece of antique, the price mainly reflects the artistic value of the painting. One important reason why it is outstanding is its size. Snowy Mountains is actually a set of 8 pieces of paintings, which can be exhibited both completely and separately. The whole size can reach 1.9m(H)×10.2m(W), which provides a sense of magnificence.

Black and white are not used to make strong contrast in Chinese painting. By using lighter and darker grays, the artist can create a beautiful world within the minimum colors. In Snowy Mountains, the closer mountains are much darker than the further ones, which also contain more details. With simply a Chinese brush, the artist creates lines and shapes, to form trees and stones. The maple trees are emphases of the picture, for they are of dark red. If taking a closer look at the painting, small white dots will be found which stand for snow. It makes the still scene more vital. The special point is that, the picture is about cold and



Snowy Mountains No.1



The whole feeling of the painting is really hard to describe. It is not realistic, and it is not abstract as well. The snowy mountains do not appear on the picture, but in the viewers’ imagination. It is called artistic conception, which is more important than shapes for Chinese painting. Ancient wealthy people spent a lot of time standing in front of such a piece of mater work, feeling the conception the artist wanted to describe. It can calm down people, and make them listen to their own heart.