Tai Po Kau, Hong Kong

Chao Shao-an is hailed as the secondgeneration master of the Lingnan School of Chinese painting. After having settled in Hong Kong in 1948, Chao took a progressive and idiosyncratic approach in his artistic creation, and had successfully built up his own style by the 1950s. He excelled in different genres such as landscape, figures, flowers and birds, and animals. His works, resplendent but not gaudy, raised the art of Lingnan painting to a whole new level, with his exquisite mastery of ink and colours that displays rich variety within a small area. Chao made outdoor sketches extensively, and apart from flowers and birds, he often captured the beauty of landscape around the world in his sketches, among which Hong Kong scenery was a major motif. Completed in 1967, this painting comes from the artist’s previous sketches. In this painting, Tai Po Kau is scenic and tranquil with layers of rolling hills, mirror-like sea, and fishing boats. Chao represented light and shadow and reflections on water with ink and texture strokes. He also expressed his feelings with a poem written on the painting. This painting manifests the Lingnan School’s ideal of bridging classical and modern aesthetics, and captures the peaceful life of a Hong Kong fishing village. Hong Kong is an important stop for Chao’s artistic career, as he had planted the seeds of Lingnan style in Hong Kong and then gained international attention. This painting shows the artist’s love of Hong Kong.