Chinese artist spends a life in landscapes

LONG HILL TWP. Landscapes are a part of our lives some leave impressions, some dont.

The ones that move us repeat in our memories but eventually will fade with time, and if not for artists, the beauty or mood would never transcend.

Prof. Hsu Dan, a long-time resident of Long Hill, has been capturing landscapes in and around Long Hill and before that in his native China practically all his life. His water color painting, Long Hill Vista and Great Swamp Scene, is on permanent display in the lobby of the Long Hill Municipal Building on Valley Road. Also on display through the summer are Hsu family photographs, Chinese painting tools, and artifacts

In May, the acclaimed international artist and architect hosted a talk and painting demonstration for members of the Long Hill Historical Society, which was organized by Jane Rocca Hecht, a family friend, Hsus student, and resident of Long Hill.

During the meeting and in a separate interview, Hecht provided insight into Hsu Dans spontaneous, tonal painting style.

A neighbor introduced me to Prof. Hsu in 2003, Hecht recalled. We sought his advice in importing from China an exhibit of Suzhou silk embroidery. In 2005 the exhibit, which I helped organize, opened at The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Ga.

The exhibit honored the 1979 Cultural Agreement signed by President (Jimmy) Carter and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping of the Peoples Republic of China and it celebrated the embroidered art work presented on this occasion.

Shortly after meeting the artist, Hecht said she agreed to teach him English and he agreed to teach me to paint. His daughter, Ming, was our translator. Through her he retold his life experiences during the turbulent years in Chinas history, from 1932 to 1986.

Being a natural story teller, Hsu Dan brought to life how his traditional aristocratic upbringing and lifestyle under Maos reign melded a bygone era with the modernization of China, Hecht said. In similar fashion, she said, Prof. Hsus spontaneous free-style paintings meld a thousand year tradition with modern art.

While it is the professors belief that change and innovation maintain a traditions relevancy, she said, his free-style modern paintings nonetheless are firmly grounded in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy.Hecht, an artist in Hsu Dans style, whose own paintings are fluid recreations of landscape, said that while it was early autumn when Hsu Dan, and his daughter, Ming, and Hecht, toured Long Hill Township in preparation for his painting, Long Hill Vista & Great Swamp Scene, the first painting was done with green foliage and the second in fall colors.

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Chinese artist spends a life in landscapes