Wang Mansheng encountered a small lotus pond as a boy in his hometown city of Taiyuan in China’s Shanxi Province during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). This tumultuous period instituted by Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong (1893–1976) advanced an aggressive rejection of the past, destroyed institutions, and closed schools for extended periods. Red Lotus does not depict turmoil. Instead, Wang joins a long tradition of artists who found refuge in the natural world. Wang describes the horizontal format of this painting as “like a wide screen,” a reference to the modern world of movies. Yet his choice to create his own walnut ink speaks to the long-standing practice of Chinese artists to make their materials from the world around them.