Bird-and-flower painting

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Bird-and-flower painting (Traditional Chinese: 花鳥畫, Simplified Chinese: 花鸟画 huāniǎo-huà, Japanese: 花鳥画 kachō-ga, literally 'flower-bird painting') is a kind of Chinese painting named after its subject matter. Normally, most bird-and-flower paintings belong to the scholar-artist style of Chinese painting.

[edit] Subjects

According Chinese tradition, bird-and-flower painting covers "flowers, birds, fish, and insects" (Traditional Chinese: 花鳥魚蟲, Simplified Chinese: 花鸟鱼虫 huā, niǎo, yú, chóng). It can thus deal with a wide range of natural topics, including flowers (plants), fish, insects, birds, pets (dogs, cats) etc.

[edit] Varieties

According to painting technique:

Representatives: Lin Liang (:zh:林良|林良), Qi Baishi (齐白石), Zhang Daqian (张大千)


  • Fine-brush (工笔花鸟/工笔花鸟画)
    • Fine-brush with Ink and Wash Painting (工笔水墨/兼工带水墨)

Representatives: Lin Liang (林良), Ren Yi (任颐), Zhang Daqian (张大千)

    • Fine-brush with Colour (工彩)
      • Fine-brush with Heavy Colour (工笔重彩)
      • Fine-brush with Light Colour (工笔淡彩)

Representatives: Emperor Huizong (赵佶), Lü Ji (吕纪), Lin Liang (林良), Zhang Daqian (张大千)


  • Freehand Style (写意花鸟/写意花鸟画)
    • Great Freehand Style (大写意)
    • Slight Freehand Style (小写意)

Representatives: Tang Yin (唐寅), Xu Wei (徐渭), Wu Changshuo (吴昌硕), Ren Yi (任颐), Zhang Daqian (张大千)


  • Fine-brush with Freehand Style (兼工带写)

Representatives: Lin Liang (林良), Tang Yin (唐寅), Zhang Daqian (张大千)

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