Collection Online as of February 2, 2023
Frozen Landscape
Hung Hsien
(Chinese, b. 1933)
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
Overall: 107.3 x 62.2 cm (42 1/4 x 24 1/2 in.)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Ju-hsi Chou 2003.286
Location
not on view
Description
Yangzhou-born Hung Hsien studied classical Chinese painting as a teenager in Taipei with Pu Xinyu [Pu Ru] (1896-1963), cousin of the last emperor of the Qing dynasty. When she moved to the Chicago area in 1958, she began exploring the connections between traditional Asian brushwork and Western abstract art.
In this painting, she used the traditional Chinese hanging scroll format and calligraphic brushstrokes to create an abstract landscape of rocky, icy forms.
Hung Hsien
Hung Hsien, also known as Margaret Chang, was born in Yangzhou, China, in 1933 in a very artistic and prominent family. She settled in Taiwan with her family in 1948. She studied traditional Chinese painting with Prince Pu Xinyu and in the Normal University of Taiwan. She became a member of the Fifth Moon Group. After she married T.C. Chang in 1957, the couple moved to Chicago, where Hung Hsien studied painting in both Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago. These experiences inspired her to combine traditional Asian brushwork and Western abstract art. Hung Hsien’s paintings have been exhibited and collected in several museums in Hong Kong and the US.