Under Pine Tree Watching Waterfall

Known as a promoter of Chinese national painting, Huang Junbi presents a traditional-style landscape where a recluse sitting under pine trees is viewing a waterfall in the valley. This is a popular subject in Chinese landscape painting as the educated elites believe watching and meditating before a waterfall is a good way to achieve a peaceful mind and conduct self-cultivation in the wilderness.

A native of Guangdong, Huang Junbi began studying painting in his youth by copying ancient masterpieces. Like many fellow artists, in 1949 Huang left mainland China for Taiwan and pursued a successful artistic and teaching career at Taiwan Normal University. He was influential in promoting traditional painting styles, and among his social elite students was Madame Chiang Kai-shek (1898–2003). He also sojourned in the United States several times, and often painted for his patrons with the studio name Baiyuntang (White Cloud Studio).