Cat and Butterfly

Cat and Butterfly

Xugu (Zhu Huairen)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Zhu Xubai joined the Imperial Army in 1851, but finding that his sympathies lay with the Taiping, he deserted and became a monk, taking the name Xu Gu. Alienated and without roots, he traveled between Yangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai selling his paintings. He had been trained in a portrait shop to paint the realistic ancestor images much in demand, but the majority of his paintings give little evidence of traditional training. His creativity lies in devising a light, fresh means of rendering the impression of things as they are seen. Xu Gu has invoked the 18th century Yangzhou Eccentric Hua Yen's (1682–1765) humorous animal subjects, though he has not attempted Hua's technical virtuosity. Active viewing is required to fuse the dotted outline suggesting the cat's fur and the impressionistic strokes of his landscape also seen in this exhibition

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.