Deep Forest by He Yongkun

Deep Forest by He Yongkun

Deep Forest

He Yongkun

Title

Deep Forest

 
Artist

He Yongkun

  1953 - PRESENT (biography)
Year
1985  
Technique
color blockprint 
Image Size
18 3/8 x 17 1/2" image size 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
30 of 30  
Annotations
title and various pencil annotations in Chinese; dated "January 1985"; pencil editioned 
Reference
 
Paper
fibrous white wove 
State
published 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
21698 
Price
SOLD
Description

He Yongkun was born in the southern Chinese city of Kunming, in the Yunnan Province. Many of the subjects of his work draws on the rural areas around Kunming and the people who inhabit it.

"Deep Forest" is set in the Shilin Stone Forest in Kunming, Yunnan, China. A goatherd, a Sani, a branch of the Yi ethnic group, wearing a traditional colorful embroidered costume, tends a small flock of goats in a flowering forest of fruit trees. In the background some of the columnar limestone structures of the Shilin Stone Forest loom like large sculptures.

According to native folklore, the area of Shilin Stone Forest is the location of where a Yi woman, called Ashima, was born, who is said to have turned to stone when she failed to received permission to marry her true love.