Canna Lillies and Hummingbirds
Chow Chian-Chiu, American (born in China), 1910 - 2006
Chow Leung Chen-Ying, American (born China), 1921 - 2005
1990
Watercolor and ink on handmade Chinese paper mounted on silk
Image: 37 1/2 × 23 5/8 in. (95.2 × 60 cm)
Mount: 47 13/16 × 27 3/4 in. (121.5 × 70.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Chee W. Chow, Class of 1969, Tuck 1970
2013.57
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Painting
On view
Inscriptions
Poem in Chinese characters with artists' seals
Label
This collaborative artwork painted by Chow Leung Chen-Ying and her husband, Chow Chian-Chiu, is emblematic of the couple’s working style. The former’s flowers are characterized by vibrant colors rendered with bold, fluid strokes, a style she developed in the 1940s when she was given the moniker “Hibiscus Leung” for her remarkable depictions of that flower. Her husband’s hummingbirds complete the composition. Their training in the Lingnan School of painting before their immigration to the United States in 1968 emphasized the blending of Chinese and Western painting techniques.
From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Exhibition History
Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 18, 2024 - late 2025.
Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 19-26, 2013.
Publication History
A Perfect Match: Chow Chian Chiu & Chow Leung Chen-Ying: Their Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy, Hong Kong, 2000, page 51.
Provenance
The artists, Miami, Florida; to thier son, Chee Woo Chow, La Jolla, California, by 2006; given to present collection, 2013.
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