Buddhist Temples amid Autumn Mountains

This album leaf was painted by Pu Ru (1896-1963), a member of the Qing imperial family and a cousin of the last emperor. Known for his exceptionally elegant paintings in classical style, Pu Ru was one of the most famous and most talented poets, painters, and calligraphers of the first half of the twentieth century. Painted in ink and colors on paper, this large, square album leaf represents a landscape with two mountain pavilions. A narrow body of water--likely a lake or river-- stretches across the bottom of the composition, its edge bordered by several rocky outcroppings that recede diagonally into the composition. Appearing just to the right of the composition's center, several majestic pines grow from these rocks. Seen through the pines and partially obscured by them, two mountain pavilions rise in the middleground, probably from hills just beyond the foreground rocks. Four deciduous trees in full leaf grow from rocks at the left of the composition. A tall, round-topped mountain dominates the right side of the composition, and a triangular mountain towers in the background, its details obscured by mist. The artist's inscription and signature appear at the top center of the painting in eight columns of calligraphy that read from right to left; one seal of the artist appears at the beginning of the inscription and another just to the left of the signature (i.e., the last column of calligraphy). Except for the reddish browns used for the mountain pavilions, the artist has restricted the painting's palette to cool blues and greens. Pu Ru (1896-1963), courtesy name Xinyu, was a native of Beijing and a member of the Manchu imperial family. He was cousin of the last Emperor Henry Pu Yi and was one of the children of the imperial family who was presented at the palace as a candidate to be considered as a possible future emperor. After the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, Pu Ru generally used his hao, or sobriquet, Pu Xinyu. He studied at Berlin University, majoring in astronomy and biology. After returning from Europe, he retreated into the Western Mountains (of Beijing), where he spent many years at the Jietai Monastery to develop his painting skills. He was strongly against Pu Yi's (his cousin's) cooperation with Japan. Pu Xinyu's retreat to the Western Mountains explains the sobriquet that he used in the signature on this painting: "Xishan Yishi Pu Ru" which means "Hermit of the Western Mountains, Pu Ru." Pu Ru was a well-known teacher of poetry, painting, and calligraphy, first on the Chinese mainland and then on Taiwan, where he retreated in 1949, along with the Nationalist government. He received students, but the teacher-student relationship was very much in the classical sense, almost a parent-child relationship, in which the teacher, like the father, carried the responsibility of the well-being, character-building and spiritual development of the child. Therefore before he accepted a student, Pu Ru carefully examined the student's character and family background. His training was highly disciplinary. He demanded that his students prepare their own ink using traditional inksticks and inkstones, for such preparation brought peace and equanimity to the mind, qualities that would assist the painter in connecting himself to the spirit of art and creativity or to the sphere of beauty and grace. In the entire first year of training with Pu Xinyu, the student was not allowed to paint, but to practice calligraphy only. In the entire second year, he was to draw rocks, mountains and branches of trees. In the third year, he was allowed to cover the trees and branches with leaves, and so on. This kind of schooling builds up the total command of the brush as well as humility and strength. Every Saturday morning, his students would gather around him to receive a lesson in Chinese literature, after which their works were presented to the master and new assignments were given. In these Saturday mornings classes, Master Pu never just talked; he was always doing something else at the same time, either calligraphy, painting, or playing a moon-sitar (a string instrument), many times with his precious white face long-armed monkey clinging to his chest. He was often amused by what he was painting and liked to make fun of the figures which he created.