Gongbi art show pays respect to a meticulous realist

Dai Honghai is known as a master of the meticulous gongbi genre of classical Chinese paintings, which demonstrate a characteristically careful realism.

The 80-year-old created several popular works, including a picture book, titled Liu Yi Delivers Letter, which illustrates a Tang Dynasty (618-907) tale, and the design for a set of stamps depicting Sanguo Yanyi, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the classic Chinese novel.

An exhibition now on at the Zhejiang Art Museum, which runs through April 22, reviews Dai's accomplishment in the inheritance of the gongbi art legacy.

It brings together 150 works, including classic Chinese paintings, illustrations, stamp designs and illustrations for lianhuanhua, palm-sized picture books.

At the heart of the show is a nine-meter-long scroll on which Dai vividly presents the dynamic cityscape of Lin'an as the capital of Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), today's Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The work reflects the realistic tradition of Chinese ink painting and an influence of genre paintings.