YANG SHANSHEN (CHINA, 1913-2004)
CAT ON A ROCK
Scroll, ink and color on paper
39 ¾ x 13 5/8 in. (101 x 34.5 cm.)
Inscribed and signed by Zhao Shao'ang (1905-1998), with two seals
Dated eighth month, xinwei year (1991)

SPECIALIST’S NOTES
Cat resting on a rock has long been a recurrent subject-matter in the history of Chinese painting. The scholar-artists appreciate the cat for its free, liberal spirits and elegant manner, qualities to which they aspire to. Known as a key member of the Lingnan School of artists along with Guan Shanyue, Zhao Shao’ang and Li Xiongcai, Yang Shanshen was renowned for his landscape, flower and bird and expressive animal paintings. The artist’s deliberate simplification of white space and non-traditional poses of the animals illustrate the ways in which he breaks from the rules of the traditional genre, whilst preserving the spirit of the ink and brush medium.