Fu Hsiao-shih (b. 1932)
At Play
Hanging Scroll, Chinese Ink on Rice Paper, 28.1/2 x 18 7/8 in., (72.5 x 48cm.)

Fu Hsiao-shih was born to a well-educated family of artists in Nanjing. He is eldest of the three children of the late artist Fu Pao-shih. As was their father, the children are all well-established artists. Three members of the Fu family are represented in our collection.

Hsiao-shih's younger brother and sister are landscape artists, but Hsiao chose figure painting as his concentration. A few years after graduation from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing his life was brutally affected by the cultural revolution, (1965 - 75.) Anyone who was suspected of being "anti-revolutionary" suffered. Artists were vulnerable. When he struggled to protect his father's works of art, Hsiao-shih was imprisoned, beaten and tortured. An untimely stroke paralyzed the right half of his body. For a long time he could not paint. Even today he can not use his right hand to hold a brush. He paints with his left hand.

He learned to paint figures from his father and examples of the old masters from the past. In this painting, one can see a touching and determined effort to carry on the tradition of his family.

This painting was purchased with funds provided by Susan Zimmerman in 1995.