Deep Ravine, Rushing Torrent

A rugged mountain rises from a deep canyon, while water rushes down channels amid the rocks. Ink brushstrokes applied densely and tightly define craggy peaks, rock faces, and trees, the last seeming to grow against all odds from openings in the canyon walls. Yu Chengyao inscribed the painting, “Deep Ravine, Rushing Torrent. Gigantic rocks pile up on lofty peaks. Spring waters, green as jade, splash across dangerous paths. White clouds hover above the emerald valley. When can I return home?” “Home” for Yu was mainland China. He served as a general in the Chinese army during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) and then moved to Taiwan with the Nationalist government in 1949. With no formal training in the arts, he took up painting in 1954. In technique, his paintings bear little relation to the brushwork of traditional Chinese masters, but in composition they approach the monumentality of the great landscapists of the Northern Song period (960–1127).