Huang Quan
Founded meticulous court bird-and-flower style
Huang Quan(黄筌) (c. 903–965), courtesy name Yaoshu, was from Chengdu and a court painter at the Western Shu Painting Academy during the Five Dynasties period. He served in both the former and latter Shu courts, reaching the position of Inspector-General of the Ministry of Revenue and Imperial Censor, and was appointed as a Hanlin waiting-for-royal-instructions scholar. He studied under Diao Guangyin, Teng Changyou, Sun Wei, Li Sheng, Xue Ji, and others, blending the essence of their techniques. He learned landscape and rocks from Li Sheng and specialized in painting cranes influenced by Xue Ji, achieving an artistic level described as 'mastering all six principles, far surpassing the three teachers.' He was skilled in painting flowers and birds, figures, and landscapes, and founded the "Huang family’s style of prosperity." Surviving works include "Sketches of Rare Birds." He entered the former Shu court at 17, and during Meng Zhixiang’s rule in Latter Shu, he served as a Hanlin waiting-for-royal-instructions scholar, leading the painting academy for over forty years. In 965, he went to the Song dynasty with Meng Chang and died in Bianliang. His painting technique used double outline with color filling; he would outline subjects with fine ink lines and then apply rich, vivid colors, focusing on life studies. Most of his works served as court decorations and gifts for foreign relations. His son Huang Jucai(黄居寀) inherited his style and set the standard for flower-and-bird painting in the early Northern Song court. Along with Xu Xi(徐熙), he is referred to in tandem as 'Huang-Xu,' forming the two major flower-and-bird painting schools from the Five Dynasties to early Song. Their birds were depicted with both bones and flesh, with vivid coloring and finely detailed lines that looked like light washes, earning them a reputation as exemplary 'life studies.'