In the summer of 1981, Zhou Chunya and Zhang Xiaogang were invited by their schoolmate Zhong Changqing to experience the life on Aba Grassland in Sichuan. The luscious and colorful grassland not only inspired Zhou Chunya’s masterpiece “New Generation Tibetan”, which is considered as the milestone work of his artistic career; but also influenced Zhou’s artistic creation in the entire 1980s. The unique environment and images of the grassland are heartedly recorded by the artist in his works during this period, with a touch of impressionism.

This painting “Landscape” is a typical master work from this period. The light and shadow of the grassland is well presented by Zhou’s extraordinary utilizing of colors. The artist delineated the simple wooden bridge, blue stream and azury horse in the foreground and middle ground; aside the multiple levels of yellow along the winding road stretching out to background, and mountains in the background was expressed with a light brush of brown. The raw and blocky brushstrokes and heavy and saturated color both bring out the fierce highland sunshine. That year, Zhou Chunya was relocated to Chengdu, but he kept going back to Tibet for sketching and inspiration. In his letter to Zhang Xiaogang in 1983, Zhou wrote “I am very fond of dominating the picture with an agitated emotion these days, and I am also eager to pierce the smoggy weather of Chengdu with strong sunlight…” In a word, the artist is voicing his enthusiasm with his painting brushes, through the portraying the fascinating land and culture of Tibet.