In June 1933, writer Ba Jin (1904-2005) was boating on a river that runs across Tianma village in the Xinhui district of Jiangmen, Guangdong province. He was accompanied by two local friends who guided him to a marvelous nature scene called "Birds' Paradise" — a riverside banyan tree believed to have been thriving for over 380 years. The tree grew to be so massive that it looked like a small forest from afar, with hundreds of birds nestled within it.
Although the tree's vitality struck him, Ba Jin felt a bit disappointed because none of the birds came to welcome him.
Early the next day, he passed by the banyan tree again. This time, he was caught by an impressive flock of birds flying around the tree, flittering in and out of their nests on the branches.
Later, in Birds' Paradise, a prose about his encounter with the tree, Ba Jin wrote: "The previous night, my eyes deceived me. The 'Birds' Paradise' is indeed a paradise of birds!"
Decades later, the same vibrant nature scene captured the interest of Zhu Danian (1916-95) so intensely that the noted artist and designer depicted the Birds' Paradise in a commissioned painting.
For the ceramic painting, Ode to the Forest, Zhu reenacted the tree's lush leaves, expansive roots, and dense branches to create a canopy above the river, populated by a dozen egrets flying between the spread branches.
The 20-meter-long piece was unveiled in 1979 and hung in a restaurant at the Beijing Capital International Airport.
Today, a print of Ode to the Forest covers the entire wall of the ground-floor exhibition hall in the Tsinghua University Art Museum in Beijing. It is a major attraction at Attuning to Life, Ode to the Forest, an ongoing exhibition until Nov 20 at the museum, which displays Zhu's symphony of colors and biodiversity.
The print of Ode to the Forest is 10 meters tall and 30 meters in length, making it much larger than the original painting, according to the exhibition's curator Sun Yiwei. The print offers the audience a close-up view to examine the rich details of the biological and cultural brilliance of South China. For his final work, Zhu added tropical rainforest scenes found in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, including a boat that carries the area's ethnic groups once rode in.
Also on show are dozens of sketches of the outdoors and paintings of Zhu, which were donated by Zhu's family in 2021.
"They are true to what the tree actually looks like," says Shi Yingkun, a visitor from Jiangmen. "The twisted roots and tangled branches look vividly real."
The exhibition charts Zhu's diverse, fruitful career. He was considered a pivotal figure in art design and education in the second half of the 20th century. While he taught at the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, Zhu painted and designed to initiate reforms in the field, and his productivity helped build a visual art vocabulary that took root in China's history and cultural traditions.
Tsinghua University Art Museum held an exhibition in 2021 to showcase Zhu's methods for drawing details in pen draft sketches, then filling them in with color for the final paintings.
"This time, we are focusing on his celebration of life and awe of the rules of the universe by integrating the tree, birds, flowers, men, and mountains into a full showcase of his paintings," Sun says.
"He left a body of work that goes beyond a loyal depiction of what he saw. Through a rainforest leaf or a flower petal, he ultimately pursued the beauty of harmony between men and living things, this world and the cosmos."
Flowers, as important components in Zhu's art, are also under the exhibition's spotlight, including a painting depicting various potted flowers, as well as Magnolia Blossom. Completed in 1976, it is recognized as one of Zhu's signature pieces.
Sun says Zhu's fine use of mineral colors and of the gongbi method of classic Chinese painting, which defines the subjects with smooth delimitations, conveys a sense of eternity.
Late artist of repute Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010), who was a colleague of Zhu at the Academy of Arts and Design, once said Zhu painted flowers because he wanted to show the expansiveness of the cosmos and a spirit of compassion: "The magnolia flowers in full bloom are like a sky illuminated by stars, representing all lives in the whole world, and there are a few yellow warblers between the white blossoms and branches, (it is like) the lives are guarded and protected by other lives."
Song of the Soaring Kite makes another surprise appearance at the exhibition. The painting, which Zhu created in 1988 for a hotel wall in Weifang, Shandong province, is shown for the first time, along with other smaller drafts donated by the family.
The work celebrates Weifang's time-honored kite-making and flying tradition, which also hosts an annual international kite festival that attracts both domestic and international guests.
Sun says this piece again showcases Zhu's mature control of color arrangements. The kites, resembling stars in the sky, are well organized in motion to deliver a harmonious sense of rhythm.
Zhu's works embody eye-pleasing structures and peaceful ambience derived from his long-term study of decorative motifs in traditional arts and crafts. He once said, "The sense of rhythm embedded in these old patterns, like music, partly came from people's experiences with changes in nature. Meanwhile, they were formed over the long course of people's hard work."
Zhu practiced his design process the same way. He spent hours, days, and even months sketching in the outdoors to preserve nature's vividness with as much detail as possible.
"People ask, puzzlingly, is it worth spending a day in the scorching sun just to paint a tree? I say it is so worth it, because it takes dozens or even hundreds of years for a tree to grow high and strong, while only a day for me to depict it, and more importantly, show its vigor," he said.
Lu Xiaobo, director of the Tsinghua University Art Museum, says it is not only a moment to pay tribute to an accomplished man of art, but also a journey for people to build a relationship with nature.
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