Harvard Art Museums > 2015.147: High Mountains and Magnificent Peaks Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"High Mountains and Magnificent Peaks (Hsia I-fu (Xia Yifu) 夏一夫) , 2015.147,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Nov 21, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/319274. This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2015.147 People Hsia I-fu (Xia Yifu) 夏一夫, Chinese (Shandong province, China 1925 - 2016 Taiwan) Title High Mountains and Magnificent Peaks Classification Paintings Work Type album folio, painting Date 1990 Places Creation Place: East Asia, China, Taiwan Culture Chinese Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/319274 Physical Descriptions Medium Accordion-fold album of eight center-folded leaves, seven of them painted; ink on paper, with artist’s dedication, signature, and seal Dimensions overall: 31.7 x 380 cm (12 1/2 x 149 5/8 in.) each leaf: 31.7 x 47.5 cm (12 1/2 x 18 11/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: Last leaf, left, black ink: Painted by Yifu in a small house in Yonghe in late autumn 1990 (Chinese brush-written characters followed by a red seal reading "Yifu") inscription: brush-written on last leaf, translates as follows: "Asking Professor Chu-tsing for his comment. Painted by Yifu in a small house in Yonghe in late autumn 1993" seal: artist's seal: Square red relief seal, following signature on last leaf: "Yifu" Provenance Recorded Ownership History Xia Yifu, Taiwan, 1990, gift; to Chu-tsing Li, Lawrence, Kansas (1964-2012), gift; to his son B U.K. Li, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2012-2015), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2015. Footnotes: 1. Dr. Chu-tsing Li (1920-2014) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Chu-tsing Li Collection, Gift of B U.K. Li in memory of Chu-tsing Li, Yao-wen Kwang Li, and Teri Ho Li Copyright © Xia Yifu (Hsia I-fu) Accession Year 2015 Object Number 2015.147 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description The horizontal format of this album allows the viewer physically to unfold an intricate vista that begins at the right with gentle hills and mist, builds toward a crescendo of towering peaks and scraggy trees, and concludes quietly with a flock of birds retreating into the distance. The musical rhythm of the composition is accented by repeating trees in positive and negative tones and distant shadows beyond the tall peaks. The otherworldly beauty of the scene recalls the Daoist lands of the immortals depicted by Wu Bin (active 1591–1643), in which fantasy and reality coalesce in a strange yet alluringly harmonic world. The close-up view of the mountains in this painting reveals the dry brushwork and “scorched ink” that have become Xia Yifu’s characteristic techniques. Despite the artist’s limited formal academic training in painting and calligraphy, his works display an air of elegance that reflects a classic aesthetic vision. In the words of Chu-tsing Li, “his rocks and mountains become symbols of human integrity and moral dignity [and] his trees and plants are depicted with such freshness and ingenuity that they seem like newly created objects.” Publication History Robert D. Mowry and Claudia Brown, A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, 1950-2000, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums/Yale University Press (Cambridge, Mass., 2007), cat. 38 Exhibition History A Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, 1950-2000, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/03/2007 - 01/27/2008; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 06/28/2008 - 09/14/2008; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, 10/11/2008 - 01/04/2009; Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, 02/11/2009 - 05/24/2009 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/04/2023 - 12/04/2023 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu