PAN GONGKAI (BORN 1947)
Mist and Clouds over Xiaoxiang River
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
26³⁄₄ x 18⁷⁄₈ in. (68 x 48 cm.)
Entitled, inscribed, and signed, with four seals of the artist
Dedicated to Madame Yongzhao

Pan Gongkai was born in Ninghai, Zhejiang Province in 1947. He entered the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts to study Chinese painting in 1978, and since the 1990s he served as the President of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Pan is known in China and abroad as an influential artist as well as an art educator.

With the influence of his father, renowned painter Pan Tianshou, Pan was well-learned in traditional Chinese culture as a child but only began his formal training in painting in high school. Lotus is Pan’s favourite motif. His works are expressive and large in format, conveying a presence in image and scale. Pan merges the innate abstractness of the ink and brush genre and his inheritance of the literati tradition to create elegant and contemporary compositions that effectively interact with a modern audience and exhibition space.

Acquired directly from the artist in the United States, early 1990s.