An unfading language of ink

Reaching with his brush

The popularity of Bada has also made people want to take a piece of his art home. Bada's birds, fish and cats appear on sold-out refrigerator magnets, stationery and toys. By Aug 24, sales of cultural products since the exhibition opened had exceeded 1.7 million yuan ($253,000), according to the museum.

Zhou sees such products, together with livestreaming and public education, as another way to bring audiences closer to traditional art.

Bada's revival among young Chinese audiences comes on top of a much longer history of interest abroad. His influence has spread across East Asia and farther afield, entering museum and private collections and shaping later generations of ink painters.

Japan is considered one of the major centers for collections of Bada's work. The Sen-oku Hakukokan Museum in Kyoto, for example, holds his Anwan Album, created in 1694, a 20-leaf work featuring birds, fish, flowers and landscapes that has been designated an important cultural property in Japan.

Major institutions in the United States, including the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hold his works, reflecting the breadth of his circulation beyond China.

Canadian artist Philip Read has worked in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, for decades. He first encountered Bada more than 40 years ago while studying Chinese ink painting in Toronto.

Born in the United Kingdom, Read has long admired British watercolor painters John Sell Cotman and J. M. W. Turner. In Bada, he's found a similarly strong emotional force expressed through a very different tradition.

"What I like about Chinese painting is that it is a technique of single brushstrokes, and each movement of the brush comes from the heart and soul of the artist," Read says.

"Bada was more than just a painter of images. His work captures all the passion and emotion of his humanity."

When looking at Bada's paintings, Read says his eyes follow every movement of the brush. "In that very moment, I see through his eyes as if I am standing next to him."

Read says he does not believe artists have to suffer to create art, but understands how pain and personal experience can affect their work. "His paintings are narratives of his observations and emotions. When I see his paintings, I am not seeing images, but I am reading his life stories that he wants to share with us."

What connects him to Bada, Read adds, goes beyond technique. "My feelings and connections with Bada Shanren are more spiritual than the physical nature of his paintings. I see his paintings as portals into his world."

Zhou, the museum director, says, "Art is universal, and it has its own distinctive language. Through Bada Shanren's art, people can learn about traditional Chinese culture."