Sailing in Autumn (“Qiu Fan Tu”) is a painting created by Xugu (Zhu Huairen) in 1893. This is a work of the Shanghai School of painting, created with ink and light colors on paper as an album leaf. The artwork depicts a landscape, covered with the mist of an autumn day. However, unlike other Chinese landscape painters, Xugu did not follow the classical tradition of decorating the scenery with imaginary elements. Instead, he painted the landscape from an eyewitness perspective, using an impressionistic approach.
The painting depicts a lowland, where only a few plants grow. The river flowing through this area is the central point of the picture, with a boat in the center where two people take a trip. Xugu used short, sketchy, and disconnected brushstrokes to paint the scenery, portraying the moment as he saw it. The artist also did not follow the traditional Chinese methods of depicting landscapes, based on organic forms. Instead, he applied dry ink to the foreground to portray objects clearly, and washed the background with diluted ink to create the effect of distance and mist.
Xugu was a former soldier who turned to painting after the Taiping Rebellion and became a Buddhist monk. This influenced the uniqueness of his artistic language and the themes of his artwork. The painter’s use of light and color in Sailing in Autumn is reminiscent of the modernist experiments of the European impressionists. However, this approach was unconventional for the Chinese literati painters of the time, which gives the work its modern feel. Therefore, the painting can be seen as a precursor of modern art in China.
Xugu’s Sailing in Autumn (1893) is a distinctive example of the Shanghai School’s experimentation with traditional Chinese landscape painting. Executed in ink and light colours on paper, the work presents an ordinary autumn landscape rather than an idealised or imaginary scenery. A river occupies the centre, with a small sailing boat carrying two figures, while distant houses, trees and vegetation dissolve gradually into mist. Xugu creates depth through the contrast between relatively dry, darker brushwork in the foreground and pale, diluted washes in the background. His short, broken and seemingly spontaneous strokes capture the fleeting appearance of the landscape rather than describing every object precisely. The restrained touches of colour add freshness without disturbing the dominance of ink. As a former soldier and Buddhist monk, Xugu developed an unconventional artistic vocabulary. His observational approach and atmospheric treatment give the work a modern, almost impressionistic quality, making it an important link between literati traditions and modern Chinese painting.
