The spirit of the Lingnan School spread beyond China and lived well into the post-war period as a result of Zhao Shao’ang’s efforts. Zhao showed great virtuosity in this bold composition. The gnarled surface of the pine tree is effectively conveyed through the variation of ink and strokes. His concern was to capture the play of light on the colours of the painted subject. White was rarely used in traditional Chinese paintings. Here, it was used to enhance the realistic effect to create varying tones and shades.
