Whooping Crane

by Zhan Gengxi

Title

Whooping Crane

Artist

Zhan Gengxi

Medium

Painting - Watercolor On Rice Paper

Description

Few birds are as large or as distinctive as America's Whooping Crane, and few are as threatened. Crowned with fashionable feathers, Grus Americana was virtually wiped out in the 19th century due to the popularity of its plumes with milliners. Known for its trumpeting call, created by an unusual coiled windpipe, the sizable Whooping Crane can be as long as 56 inches. Though they have become more numerous thanks to strict conservation measures (in the late 1980s there were nearly 100 individuals), in 1941 just 11 of these majestic birds were believed to exist. Cranes around the world have faced similar difficulties, and of the 14 known species most are now rare. An exception is the somewhat smaller sandhill crane of the central and western United States. Conservation laws there have helped this bird to hold its own. Every spring, thousands of bird watchers gather in western Nebraska's Sandhill region to view the migration of these birds. Interestingly, the sandhill crane may do its part in saving its cousin the Whooping Crane. In recent years, experimental projects have been undertaken in which Whooping Crane eggs have been placed in sandhill crane nests in the hope that the wild birds would successfully raise the newly-hatched Whoopers which would then be fit to survive in the wild.

Zhan Gengxi was born in Kaifeng, Henan Province, in China in 1941. In 1958, he was admitted to the Chinese Traditional Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts where he studied under Ye Qianyu, Li Keran, Li Kuchan and Tian Shiguang. In 1979, he resumed his studies again at the academy, this time as a postgraduate majoring in flower-and-bird painting under the tutorship of Professors Li Kuchan and Tian Shiguang. Zhan's paintings of flowers and birds in the traditional Chinese style reflect not only a deep understanding of the masterpieces of the Song and Yuan Dynasty, but also a comprehensive mastery of different contemporary techniques. Zhan's work has been featured in countless exhibitions both in China and abroad. His famous painting "Glorious Future" has been displayed in the Reception Hall of the Zhongnanhai in Beijing. A member of the Chinese Artists Association and a research fellow of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Painting, Zhan Gengzi has been granted the title of the State's First-Class Painter.

Please note the "Fine Art America" watermark will not appear on the painting or any print reproduction.

Artwork Copyright © 1994 Wind River Studios Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the Copyright. WRSH Stock Number XB14742

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April 5th, 2022

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