Bird-and-flower painting

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Bird-and-flower painting (Traditional Chinese: 花鳥畫, Simplified Chinese: 花鸟画 huāniǎo-huà, Japanese: 花鳥画 kachō-ga, literally 'flower-bird painting') is a kind of Chinese painting named after its subject matter. Normally, most bird-and-flower paintings belong to the scholar-artist style of Chinese painting.

According Chinese tradition, bird-and-flower painting covers "flowers, birds, fish, and insects" (Traditional Chinese: 花鳥魚蟲, Simplified Chinese: 花鸟鱼虫 huā, niǎo, yú, chóng). It can thus deal with a wide range of natural topics, including flowers (plants), fish, insects, birds, pets (dogs, cats) etc.

Early Autumn, 13th century by Qian Xuan. The decaying lotus leaves and dragonflies hovering over stagnant water are likely a veiled criticism of Mongol rule.^[1]

[edit] Varieties

According to painting technique:

Ink and Wash Painting (水墨花鸟画/水墨花鸟画). Representatives: Lin Liang (林良), Qi Baishi (齐白石), Zhang Daqian (张大千)
Fine-brush (工笔花鸟/工笔花鸟画)
- Fine-brush with Ink and Wash Painting (工笔水墨/兼工带水墨). Representatives: Lin Liang (林良), Ren Yi (任颐), Zhang Daqian (张大千)
- Fine-brush with Colour (工彩)
  - Fine-brush with Heavy Colour (工笔重彩)
  - Fine-brush with Light Colour (工笔淡彩). Representatives: Emperor Huizong (赵佶), Lü Ji (吕纪), Lin Liang (林良), Zhang Daqian (张大千)

Freehand Style (写意花鸟/写意花鸟画)
- Great Freehand Style (大写意)
- Slight Freehand Style (小写意). Representatives: Tang Yin (唐寅), Xu Wei (徐渭), Wu Changshuo (吴昌硕), Ren Yi (任颐), Zhang Daqian (张大千)