Flowers and Calligraphy (Hua niao za hua ce 花鳥雜畫冊),

1737

Gao Fenghan was a poet, calligrapher, painter, and local official. When paralysis struck his right arm in 1737, he switched to wield the brush with his left hand. This was a practice he had actually begun before his illness but was then forced to develop and even exploit. In his left-handed brushwork, he came to prize the awkward spontaneous quality that made his painting and calligraphy distinctive and more natural, avoiding the smooth, refined, and practiced habits of writing and painting with his right arm. In about 1739, Gao seems to have regained partial use of his right arm but preferred to continue using his left as his main brush arm.