Plum Tree and Birds 

Lin Fengmian made this painting, Plum Tree and Birds, with ink and colour on paper. It represents an interesting fusion of traditional Chinese ink painting with Western modernist influences. Lin, who lived through much of the twentieth century, spent time in France during the 1920s, where he studied Western painting techniques. He was later president of the Hangzhou Art Academy in China. The curriculum promoted a synthesis of Chinese and Western art, aiming to modernize Chinese painting while preserving its unique cultural identity. Here, the plum blossoms and birds are traditional Chinese motifs, but Lin has rendered them with a simplified, almost abstract style. The result reflects the cultural and political tensions of early twentieth-century China, as the nation sought to redefine itself in the face of Western influence. To fully understand this, we might look into the archives of the Hangzhou Art Academy. Doing so could reveal how Lin and his contemporaries navigated these complex cultural exchanges.