Lotus Pond in Autumn

A student of Qi Baishi (1864–1957), Cui was active in Beijing art circles and was known as an innovative artist who painted birds and flowers in a free-handed manner derived from that of his teacher. In this painting, large leaves, flowers, and seed pods rise out of the water on tall, straight stems. While some stems are still young and vigorous, those supporting the seed pods have turned dry and brittle and have begun to bend, with a few bright red flowers still blooming. This creates an almost abstract quality to the dense composition, as if musical notes were leaping across dark lines. The brushwork and composition also offer a reference to the sketched ink paintings by earlier eccentric masters such as Xu Wei (1521–1593) and Xugu (1824–1896).