Eagle on a Branch

Dateca. 1928

Label TextSpecializing in finger painting, Teng Baiye, as he was known, applied ink and water to paper with his fingertips and hand rather than with a brush, using his fingernails for finer lines. (Fingernails had to be grown long for them to be effective instruments.) This example must have dazzled his audience with its spontaneous dance performed with the hand. The subject is likely an homage to Gao Qipei (1660–1734), who painted eagles on pine branches and was the original 18th-century pioneer of finger painting in China. As a young artist studying at the University of Washington, Teng gave painter Mark Tobey (1903–1985) calligraphy lessons, which transformed the way Tobey conceived of depicting the world.

Object number63.137

ProvenanceMartha J. Van Houten

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Modernism in the Pacific Northwest: The Mythic and the Mystical, June 19 - Sept. 7, 2014. Text by Patricia Junker. No cat. no., p. 35, reproduced p. 36, fig. 10. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Dec. 10, 2021 - July 24, 2022]. Published ReferencesBalken, Debra Bricker. Mark Tobey: Threading Light. New York: Skira Rizzoli in association with the Addison Gallery of American Art, 2017; p. 54, reproduced fig. 13.

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Martha J. Van Houten

Dimensions20 7/8 x 15 1/8 in. (53.02 x 38.42 cm)

MediumInk and color on paper