Green Peaks and Waterfalls

A member of the Manchu royal clan, Pu Ru achieved success as an artist in his thirties because of his talent and diligence. He also had easy access to his family’s collection of classical paintings, which allowed him to study closely fine works of the past. In the 1930s, Pu Ru and Chang Dai-chien were regarded as the two leaders of Chinese ink painting, and together they were called “nan Zhang bei Pu (南張北溥),” meaning “Zhang Daqian in the south and Pu Ru in the north.” Pu settled in Taiwan after 1949 and became a successful art professor at Taiwan Normal University.

Pu’s art upheld traditional aesthetic standards and the synthesis of three formats—painting, poetry, and calligraphy—reflecting the traditional roots of modern Chinese painting. This landscape maintains a long-established composition, in which a lonely scholar is observing a waterfall in the valley. With refined and affirmative brushwork, the scene exudes a sense of human solitude and a lofty literati spirit. The inscribed poem also draws a broad connection between nature and humanity:

Green peaks undulate in layered clouds,
Flying waterfalls hang from middle sky.
Pine trees wave unceasingly,
Leaning on a stick towards the setting sun.