Modern Chinese ArtistsObject Study 05

Lin Fengmian / 林风眠

Seated Woman

early 1960s

The modern figure is built from contour, pattern, and pause

Lin Fengmian's early 1960s Seated Woman in ink and color
Image reference: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Educational presentation.
Seated Woman100%
Lin Fengmian's early 1960s Seated Woman in ink and color

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Enter the artwork study
07

Object in the Lin Fengmian study

Date
early 1960s
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and colour on paper
Dimensions
71.1 x 81.3 cm
Collection / record
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Catalogue / accession
1986.267.372

01 / Why this work matters

The modern figure is built from contour, pattern, and pause

The seated woman occupies a shallow interior, her body defined by economical line and broad patterned areas rather than anatomical modelling. Lin's knowledge of Matisse is visible, yet the figure's restraint also depends on Chinese contour and the active role of untouched paper.

She is neither an academic study nor a narrative heroine. Pose, clothing, furniture, and interval create a quiet psychological field. Lin allows decorative pattern to carry structure, preventing the figure from being separated from the space she inhabits.

02 / Formal analysis

Five ways to read the visible evidence.

Move from color and composition toward the material surface and the space the work asks you to inhabit.
01

Color and light

Long contour describing the body with very few corrections

02

Composition and rhythm

Pattern working as volume rather than surface ornament

03

Line and gesture

Empty paper stabilizing the compact pose

04

Surface and material

She is neither an academic study nor a narrative heroine. Pose, clothing, furniture, and interval create a quiet psychological field. Lin allows decorative pattern to carry structure, preventing the figure from being separated from the space she inhabits.

05

Space and scale

The seated woman occupies a shallow interior, her body defined by economical line and broad patterned areas rather than anatomical modelling. Lin's knowledge of Matisse is visible, yet the figure's restraint also depends on Chinese contour and the active role of untouched paper.

03 / History and object record

Place the image inside a life, a period, and a documented record.

Historical interpretation

Lin Fengmian, early 1960s

She is neither an academic study nor a narrative heroine. Pose, clothing, furniture, and interval create a quiet psychological field. Lin allows decorative pattern to carry structure, preventing the figure from being separated from the space she inhabits.

The painter and educator who made the square sheet a meeting place for color, ink, opera, folk form, and European modernism.

Exhibition and record history

What the cited record establishes

Recorded collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Catalogue reference
1986.267.372
Exhibition chronology
The cited public record does not provide a complete exhibition chronology. Follow the primary record for provenance, display history, and future updates.

04 / Connections

Continue through neighboring works and parallel modernisms.

Lin Fengmian's Gladioli, a vibrant ink-and-color flower painting

1960s

Gladioli

Flowers erupt beyond domestic still life
Lin Fengmian's Two Nuns, a vertical ink-and-color painting of two standing figures

20th century

Two Nuns

Two vertical figures turn empty space into a third presence
Lin Fengmian's Opera Figures, an ink-and-color painting of three stylized performers and a lotus lantern

20th century

Opera Figures

Backlight turns three performers into a layered modern tableau

Across the wider study room

Artist Study 06Pan Yuliang 潘玉良

The painter and sculptor who claimed the modern body, the self-portrait, and Chinese line as sites of authorship across Shanghai, Rome, and Paris.

Artist Study 01Zao Wou-Ki 赵无极

Landscape, calligraphy, memory, and postwar abstraction become an atmosphere the viewer can enter.

05 / Sources and further reading

Follow the object back to its institutional record.

Primary artwork recordView the primary artwork recordFurther readingHong Kong Museum of Art - Lin Fengmian illustrated biographyFurther readingHong Kong Museum of Art - Chinese painting and calligraphy collectionFurther readingHong Kong Museum of Art - Opera Scene learning recordFurther readingTaikang Art Museum - LandscapeFurther readingThe Metropolitan Museum of Art - Lin Fengmian collection recordsFurther readingChristie's - Fishing Village catalogue and essayFurther readingSotheby's - Lotus Lantern catalogueFurther readingM+ Collection Archives - Lin Fengmian at a 1988 exhibitionFurther readingIfeng Culture - archival photographs of Lin FengmianFull artist studyReturn to Lin Fengmian