Artist: Xu Beihong 徐悲鴻 (19 July 1895 - 26 September 1953)
Magpie Harmony
Ink and color on paper, Ersebiao mount, Vertical axis hanging scroll
Painting (Sight): Length: 111 cm, Width: 36 cm
Dated: In the Winter day of Gui Wei year (1943)
Signed/Seal(s): Signed, with an Artist seal

PROVENANCE:

Nien Cheng 念鄭 or Zheng Nian 鄭念 (January 28, 1915 - November 2, 2009) was the pen name of Yao Nien-Yuan (姚念媛). She was a Chinese author known for recounting her experiences during the Cultural Revolution in her memoir Life and Death in Shanghai.

ARTIST BIO: Xu Beihong 徐悲鴻 (19 July 1895 - 26 September 1953) was a Chinese painter born in Yixing, Jiangsu province. He was primarily known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds and was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century. He was also regarded as one of the first to create monumental oil paintings with epic Chinese themes, a show of his high proficiency in an essential Western art technique. Xu began studying classic Chinese works and calligraphy with his father Xu Dazhang when he was six, and Chinese painting when he was nine. In 1915, he moved to Shanghai, where he made a living off commercial and private work. He traveled to Tokyo in 1917 to study arts. When he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University's Arts school at the invitation of Cai Yuanpei. Beginning in 1919, Xu studied overseas in Paris at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux - Arts, where he studied oil painting and drawing. His travels around Western Europe allowed him to observe and learn Western art techniques. Xu Beihong still wrote regularly for the Daily University of Peking University that dealt with wider issues then just campus politics. Xu addressed issues of Art and Art History and in 1920 a university art journal called Painting Miscellany was published. Xu Beihong and Jiang Biwei. He and his partner Jiang Biwei came back to China in 1927 and, from 1927 to 1929, he gained a number of posts at institutions in China, including teaching at National Central University (now Nanjing University) in the former capital city Nanjing. In 1933, Xu organized an exhibition of modern Chinese painting that traveled to France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and the Soviet Union. During World War II, Xu traveled to Southeast Asia, holding exhibitions in Singapore and India. All the proceeds from these exhibitions went to Chinese people who were suffering as a result of the war.

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