Lotus and Rock

Among his earliest lotus paintings, this large hanging scroll features a single open lotus flower at the center of the composition and a just-opening bud above, haloed by the lotus’s broad green leaves. Below, the plant’s stalks twist among a clump of grass and a porous garden rock rendered in black ink. At right is an inscription in Chinese that also appears on several of his mentor, Zhang Daqian’s, paintings of the flower: The manner of a gentleman 君子之風 is like the pure beauty [of the lotus]. 其清穆如