Talent is my Life (Shi Cai Ru Ming)

Artists

Description

This large, vertically oriented, rectangular album leaf is inscribed with seven characters in two columns, the right column with three characters, the left column with four characters. The right column includes the three characters "Shi Cai Ru," the left column includes the final text character "Ming," as well as the three characters of the signature "Mingqiu shu" (Written by Mingqiu). The text was composed and inscribed on this album leaf by Fung Ming Chip (standard Mandarin transcription: Feng Mingqiu). The characters are written in cursive, or running, script ("xingshu") in a manner that the artist characterizes as "rubbing script." The artist created this calligraphic work by spreading a very wet wash of blue-gray-black ink over the paper, after which he inscribed the characters using a brush loaded with water, creating a work in which the characters appear pale grayish blue against a darker grayish blue ground. This calligraphic work is not dated; however, the artist stated to the curator that he created it in 2009. This calligraphic work is signed in the lower left corner; the signature reads "Mingqiu hua." It also includes one seal of the artist; the seal, which the artist himself carved, can be described as follows: Square, red, relief seal reading "Si Bu Guan" [Note: The seal reading "Si Bu Guan" refers to the name of the artist's studio: "Studio of the Four No's"] The text can be translated as follows: Talent is my life. Painted by Mingqiu

Dimensions

calligraphy proper: 45.4 x 28.1 cm (17 7/8 x 11 1/16 in.) mounting: 70.1 x 50 cm (27 5/8 x 19 11/16 in.)

Provenance

Fung Ming Chip, Hong Kong (2009-2010), sold; to Susan L. Beningson, New York, 2010, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2010. NOTE: This work was created by Fung Ming Chip in Hong Kong in 2009.