XU BEIHONG (1895-1953)

Family collection of Madam Dan Mengxin, whose father Professor Dan Yinsun was a high-ranking officer in the Education Bureau in China in 1948. In the 1940s, the Dan family were neighbors with Xu Beihong in Chongqing. While Xu Beihong was traveling overseas for exhibitions, the Dan family took care of the Xu family, expecially Xu's wife Jiang Biwei, who was a good friend of Dan Mengxin. In 1944 Xu Beihong created and dedicated this painting as a birthday gift to the father of Dan Yinsun. This period, just at the time of one of his major exhibitions in Chongqing, was the prime of Xu Beihong's creativity and techbical ability.