Leaping to New Life

Inscription: Leaping to new life. Late in the Jiaxu year (1934). As the peril grows, anger fills my chest. I painted this to comfort myself. Beihong.
Seal: “Descended from the King of the Eastern Sea” (Rectangular seal with incised characters), “Beihong” (Square seal with incised characters), and “True ministers make their appeals” (Square seal with relief characters)

In January 1935, the three eastern provinces of China had fallen, and China was facing a national crisis. As the situation worsened, Xu Beihong painted Leaping to New Life and paired it with the inscription: “As the peril grows, anger fills my chest. I painted this to comfort myself.” The leaping lion symbolizes China.
-Wang Zhen, The Extended Chronicle of Xu Beihong