Words on a cute tiger painting by Huang Yongyu?

[Ruben von Zwack]

Ist anybody able to read the words in this adorable painting  by Huang Yongyu?

I can make it from right to left as far as

"老虎大小都..." the tiger makes young and old...

and then the Last 3 Hanzi are obviously his name 黃永玉 , but everything between that looks like Japanese Hiragana (the radicals on the left of "zhen") or even like Korean to me ?

Oh and I think while staring at the "Korean" I spot a "年", so it's a new year's painting for the year of 2010? 

 

Link to the painting on artnet:

https://www.artnet.com/artists/huang-yongyu/laohudaxiaodouzhenzhai-tiger

 

[honglam]

老虎大小都鎮宅  二〇一〇年 黄永玉

“老虎大小都鎮宅” means that a tiger, whether big or small, can keep the evil things (like ghost 鬼) away from your house so that your house would be safe. "鎮宅" is a word describing a Chinese custom. Setting some things with the power of cleansing in order to keep devils away, to put it simply.

As for the "二〇一〇年", "〇" is another way of writing "零", mainly used for writing the year. Actually it is accepted in Standard Chinese (you may find this sign as a Chinese Character in Xinhua Dictionary新华字典), and as far as i've ever seen, in official documents this circle sign is the only version when writing the year in Chinese Characters. And the year 2010 is a year of tiger. There are times when Chinese artists and calligraphers uses Gregorian Calendar instead of Chinese Traditional Calender(农历).

[EnergyReaper]

The URL has shown us the two characters' PinYin: zhen zhai, and they are 镇宅

[EnergyReaper]

On 1/12/2024 at 11:03 PM, Ruben von Zwack said:

so it's a new year's painting for the year of 2010? 

Not sure, but it was done in 2010

[Ruben von Zwack]

While reading online a bit more, I just learned that Huang Yongyu isn't just any ole' painter, but one of China's most famous. He sadly just passed away at the age of 99. 

He was responsible for the viral blue rabbit Zodiac postal stamp.

Here are a few more of his tiger paintings:

https://www.sohu.com/a/520113895_121124809

[cncorrect]

'老虎大小都镇宅 二〇一〇年 黄永玉' It means that any tigers would protect your house no matter how big they are. It was painted in 2010.

 

 

[Ruben von Zwack]

Thank you @cncorrect , thank you @honglam!

May I also ask your help with this tiger painting below?

I get the words, but not the meaning. "虎虎生气".

Tiger tiger get angry? Vigorously get angry?

As for 老虎大小都镇宅, after @EnergyReaper kindly pointed out that the words we're already in the title of the Website, I still couldn't figure out the meaning.

These brief Chinese sentences often feel a bit like Latin to me. You have the meaning of the vocabulary, but you still stere at the sentence and cant figure out the meaning, but once you get it, it clicks and you're like "of course. Why didnt I get it?".

 

Edited January 14, 2024 at 09:31 PM by Ruben von Zwack

[honglam]

On 1/14/2024 at 10:11 PM, Ruben von Zwack said:

虎虎生气

It is like a 成语, but not quite the same. 生气 should be divided to two words here. Literally it means "气" arising. 气 is a Chinese philosophical concept, approximately meaning "the power of life". So you can say that the words here mean "The tiger is full of the power of life", or it can be a metaphor that "the power of life is so vivid, just like the tiger". Just like "老虎大小都镇宅", it can be a auspicious wish for the Chinese Year of tiger.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Thank you @honglam, this ist so helpful!

[cncorrect]

On 1/14/2024 at 10:11 PM, Ruben von Zwack said:

You have the meaning of the vocabulary, but you still stere at the sentence and cant figure out the meaning, but once you get it, it clicks and you're like "of course. Why didnt I get it?".

That's because we use it everyday, but you've never heard of that.

[honglam]

On 1/14/2024 at 10:11 PM, Ruben von Zwack said:

These brief Chinese sentences often feel a bit like Latin to me. You have the meaning of the vocabulary, but you still stere at the sentence and cant figure out the meaning, but once you get it, it clicks and you're like "of course. Why didnt I get it?".

That's quite ordinary. Cultural background is an important part of communication. It's just like when I started to learn European languages. You may find those thing hard to remember or understand, but those are just our daily life in China.