Bronze traditional ornaments, 1957 We started learning Chinese through Russian, familiar to all foreign students who came from Eastern European democratic countries and spoke basic Russian learned in school. Since Chinese was difficult to speak, we spoke broken Russian between [...]
To paint in traditional, Chinese guo hua (国画) style on rice paper, we spent time learning the basics: how to hold the brush, how to prepare the ink and how to control the ink flow. To get the feeling of how Chinese [...]
Drawing flowers in a Chinese garden (1958). To understand the way Chinese learn, understand and approach nature, we were advised to spend many hours drawing outside, in parks and botanical gardens, observing nature, noticing tinny details in its process of [...]
Peonies, 1958 Flowers and birds are the most frequent, ravishing and elegant guo hua (国画) subjects. Chinese artists represent in their paintings flowers, praised for size, shape and color, cultivated for their beauty in royal and special gardens. Flowers [...]
Landscape, 1958 The complexity of Chinese landscapes and the unique way it is perceived by locals is reflected in paintings which surprise the viewer, catching the mystery and poetry of rocks, water, mountains, trees, vegetation, fog and clouds. Landscape, [...]
Lady with dog People are well represented in all styles of guo hua (国画). Learning gongbi (工笔) style relies on drawing skills, tracing long, even lines and endless hours of exercising the hand and the tip of a thin brush [...]
Xieyi style by my teacher (1958) Xieyi (寫意) is a new freehand dynamic, Chinese traditional painting style, which emerged during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), promoted by rebel artists who wanted to liberate themselves from the rigid canons of the gongbi [...]
A big source of learning was through sketching, taking notes and writing observations while visiting the many large ceramics’ galleries of the Chinese Museums. On the roof of a house in Guangdong (1958) We spent there endless hours looking [...]
Studying colored glazes, Jingdezhen (1959) Spending time in the factories, gave me a chance to work, exercise, alongside masters. Watching master’s demonstration, Jingdezhen (1959) I learned a lot by carefully observing each master demonstrating and explaining to [...]
Modeling in stoneware clay, Shewan (1958) An important and valuable part of my student learning came from visiting ceramic factories in Shewan, Jigdezhen, Tahua in the South and Than Shan in the North of China. Four historical figures [...]
