Album leaf

Qian Hui’an’s style incorporates elements from both Western and Chinese painting conventions. He uses expressive brushstrokes typical of traditional Chinese art to render nature, and he also uses a more defined sense of space, using shading and linear perspective, which is reminiscent of Western art conventions. Each album leaf depicts a different scene and theme. On leaf one, a man takes his son on a fishing expedition; the peach trees in bloom suggest the “Peach Blossom Spring, ” an otherworldly theme. On leaf two, the everyday scene is made unusual with an oddly shaped haystack and faceless main character. On leaf three, the theme is the life of a hermit; those seen on boats are not fishermen but scholar-recluses who are escaping typical social burdens. The scene on leaf four may refer to the story of the creation of humankind by Fuxi and Nüwa, two mythological beings.