A promise in ink

Minimalist brushwork

He is best remembered by generations of ordinary Chinese people for his distinctive style of comic art.

Hailed as "the father of modern Chinese cartoons", Feng blended the sketchy technique of Western art, particularly the contours of his subjects, with the traditions of Chinese ink painting.

His distinctive approach helped shape Chinese manhua (comic) art in the early 20th century.

His works, marked by unadorned sincerity, capture inconspicuous moments in everyday life, through which he conveyed love, selflessness, kindness, and other qualities he sought to celebrate.

His highly simplified strokes also highlight the understated beauty of the liubai (leaving blankness) technique and xieyi (expressing the spirit) tradition of Chinese painting, in which loose brushstrokes and space leave room for imagination and contemplation.

The Husheng collection charts Feng's exploration of comic art as a vehicle for humane themes. In one work, he juxtaposed a mother breastfeeding her infant with a ewe nursing a lamb. In another, swallows fly back to their nests under the eaves of people's houses, suggesting a peaceful coexistence between people and the small creatures around them.

"The small format (of his works) holds immense power, and the minimalist brushwork conveys a multitude of emotions," Liu says.

Feng had many children and grandchildren. He also raised cats, and widely circulated old photos show him writing and painting with a cat perched on his shoulder or atop his hat.

He once said: "Recently my heart has been occupied by four things — the divine spirits and stars above, and the arts and children on the Earth."

The collection returns repeatedly to children and cats, two recurring subjects in Feng's work. He regarded them as embodiments of innocence, beauty and purity, and portrayed them with a characteristic wit and warmth.

In one painting, a white cat frees a mouse from a trap. In another, two little girls solemnly build a small grave for butterflies they've just found dead.

Xu Jiang, a noted oil artist and vice-president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, says that through spare brushwork, concise compositions and poetic inscriptions, Feng created "a world of bright moon and gentle breeze", appealing to both refined and popular tastes. Filled with compassion for humanity, his paintings, Xu says, bring to life "the warmth and goodness inherent in the Chinese way of living".