Shadows

Beginning in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, Pan Gongkai was put under house arrest with his “anti-revolutionary” father, artist Pan Tianshou. Pan Gongkai was then sent to the countryside to labor in the fields for many years. When he returned from the country to his home in 1976, he spent hours daily walking around West Lake in central Hangzhou. While reciting Song dynasty (960–1279) poems praising the beautiful scenery of the lake, Pan found the lake inspiring and captivating. “Blooming lotuses purified me like brainwashing,” he recalled, “and for the first time I realized why the lotus symbolizes moral virtue in Chinese culture.” Since then Pan has been striving to paint the lotus that he has conceptualized in his mind.

In this series of four lotuses, Pan combines the botanical aspects of the lotus with artistic expression, capturing the mood and changes of the seasons through the physical transformations seen in the lotus. Shadows is executed in soft, light-ink hues. Placing fluid lines within a rhythmic form is a composition for which Pan Gongkai is best known. The light-toned shadows of the lotus stems are tangled with vigorous, dark leaves, suggesting sunlight with the arrival of autumn.