Artwork Description

Title: Floral Album
Artist: Mo Xiong
Date: n.d.
Medium: Ink and watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Each page 23.6 x 16.5 in (60 x 42 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Floral Album is an exceptional collection of floral still lifes by celebrated Chinese artist Mo Xiong, presented as a sequential series of twelve ink and watercolor paintings on paper. Each page showcases a uniquely rendered bouquet in a range of vessels—from terracotta and porcelain vases to decorative jars—set atop patterned tabletops and grounded in a light-filled, gestural atmosphere. The album exudes variation and rhythm, as every composition brings forth its own interplay of color, brushwork, and floral expression, offering a panoramic vision of nature’s abundance across seasons and moods.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
This album is a quintessential example of Mo Xiong’s signature fusion of Eastern calligraphic spontaneity and Western watercolor dynamism. His refined sense of balance, layered translucencies, and intuitive compositional shifts resonate with the traditions of Chinese literati painting, while the bold color harmonies and patterned motifs reflect an engagement with post-impressionist and contemporary visual languages. The result is an oeuvre that floats between tradition and innovation, formality and freedom.

3. Historical Context
Created in a period when Chinese artists were increasingly engaging with international dialogues in the arts, Floral Album reflects Mo Xiong’s position within a broader movement that sought to recontextualize traditional genres like still life painting. In the decades following the reform era of the 1980s, artists such as Mo brought new life to classical techniques through experimentation with composition, color, and Western methodology. This album is both a personal meditation and a statement of cultural fluency in a globalized artistic landscape.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The album is in very good condition. Each page is well-preserved with bright, unfaded pigments and clean paper surfaces. There is no evidence of foxing, creasing, or moisture damage. The binding and edges remain intact, and no conservation treatment is currently necessary.

6. Artistic Significance
As both an artist and esteemed educator, Mo Xiong has consistently explored the intersection of cultural continuity and innovation. Floral Album stands as a remarkable testament to his mastery of the still life genre and his ability to create an unfolding visual experience rich with emotional depth and technical elegance. With each page, the viewer is invited into a new floral encounter—one that underscores the artist’s enduring significance in the field of contemporary Chinese painting.