Scholar by a Stream – Chinese Poetry and the Other Arts

Zhu Xiuli’s Scholar by a Stream brings the natural landscape and its spiritual energy to life. The tranquility of the piece contrasts the political turbulence of Zhu’s time. The painting pulls the viewer away from turmoil and into a world of healing through nature.

According to Daoist beliefs, man and nature are inseparable. Maintaining a deep connection with the natural world contributes to a clear, moral conscience and a healthy body. The inscription on the painting reflects this belief by relating how an old man’s connection to nature allows him to feel youthful and content.

In his poem, Li Shangyin explores similar values through vivid images of the natural world. Li expresses an appreciation of natural tranquility and suggests that true contentedness is found through a transcendental connection with nature. Zhu’s painting and Li’s poem intertwine to convey the ideal “happy life” that can only be found through a profound relationship with the natural world.

Poem selection and label by Gloria Cheng ’18, Molly Hurd ’18 and Sidney Lu ’17

Title of Work (Chinese):
Title of Work (English):
Scholar by a Stream
Artist:
ZHU Xiuli 朱脩立. Chinese, 1938-
Date:
1984
Medium:
Ink and colored ink on paper mounted on light green silk brocade
Credit:
Smith College Museum of Art, Gift of Joan Lebold Cohen, class of 1954, and Jerome A. Cohen
Accession Number
SC 2007:59-23

Title of Poem (Chinese):
Title of Poem (English):
The Pleasures of a Simple Life with Nature
Poet's Name:
LI Shangyin 李商隱 (813–858)
Translated By:
Charles Budd
Read By:
Molly Hurd, '18
Audio File:
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Poem Text:
On these pleasant hills residing,
Far from worldly din and strife,
Leisurely with nature living,
Here I pass a happy life.

Gently wave the bamboo copses,
Fanned by evening breezes light;
While the flowers and moon-beams mingle
In the ghostly hours of night.

Through ravines the waters gurgle,
Stemmed by scattered rock and stone;
Round the bends the footpath wanders—
By the mosses overgrown.

Here with friends and habits simple,
And a cup of generous wine,
Fingering lute and old songs singing—
For no other heaven I pine.
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Works Cited:
Li, Shangyin. “The Pleasures of a Simple Life with Nature” Translated by Charles Budd. Columbia Granger’s World of Poetry Online, Columbia University Press, 2017, www.columbiagrangers.org.libproxy.smith.edu:2048/Home.html

Zhu, Xiuli. Scholar by a Stream. 1984, ink and colored ink on paper mounted on light green silk brocade, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA.