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"Huangshan" by Wang Xian-Ya (1926-2023); Dimensions: 72×140 cm. Inscription: "Rolling up the blinds to let the sunlight in, burning incense, watching clouds emerge from the mountains; Hong-Xia in China; Wang Xian-Ya depicting the sea of clouds atop Huangshan." Name seal: "Wang" (intaglio), "Xian-Ya" (relief); Corner seal: "Ya Jian Hua Xing" (relief). This painting presents a "top view" of the spectacular and charming sea of clouds of Huangshan. Standing in the foreground is the steep cliff and unusually Guest-Greeting pines unique to Huangshan. The S-shaped sea of clouds also serves as a visual guide, as if to invite the viewer into the painting. The painter illustrates the sparseness and denseness of the sea of clouds by using fully deliberate blank and partially light wet dyeing and colorization. For instance, the fully deliberate blank in the distant mountains to the upper left of the painting has denser clouds, while the adjacent peaks on the right side of the painting are extensively applied with light wet dyeing and thus render a sense of rising clouds and flowing mist. The gradation of ink painting and colorization is clear, featuring layer after layer of tonality. Once an officer in the Air Force, the painter incorporated the scenery observed during his flights into the painting, a reason why the sea of clouds or mountainous scenery usually features a top view and wide vision, as if transforming the flat landscape painting into a three-dimensional one. Due to this, the painter has developed his own landscape painting techniques different from traditional ones.
Wang Xian-Ya, born in Yanshi County, Henan Province, with the courtesy name Hong-Xia. He graduated from the 28th session of the Hangzhou Jianqiao Air Force Academy, moved to Taiwan in 1949 with the government, and has lived in Taoyuan since. Wang has loved painting since he was a child, and he is a winner of various awards, including Taoyuan County Heritage Award, Reserve Command Heritage Award and Lifetime Achievement Award, and Korea Asia International Art Exhibition Award. He was even invited by the National Museum of History to tour the island for painting and participating in group exhibitions. He was honored with the title of "Lifetime Professor Emeritus of Art" by the University of Houston-Downtown, U.S.A., in 2005.

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