Beauties Riding - A Vision of Poetry

This was painted by Zhang Xuewan (張學萬) of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province (and where my favorite food comes from -> Szechuan = Sichuan).

This was painted in 2013 at the artist's studio in Chengdu. His pen-name is Shi Feng (which is the signature on the painting).

Zhang Xuewan was born in 1958, Sichuan Province. He's famous for his "boneless painting style", which he learned from Peng Xiancheng. The so-called "boneless painting style" is a traditional but very specialized style of Chinese painting. It requires the artist to pre-paint the whole idea in their heads. The whole composition must flow directly from the artist's mind to his hand and brush. There are no outlines or basic structures laid out before the painting begins.

A little background on the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) which is depicted in this painting: Tang was really the "dynasty of the horse", as more than any other time, horses were an important part of society. In fact, one's wealth was strictly determined by the number of horses one owned. Good horsemanship was also a revered trait. Horses were also an important element of the Tang army, with officers and Chinese knights riding horses into battle.